CRITICAL VELOCITY CORRELATIONS FOR SLURRY TRANSPORT WITH NON-NEWTONIAN FLUIDS

Transport properties of various uncross-linked and cross-linked non-Newtonian slurries in horizontal pipes are studied. Flow data are gathered in three long, different diameter, transparent horizontal pipes. Investigated are the effects of the pipe size, polymer concentration, fluid rheological properties, cross-linking effects, particle size and density, solids concentration, fluid density, and slurry rate on the critical deposition velocities and particle resuspension velocities. It is found that critical deposition and resuspension velocities for the non-Newtonian carrier fluids tested are significantly lower than those for water. Both velocities depend greatly on pipe size and particle density. Higher critical velocities are required to minimize settling (1) in larger pipe sizes and (2) for pumping solids denser than sand. For less viscous fluids, critical deposition and resuspension velocities increase slightly with increasing solids concentration. They are, however, independent of solids concentration for more viscous fluids.