Frottements et pertes de pression des fluides non newtoniens dans des conduites non circulaires

The study of fluid flow in a duct requires characteristic parameters of the flow and dimensionless numbers to correlate and compare experimental results. For Newtonian fluids in simple configurations, the definition of the Reynolds number is quite standard, but for non-Newtonian fluid flows in ducts with arbitrary shape of cross section, the dependence of the apparent viscosity with the shear rate requires a generalization of this dimensionless number. This note proposes a general method valid for a large class of non-Newtonian fluids and for all duct shapes. An application is developed for a viscoelastic flow through a rectangular duct. Results obtained in the present investigation are in a good agreement with available correlations. To cite this article: M. Mahfoud et al., C. R. Mecanique 333 (2005).