Flow pattern maps for particle-fluid mixture transport in a horizontal pipe - application of a three-layer model

ABSTRACT

A modified three-layer model was applied to model particle-fluid mixture flow in a horizontal pipe, the viscoelastic properties of carrier polymer solution were taken into consideration, and the Deborah number was used to calculate solid-fluid friction factor. An energy equation was applied to determine temperature distribution of carrier fluid along a horizontal pipe to accurately represent the rheological properties of carrier fluid. During the transport process, particles quickly settle out of carrier fluid and accumulate on pipe bottom forming a particle bed, so a particle bed load flow is observed. The transport mechanisms of particles in moving particle bed are govern by fluidization, which causes the height of this layer to be small and equal to 2∼5 times of particle diameter. In addition, the pressure drop is composed of solid-fluid and solid-solid friction loss, which dominate the hydrodynamic performance at different stages.

GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

KEYWORDS:

• Horizontal pipe
• particle-fluid flow
• three-layer model
• viscoelastic fluid

Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province, China (ZR2017BEE059), the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2016M600572), and the Doctoral Fund of Qingdao University of Science and Technology (0100229017).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation [Grant Number 2016M600572], Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province [Grant Number ZR2017BEE059], and Doctoral Fund of Qingdao University of Science and Technology [Grant Number 0100229017].