Two-phase power-law modeling of pipe flows displaying shear-thinning phenomena

Abstract

This paper describes our work in modeling concentrated liquid-solids flows in pipes. COMMIX-M, a three-dimensional transient and steady-state computer program developed at Argonne National Laboratory, was used to compute velocities and concentrations. Based on our previous analyses, some concentrated liquid-solids suspension flows display shear-thinning rather than Newtonian phenomena. Therefore, we developed a two-phase non-Newtonian power-law model that includes the effect of solids concentration on solids viscosity. With this new two-phase power-law solids-viscosity model, and with constitutive relationships for interfacial drag, virtual mass effect, shear lift force, and solids partial-slip boundary condition at the pipe walls, COMMIX-M is capable of analyzing concentrated three-dimensional liquid-solids flows.