Drag Reduction in Three Distinctly Different Fluid Systems

1981 ◽  
Vol 21 (06) ◽  
pp. 663-669 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas R. Sifferman ◽  
Robert A. Greenkorn

Abstract Drag reduction was observed in three distinctly different flow systems-dilute polymer solutions, two-phase solid/liquid suspensions, and three-phase immiscible liquid/liquid flow with suspended solids - in relatively large-diameter pipes (0.027, 0.038, and 0.053 m). Galvanized pipes presented a rough wall, while glass provided a smooth wall and allowed for flow visualization. provided a smooth wall and allowed for flow visualization. By drag reduction, we mean that, for the same flow rate, there is less pressure drop per length of pipe than for the base fluid flowing, alone.Three polymers-sodium carboxymethylcellulose (CMC). polyethylene oxide (POLYOX(TM)), and guar gum) (Jaguar(TM)) were mixed with water to form solutions of various concentrations (from 0.001 to 0.3 wt%). Two nominal concentrations (5 to 10%) of silca sand also were suspended with either tap water or some of the polymers. Finally, white mineral oil and either tap water or polymer solutions were tested. Sand also was added to the oil system.Drag reductions of up to almost 80% were obtained for both the polymer systems and the oil system. Sand suspensions had a maximum of about 35% drag reduction in tap water. However, greatest reductions (more than 90% were attained with the polymer/sand suspensionsSince the sand in the polymer solutions reduced the drag even more than the polymers alone, it may be that the drag mechanism is additive and even may be the same type for both polymers and suspensions.Drag reduction occurs in the region near the wall and could occur in an intermediate layer zone that allows an effective slip velocity to result. Polymers showed significant deviation from the Newtonian velocity profiles.Less power was required to pump the polymers than water alone. Viscosity and normal stress data were obtained also. Introduction There are many interesting engineering applications of drag-reduction phenomena. For many flow situations in conduits, the use of a drag reduction agent (normally a viscoelastic soluble polymer) increases flow rate for the same pressure drop in diverse systems. Such as storm sewers, drilling operations, fire fighting, irrigation and living systems. External flows can be improved around ships and torpedoes. Proper design of solid/fluid systems to take advantage of the drag reduction associated with suspended solids can be used in transporting coal, raw sewage, and sediment. In two-phase liquid/liquid situations, such as hydraulic fracturing of oil wells and transportation of liquid petroleum. drag reduction associated with annular immiscible or emulsion flow can be used to advantage where exceptionally large reductions in pressure for a given flow rate result for viscous oils and water.To design systems to take advantage of lower energy requirements at the same flow rate, data are necessary (1) from systems large enough that diameter effects are absent, (2) at flow rates of sufficient velocity that the phenomena are present, and (3) on different systems phenomena are present, and (3) on different systems with varying physical properties. Such data re necessary to develop correlations, to understand flow mechanisms, and to develop mathematical models-all of which are necessary to interpolate and extrapolate the data for design of such flow systems. Previously, this type of data has not been available.Drag reductions is defined, at a given flow rate, as the pressure drop for a given system minus the pressure drop pressure drop for a given system minus the pressure drop for the base fluid divided by the pressure drop for the base fluid.In this paper, we report observations of drag-reduction phenomena in three distinctly different flow systems: (1) phenomena in three distinctly different flow systems:single-phase water, oil, and dilute polymer-water solutions;two-phase oil/water, oil/polymer solution, water/sand, and polymer solution/sand; andthree-phase oil/water/sand and oil/polymer solution/sand. The data were collected in 0.027- and 0.053-m Schedule 40 galvanized pipe and a 0.038-m-ID smooth-wall glass pipe. pipe. SPEJ P. 663

1999 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keizo Watanabe ◽  
Hiroshi Udagawa

Abstract By applying a highly water-repellent wall pipe in the drag reduction of polymer solutions, a flow system in which drag reduction is obtained in both laminar and turbulent flow ranges has been realized. Experiments were carried out to measure the pressure drop in pipes with a highly water-repellent wall and an acrylic resin wall by means of a pressure transducer. The diameter of the pipe was 6mm. The polymer solutions tested were PE015 aqueous solutions in the concentration range of 30ppm∼1000ppm. The drag reduction ratio for laminar flow was about 11∼15%. To understand this effect, the pressure drop was measured by using surfactant solutions and degassed water, and by pressurizing tap water in the pipeline. It was shown that the laminar drag reduction does not occur in the case of surfactant solutions although degassed water and pressurizing tap water in the pipeline have no effect on the reduction. In the laminar flow range, the friction factor of a power-law fluid with fluid slip was analyzed by applying the modified boundary condition on fluid slip at the pipe wall, and the analytical results agree with the experimental results in the low Reynolds number range.


1976 ◽  
Vol 54 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 111-114 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lambert Otten ◽  
Abdelrahman S. Fayed

Author(s):  
Nan Liang ◽  
Changqing Tian ◽  
Shuangquan Shao

As one kind of fluid machinery related to the two-phase flow, the refrigeration system encounters more problems of instability. It is essential to ensure the stability of the refrigeration systems for the operation and efficiency. This paper presents the experimental investigation on the static and dynamic instability in an evaporator of refrigeration system. The static instability experiments showed that the oscillatory period and swing of the mixture-vapor transition point by observation with a camera through the transparent quartz glass tube at the outlet of the evaporator. The pressure drop versus mass flow rate curves of refrigerant two phase flow in the evaporator were obtained with a negative slope region in addition to two positive slope regions, thus making the flow rate a multi-valued function of the pressure drop. For dynamic instabilities in the evaporation process, three types of oscillations (density wave type, pressure drop type and thermal type) were observed at different mass flow rates and heat fluxes, which can be represented in the pressure drop versus mass flow rate curves. For the dynamic instabilities, density wave oscillations happen when the heat flux is high with the constant mass flow rate. Thermal oscillations happen when the heat flux is correspondingly low with constant mass flow rate. Though the refrigeration system do not have special tank, the accumulator and receiver provide enough compressible volume to induce the pressure drop oscillations. The representation and characteristic of each oscillation type were also analyzed in the paper.


2005 ◽  
Vol 127 (11) ◽  
pp. 1280-1284 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. J. Kobus

The objective of this research is to investigate large-scale transient flow surges of the condensate leaving in-tube condensing flow systems because of perturbations in the inlet vapor flow rate, and the influence of the subcooled liquid inertia of the condensate on these transient responses. Small changes in the inlet vapor flow rate momentarily cause large transient flow surges in the outlet liquid flow rate. Condensate inertia is seen to destabilize the system into an underdamped behavior where the flow rate can overshoot the final steady-state position several times. A one-dimensional, two-fluid, distributed parameter system mean void fraction (SMVF) model of the time-dependent distribution of liquid and vapor within the two-phase region is developed for predicting these transient characteristics, which it is seen to do quite well, especially when consideration is given to the complex nature of the problem.


2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
A. Abubakar

The need to ensure qualitative and reliable measurement of pressure drop of the oil-water flow cannot be over emphasized. In this regard, this study focused on the investigation of uncertainty in the measurement of pressure drop of oil-water flow in different acrylic pipe inclinations (0, +5ᴼ, +10ᴼ and -5ᴼ) and diameters (30.6-, 55.7- and 74.7-mm ID). The working fluids were tap water and mineral-based hydraulic oil (Shell Tellus S2 V 15), with medium viscosity and density of 24 cP and 872 kgm-3 respectively while the interfacial tension between the water and the oil was 12.9 mN/m at 25 ᴼC. The selected flow conditions were 0.5 and 1.0 m/s mixture velocities each at 0.1, 0.5 and 0.9 input water volume fractions. The repeatability, accuracy of the pressure transmitter, flow rate of the oil-water mixture and holdup (particularly for the inclined flow) were the sources of errors in the measurement of the pressure drop. The results showed that the average relative uncertainties in the pressure drop in 30.6-mm ID pipe were ±4.6 %, ±10.8 %, ±11.2 % and ±10.8 % in the 0ᴼ, +5ᴼ, +10ᴼ and -5ᴼ inclined flows respectively. Similarly, the average relative uncertainties in the pressure drop in the horizontal 55.7-mm and 74.7-mm ID pipes were ±5.7 % and ±7.5 % respectively. The largest contribution to the uncertainty in the pressure drop came from the flow rate and water holdup in the horizontal and inclined pipes respectively. The least contribution in both  horizontal and inclined pipes came from the accuracy of the pressure transmitter. Key words: Oil-water flow; Pressure drops; Standard uncertainty, Combined standard uncertainty; Expanded uncertainty


Author(s):  
Seok-Ki Choi ◽  
Seong-O Kim ◽  
Han-Ok Kang

A simple model to analyze the non-linear density-wave instability in a sodium cooled, helically coiled steam generator is developed. The model is formulated with three regions with moving boundaries. The homogeneous equilibrium flow model is used for the two-phase region and the shell-side energy conservation is also considered for the heat flux variation in each region. The proposed model is applied to the analysis of two-phase instability in a JAEA (Japan Atomic Energy Agency) 50MWt No.2 steam generator. The steady state results show that the proposed model accurately predicts the six cases of the operating temperatures in the primary and secondary sides. The sizes of the three regions and the secondary side pressure drop according to the flow rate, and the temperature variation in the vertical direction are also predicted well. The temporal variations of the inlet flow rate according to the throttling coefficient, the boiling and superheating boundaries and the pressure drop in the two-phase and superheating regions are obtained from the unsteady analysis.


Author(s):  
Siqi Zhang ◽  
Puzhen Gao

In spite of most previous studies since 1970, the theory of pulsating pipe flows supported by experimental investigations has not yet completed in comparison with the well-defined theory of steady pipe flows. Therefore, it seems that there is much to be done about experimental research in this field. In order to determine the resistance characteristics of two-phase flow under pulsatile conditions, an experimental investigation on two-phase flow with periodically fluctuating flow rates in a narrow rectangular channel is carried out. A frequency inverter is used to obtain experimental conditions with different fluctuating frequencies, amplitudes and mean values of water mass flow rate. After obtaining experimental results, comparisons between experimental frictional pressure drop values and theoretical calculations have been done. Two-phase flow on pulsating conditions is far more complicated than that on steady conditions because pulsating flow is composed of two parts: a steady component and a superimposed periodical time varying component called oscillation. In this paper, the influence of different fluctuating frequencies, amplitudes and mean values of liquid and gas mass flow rate on two-phase flow pressure drop characteristics is also discussed. The results show that the total pressure drop and water mass flow rate change with the same fluctuating period except for a phase difference. The phase lag also changes with the fluctuating frequencies and amplitude. The accelerating pressure drop changes dramatically in a fluctuating period, especially at the end of acceleration. Also, the time when the acceleration pressure drop has its maximum value lags the time when the acceleration reaches its peak, mainly because of the inertial of the fluid.


Author(s):  
Arturo Rodriguez ◽  
V. M. Krushnarao Kotteda ◽  
Luis F. Rodriguez ◽  
Vinod Kumar ◽  
Arturo Schiaffino ◽  
...  

Due to global demand for energy, there is a need to maximize oil extraction from wet reservoir sedimentary formations, which implies the efficient extraction of oil at the pore scale. The approach involves pressurizing water into the wetting oil pore of the rock for displacing and extracting the oil. The two-phase flow is complicated because of the behavior of the fluid flow at the pore scale, and capillary quantities such as surface tension, viscosities, pressure drop, radius of the medium, and contact angle become important. In the present work, we use machine learning algorithms in TensorFlow to predict the volumetric flow rate for a given pressure drop, surface tension, viscosity and geometry of the pores. The TensorFlow software library was developed by the Google Brain team and is one of the most powerful tools for developing machine learning workflows. Machine learning models can be trained on data and then these models are used to make predictions. In this paper, the predicted values for a two-phase flow of various pore sizes and liquids are validated against the numerical and experimental results in the literature.


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