Laminar Flow of a Power-Law Fluid in a Horizontal Pipe
Laminar Flow of a Power-Law Fluid in a Horizontal Pipe
The velocity profile versus radial position is obtained for the laminar flow of a pseudo-plastic or dilatant fluid (orange curve) and a Newtonian fluid (blue curve) in a pipe under the assumption of equal volumetric flow rate. The pipe radius is and the applied pressure gradient is . The power-law consistency index is chosen to be . If the power-law exponent is 1, then a Newtonian fluid is recovered. For the pseudo-plastic fluid, the velocity profile is flatter near the center, where it resembles plug flow, and is steeper near the wall, where it has a higher velocity than the Newtonian fluid or the dilatant fluid. Thus, convective energy transport is higher for shear-thinning fluids when compared to shear-thickening or Newtonian fluids.
R=0.02
PG=2
κ=1.5
-5
10
n