Flow of dilatant (shear‐thickening) fluids

Abstract

Abstract The conduit laminar flow of dilatant (shear‐thickening) fluids was investigated. It was found that such flow agreed with the Metzner‐Reed (friction factor‐modified Reynolds number) correlation previously verified only for pseudoplastic fluids. The agreement was found to hold even for cases where the flow behavior index was 2.0 or greater, which caused the velocity term V in the modified Reynolds number D n ′ V 2− n ′ / g c 8 n −1 K ′ to be raised to the zero or a negative power. It was also demonstrated that conduit laminar flow for dilatant (shear‐thickening) fluids could be described solely with the Metzner‐Reed correlation and rheological data taken with a small‐scale laboratory viscometer. Studies of flow through fittings (90‐deg. elbows, globe valves, and couplings) showed a definite effect for non‐Newtonian fluids contrary to previous reports for pseudoplastics which indicated essentially Newtonian behavior.