Comparative study of rheological properties of suspensions by computer simulation of Poiseuille and Couette flows

Abstract

The article presents results of numerical experiments performed to evaluate the effective rheological properties of a mixture of a fluid with solid particles. The numerical simulation of the Couette and Poiseuille flows shows that in the both cases, the effective viscosity and non-Newtonian properties of the suspension coincide to the accuracy of standard deviation. The authors define the area of applicability of Newtonian fluid model to modeling fluid and proppant mix and determine conditions for plugs at high concentrations of proppant.