Displacement of a Newtonian fluid by a non-Newtonian fluid in a porous medium

This paper presents an analytical Buckley-Leverett-type solution for one-dimensibnal immiscible displacement of a Newtonian fluid by a non-Newtonian fluid in porous media. The non-Newtonian fluid viscosity is assumed to be a function of the flow potential gradient and the non-Newtonian phase saturation. To apply this method to field problems a practical procedure has been developed which is based on the analytical solution and is similar to the graphic technique of Welge. Our solution can be regarded as an extension of the Buckley-Leverett method to Non-Newtonian fluids. The analytical result reveals how the saturation profile and the displacement efficiency are controlled not only by the relative permeabilities, as in the Buckley-Leverett solution, but also by the inherent complexities of the non-Newtonian fluid. Two examples of the application of the solution are given. One application is the verification of a numerical model, which has been developed for simulation of flow of immiscible non-Newtonian and Newtonian fluids in porous media. Excellent agreement between the numerical and analytical results has been obtained using a power-law non-Newtonian fluid. Another application is to examine the effects of non-Newtonian behavior on immiscible displacement of a Newtonian fluid by a power-law non-Newtonian fluid.     

Influence of the magnetic field on merging flow of the Powell-Eyring fluids: an exact solution

In this article, the merging flow of the stagnation point and the stretching (or shrinking) flows for the Powell-Eyring fluid (one of the non-Newtonian fluids) in the presence of magnetic field is formulated and analyzed mathematically. An analytical solution was developed on the basis of the homotopy analysis method. The effect of the Hartmann number on fluid-velocity and skin-friction is examined. It is observed that the intensive magnetic field reduces the growth of the reverse/secondary flow which is generated after the mixing of the stagnation-point and shrinking-sheet flows. The magnetic force dominates on the viscous force for stretching as well as for shrinking flows. Furthermore, the magnetic force intensifies the axial velocity of the fluids (the Newtonian as well as the Powell-Eyring fluids) but it decays the transverse-velocity of the fluids. Present results are validated with the existing results for the Newtonian fluids and found comparable with negligible errors.     

The study of time-dependent pipe flows of inelastic non-newtonian fluids using a multiviscous approximation

The treatment of non-linear partial differential equations of unsteady flows of non-Newtonian fluids generally leads to the use of numerical methods.The present method consists in approximating the practical shear stress/rate-of-strain curve (called here the rheogram) by a series of piecewise continuous linear segments. This method involves the solution of the linear differential equation system using a computer. The study is on unsteady laminar flows of pseudoplastic, dilatant and Bingham fluids. The results obtained by this method are compared with those determined by Laser Doppler anemometry using the Bragg cell. The results are concordant.     

Heat transfer to non-Newtonian flows over a cylinder in cross flow

Over a range of 102<Re^*<5800, 6.5<Pr^*<79, and 0.6<n<1, circumferential wall temperatures for water and aqueous polymer (purely viscous) solution flows over a smooth cylinder were measured experimentally. The cylinder was heated by passing direct electric current through it. Aqueous solutions of Carbopol 934 and EZ1 were used as power-law non-Newtonian fluids. The peripherally averaged heat transfer coefficient for purely viscous non-Newtonian fluids, at any fixed flow rate, decreases with increasing polymer concentration. A new correlation is proposed for predicting the peripherally averaged Nusselt number for power-law fluid flows over a heated cylinder in cross flow.     

A note on similarity-type flows of elastico-viscous fluids

A study is undertaken to ascertain non-Newtonian effects in steady flows of elastic fluids due to an infinite rotating disk when there is suction across its surface. The fluids considered are of a class for which the similarity-type solution of von Kármán is an exact solution. It is shown that the presence of elasticity (of the type considered) does not result in flow reversal, the disk acting as a centrifugal fan as in Newtonian flow.     

Anomalous predictions of pressure drop and heat transfer in ducts of arbitrary cross-section with modified power law fluids

 The apparent viscosities of purely viscous non-Newtonian fluids are shear rate dependent. At low shear rates, many of such fluids exhibit Newtonian behaviour while at higher shear rates non-Newtonian, power law characteristics exist. Between these two ranges, the fluid's viscous properties are neither Newtonian or power law. Utilizing an apparent viscosity constitutive equation called the “Modified Power Law” which accounts for the above behavior, solutions have been obtained for forced convection flows. A shear rate similarity parameter is identified which specifies both the shear rate range for a given fluid and set of operating conditions and the appropriate solution for that range. The results of numerical solutions for the friction factor–Reynolds number product and for the Nusselt number as a function of a dimensionless shear rate parameter have been presented for forced fully developed laminer duct flows of different cross-sections with modified power law fluids. Experimental data is also presented showing the suitability of the “Modified Power Law” constitutive equation to represent the apparent viscosity of various polymer solutions. Received on 21 August 2000     

Natural convection of non-Newtonian fluids in a horizontal porous layer

Heat and Mass Transfer - The buoyancy-induced flows of non-Newtonian fluids in a horizontal fluid saturated porous layer is studied analytically and numerically using the power-law model to...     

Axial laminar flow of viscoplastic fluids in a concentric annulus subject to wall slip

The flow of non-Newtonian fluids in annular geometries is an important problem, especially for the extrusion of polymeric melts and suspensions and for oil and gas exploration. Here, an analytical solution of the equation of motion for the axial flow of an incompressible viscoplastic fluid (represented by the Hershel–Bulkley equation) in a long concentric annulus under isothermal, fully developed, and creeping conditions and subject to true or apparent wall slip is provided. The simplifications of the analytical model for Hershel–Bulkley fluid subject to wall slip also provide the analytical solutions for the axial annular flows of Bingham plastic, power-law, and Newtonian fluids with and without wall slip at one or both surfaces of the annulus.     

A remark on similarity analysis of boundary layer equations of a class of non-Newtonian fluids

A similarity analysis of three-dimensional boundary layer equations of a class of non-Newtonian fluid in which the stress, an arbitrary function of rates of strain, is studied. It is shown that under any group of transformation, for an arbitrary stress function, not all non-Newtonian fluids possess a similarity solution for the flow past a wedge inclined at arbitrary angle except Ostwald-de-Waele power-law fluid. Further it is observed, for non-Newtonian fluids of any model only $90°$ of wedge flow leads to similarity solutions. Our results contain a correction to some flaws in Pakdemirli׳s [14] (1994) paper on similarity analysis of boundary layer equations of a class of non-Newtonian fluids.     

Turbulent flow of Newtonian and shear-thinning liquids through a sudden axisymmetric expansion

 Measurements are reported for the turbulent flow through a sudden expansion of a moderately elastic shear-thinning liquid and also for two Newtonian liquids. The differences in the mean velocity fields for the two fluid types are relatively small, including the length of the recirculation region which is essentially unaffected by the fluid rheology. Although turbulent kinetic energy levels for the non-Newtonian fluids are always lower than for the Newtonian fluids, no significant difference is found in the relative contributions to the turbulent kinetic energy of the axial, radial and tangential normal stresses. Since the vorticity thicknesses are much the same for all flows, viscoelasticity appears to be responsible for the reduced levels of turbulent kinetic energy for the non-Newtonian fluids. Received: 6 November 1998/Accepted: 27 January 1999     

Mixed convection boundary layer flow of non-Newtonian fluids along vertical wavy plates

Mixed convection boundary layer flows of non-Newtonian fluids over the wavy surfaces are studied by the coordinate transformation and the cubic spline collocation numerical method. The effects of the wavy geometry, the buoyancy parameter and the generalized Prandtl number for pseudoplastic fluids, Newtonian fluids and dilatant fluids on the skin-friction coefficient, local and mean Nusselt numbers have been graphically studied. Results show that both higher generalized Prandtl numbers and buoyancy parameters are seen to enhance the influence of wavy surfaces on the local Nusselt number, irrespective of whether the fluids are Newtonian fluids or non-Newtonian fluids. Moreover, the irregular surfaces have higher total heat flux than that of corresponding flats plate for any fluid.     

GPU accelerated simulations of three-dimensional flow of power-law fluids in a driven cube

Newtonian fluid flow in two- and three-dimensional cavities with a moving wall has been studied extensively in a number of previous works. However, relatively a fewer number of studies have considered the motion of non-Newtonian fluids such as shear thinning and shear thickening power law fluids. In this paper, we have simulated the three-dimensional, non-Newtonian flow of a power law fluid in a cubic cavity driven by shear from the top wall. We have used an in-house developed fractional step code, implemented on a Graphics Processor Unit. Three Reynolds numbers have been studied with power law index set to 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5. The flow patterns, viscosity distributions and velocity profiles are presented for Reynolds numbers of 100, 400 and 1000. All three Reynolds numbers are found to yield steady state flows. Tabulated values of velocity are given for the nine cases studied, including the Newtonian cases.     

On viscoelastic effects in non-Newtonian steady flows through porous media

This paper presents a mathematical model for describing approximately the viscoelastic effects in non-Newtonian steady flows through a porous medium. The rheological behaviour of power law fluids is considered in the Maxwell model of elastic behaviour of the fluids. The equations governing the steady flow through porous media are derived and an analytical solution of these equations in the case of a simple flow system is obtained. The conditions for which the viscoelastic effects may become observable from the pressure distribution measurements are shown and expressed in terms of some dimensionless groups. These have been found to be relevant in the evaluation of viscoelastic effects in the steady flow through porous media.     

聚合物流体渗流机理研究

聚合物流体在多孔介质中渗流的研究是近年来有重大进展的领域。本文介绍从力学与物理方法进行渗流机理研究的思路、主要结果和当前活跃的研究课题。流体的非牛顿性对复杂边界条件下均匀流体力学效应的影响已得到了较好的定量处理;揭示了拉伸流粘弹特性对渗流影响的机理,其定量描述则尚有待努力。进而讨论了石油工程中十分重要的非均一流体渗流的新进展,包括大分子效应与粘性指进效应及其分形描述。对于上述物理效应的综合考虑将使聚合物渗流力学研究进入新的阶段。      

On the existence of self-similar solutions of the equations governing unsteady flow through a porous medium

In this paper the conditions for the existence of self-similar solutions of the equations governing unsteady flows through a porous medium are presented and discussed. The first two sections deal with the case of non-Newtonian fluids of power-law behavior; the third section analyzes the case of non-Darcy gas flows. The boundary and initial conditions occuring currently in a large class of fluid mechanics problems, of practical interest in engineering, are considered.     

Role of shear-thinning and viscoelasticity on the onset of instability of glass fiber suspensions in the concentric spherical gap between an inner rotating hemisphere and an outer stationary sphere

An experimental study investigated the effects of glass fiber suspensions on the onset of instability in the non-Newtonian fluid flow in the concentric spherical gaps between an inner rotating hemisphere and an outer stationary whole sphere. Glass fibers with different aspect ratios were mixed with a macromolecule polymeric solution to obtain different suspension fluids. For comparison, the pure macromolecule polymeric fluid was also investigated. The torques on the inner sphere were measured for various spherical gaps and various rotational Reynolds numbers. The onset of instability of the polymeric fluid flows was delayed by adding glass fibers to the polymeric solution for all tested gap ratios.     

Models for flow of non-Newtonian and complex fluids through porous media

This article first provides a brief and simple account of continuum models for transport in porous media, and of the role of length scales in passing from pore-scale phenomena to “Darcy” continuum scale representations using averaged variables. It then examines the influence of non-Newtonian rheology on the single- and multi-phase transport parameters, i.e. Darcy viscosity, dispersion lengths and relative permeabilities. The aim is to deduce functional forms and values for these parameters given the rheological properties of the fluid or fluids in question, and the porosity, permeability, dispersion lengths and relative permeabilities (based on Newtonian fluids and equivalent capillary pressures) of the porous medium. It is concluded that micro-models, typically composed of capillary networks, applied at a sub-Darcy-scale, parameterised using data for flows of a well-characterised set of non-Newtonian fluids, are likely to provide the most reliable means.     

Creeping flow through a model fibrous porous medium

Pressure losses and velocity distributions were measured for creeping flow through three model fibrous porous media. The three models consisted of square arrays of circular rods with solid volume fractions of 2.5, 5 and 10%. Measurements of flow resistances are in good agreement with theoretical predictions after wall effects are accounted for using Brinkman’s equation. Two-dimensional velocity vector maps were obtained in each array using particle image velocimetry. The velocity distributions are necessary for identifying non-Newtonian effects in flows with viscoelastic fluids.     

Direct velocity gradient measurements using a dual-point laser—Doppler anemometer

The present paper describes a modified laser—Doppler anemometer set up to permit local velocity measurements at two separated points in space. In this way direct measurements of local shear and elongational rates become possible, providing information relevant in many flow studies of non-Newtonian fluids. Details of the optical and electronic sub-units are described and applications of the velocity gradient anemometer in channel flow are given to demonstrate its potential for measurement of rheological fluid properties and to provide insight into flows of non-Newtonian fluids.     

A finite element for incompressible plane flows of fluids with memory

Flows of fluids with single-integral memory functionals are considered. Evaluation of the stress at a material point involves the deformation history of that point, and a dominant computational cost in finite element approximation is the construction of streamlines. It is shown that the simple crossed-triangle macro-element is in many ways an ideal finite element for the difficult non-linear, non-self-adjoint problem. The question as to whether this element produces convergent velocity and pressure solutions is addressed in the light of its failure to satisfy the discrete LBB condition. The effect of the element's ill-disposed (‘spurious’) pressure modes is discussed, and a pressure smoothing scheme is given which gives good results in Newtonian and non-Newtonian flows at various Reynolds and Deborah numbers. As an example of the element's success in modelling such flows, the problem of pressure differences in flows over transverse slots is studied numerically. The results are compared with experimental observations of such flows. The effect of fluid memory on the relation between first normal-stress differences and pressure differences is investigated.