Newtonian fluids turbulent flow

Fullerton, G., and McComb, D., Investigation of isotropic non-Newtonian fluid turbulence using direct numerical simulation, in Turbulence and Shear Flow Phenomena 1, First International Symposium, Santa Barbara, CA, Sept. 12-15, 1999, pp. 633-638. 

The transition from laminar to turbulent flow occurs at Reynolds numbers varying from ca 2000 for n > 1 to ca 5000 for n = 0.2. In the laminar region the Fanning friction factor (Fig. 2) is identical to that for Newtonian fluids. In the turbulent region the friction factor drops significantly with decreasing values of producing a family of curves. 

The shear stress is hnear with radius. This result is quite general, applying to any axisymmetric fuUy developed flow, laminar or turbulent. If the relationship between the shear stress and the velocity gradient is known, equation 50 can be used to obtain the relationship between velocity and pressure drop. Thus, for laminar flow of a Newtonian fluid, one obtains ... 

Averaging the velocity using equation 50 yields the weU-known Hagen-Poiseuille equation (see eq. 32) for laminar flow of Newtonian fluids in tubes. The momentum balance can also be used to describe the pressure changes at a sudden expansion in turbulent flow (Fig. 21b). The control surface 2 is taken to be sufficiently far downstream that the flow is uniform but sufficiently close to surface 3 that wall shear is negligible. The additional important assumption is made that the pressure is uniform on surface 3. The conservation equations are then applied as follows ... 

Laminar and Turbulent Flow, Reynolds Number These terms refer to two distinct types of flow. In laminar flow, there are smooth streamlines and the fuiid velocity components vary smoothly with position, and with time if the flow is unsteady. The flow described in reference to Fig. 6-1 is laminar. In turbulent flow, there are no smooth streamlines, and the velocity shows chaotic fluctuations in time and space. Velocities in turbulent flow may be reported as the sum of a time-averaged velocity and a velocity fluctuation from the average. For any given flow geometry, a dimensionless Reynolds number may be defined for a Newtonian fluid as Re = LU p/ I where L is a characteristic length. Below a critical value of Re the flow is laminar, while above the critical value a transition to turbulent flow occurs. The geometry-dependent critical Reynolds number is determined experimentally. 

The following analysis can be used to determine economic pipe diameters for the turbulent flow of Newtonian fluids. The working expression that can be used is ... 

As in the case of Newtonian fluids, one of the most important practical problems involving non-Newtonian fluids is the calculation of the pressure drop for flow in pipelines. The flow is much more likely to be streamline, or laminar, because non-Newtonian fluids usually have very much higher apparent viscosities than most simple Newtonian fluids. Furthermore, the difference in behaviour is much greater for laminar flow where viscosity plays such an important role than for turbulent flow. Attention will initially be focused on laminar-flow, with particular reference to the flow of power-law and Bingham-plastic fluids. 

In order to predict Lhe transition point from stable streamline to stable turbulent flow, it is necessary to define a modified Reynolds number, though it is not clear that the same sharp transition in flow regime always occurs. Particular attention will be paid to flow in pipes of circular cross-section, but the methods are applicable to other geometries (annuli, between flat plates, and so on) as in the case of Newtonian fluids, and the methods described earlier for flow between plates, through an annulus or down a surface can be adapted to take account of non-Newtonian characteristics of the fluid. 

As indicated earlier, non-Newtonian characteristics have a much stronger influence on flow in the streamline flow region where viscous effects dominate than in turbulent flow where inertial forces are of prime importance. Furthermore, there is substantial evidence to the effect that for shear-thinning fluids, the standard friction chart tends to over-predict pressure drop if the Metzner and Reed Reynolds number Re R is used. Furthermore, laminar flow can persist for slightly higher Reynolds numbers than for Newtonian fluids. Overall, therefore, there is a factor of safety involved in treating the fluid as Newtonian when flow is expected to be turbulent. 

HARTNETT and KOSTIC 26 have recently examined the published correlations for turbulent flow of shear-thinning power-law fluids in pipes and in non-circular ducts, and have concluded that, for smooth pipes, Dodge and Metzner S(27) modification of equation 3.11 (to which it reduces for Newtonian fluids) is the most satisfactory. 

Heywood, N. 1. and Cheng, D. C.-H. Trans Inst. Measurement and Control 6 (1984) 33. Comparison of methods for predicting head loss in turbulent pipe flow of non-Newtonian fluids. 

Equation 5.2 is found to hold well for non-Newtonian shear-thinning suspensions as well, provided that the liquid flow is turbulent. However, for laminar flow of the liquid, equation 5.2 considerably overpredicts the liquid hold-up e/,. The extent of overprediction increases as the degree of shear-thinning increases and as the liquid Reynolds number becomes progressively less. A modified parameter X has therefore been defined 16 171 for a power-law fluid (Chapter 3) in such a way that it reduces to X both at the superficial velocity uL equal to the transitional velocity (m )f from streamline to turbulent flow and when the liquid exhibits Newtonian properties. The parameter X is defined by the relation... 

When a liquid exhibits non-Newtonian characteristics, the above procedures for Newtonian fluids are valid provided that the liquid flow is turbulent. 

Fine suspensions are reasonably homogeneous and segregation of solid and liquid phases does not occur to any significant extent during flow. The settling velocities of the particles are low in comparison with the liquid velocity and the turbulent eddies within the fluid are responsible for the suspension of the particles. In practice, turbulent flow will always be used, except when the liquid has a very high viscosity or exhibits non-Newtonian characteristics. The particles may be individually dispersed in the liquid or they may be present as floes. 

Kostic M (1994) On turbulent drag and heat transfer reduction phenomena and laminar heat transfer enhancement in non-circular duct flow of certain non-Newtonian fluid. Int J Heat Mass Transfer 37 133-147... 

This classification of material behavior is summarized in Table 3-1 (in which the subscripts have been omitted for simplicity). Since we are concerned with fluids, we will concentrate primarily on the flow behavior of Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids. However, we will also illustrate some of the unique characteristics of viscoelastic fluids, such as the ability of solutions of certain high polymers to flow through pipes in turbulent flow with much less energy expenditure than the solvent alone. 

As will be shown later, the velocity profile for a Newtonian fluid in laminar flow in a circular tube is parabolic. When this is introduced into Eq. (5-38), the result is a = 2. For highly turbulent flow, the profile is much flatter and a 1.06, although for practical applications it is usually assumed that a = 1 for turbulent flow. 

The foregoing procedure can be used to solve a variety of steady, fully developed laminar flow problems, such as flow in a tube or in a slit between parallel walls, for Newtonian or non-Newtonian fluids. However, if the flow is turbulent, the turbulent eddies transport momentum in three dimensions within the flow field, which contributes additional momentum flux components to the shear stress terms in the momentum equation. The resulting equations cannot be solved exactly for such flows, and methods for treating turbulent flows will be considered in Chapter 6. 

For steady, uniform, fully developed flow in a pipe (or any conduit), the conservation of mass, energy, and momentum equations can be arranged in specific forms that are most useful for the analysis of such problems. These general expressions are valid for both Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids in either laminar or turbulent flow. 

These turbulent momentum flux components are also called Reynolds stresses. Thus, the total stress in a Newtonian fluid in turbulent flow is composed of both viscous and turbulent (Reynolds) stresses ... 

All models for turbulent flows are semiempirical in nature, so it is necessary to rely upon empirical observations (e.g., data) for a quantitative description of friction loss in such flows. For Newtonian fluids in long tubes, we have shown from dimensional analysis that the friction factor should be a unique function of the Reynolds number and the relative roughness of the tube wall. This result has been used to correlate a wide range of measurements for a range of tube sizes, with a variety of fluids, and for a wide range of flow rates in terms of a generalized plot of/ versus /VRe- with e/D as a parameter. This correlation, shown in Fig. 6-4, is called a Moody diagram. 

Corresponding expressions for the friction loss in laminar and turbulent flow for non-Newtonian fluids in pipes, for the two simplest (two-parameter) models—the power law and Bingham plastic—can be evaluated in a similar manner. The power law model is very popular for representing the viscosity of a wide variety of non-Newtonian fluids because of its simplicity and versatility. However, extreme care should be exercised in its application, because any application involving extrapolation beyond the range of shear stress (or shear rate) represented by the data used to determine the model parameters can lead to misleading or erroneous results. 

Like the von Karman equation, this equation is implicit in/. Equation (6-46) can be applied to any non-Newtonian fluid if the parameter n is interpreted to be the point slope of the shear stress versus shear rate plot from (laminar) viscosity measurements, at the wall shear stress (or shear rate) corresponding to the conditions of interest in turbulent flow. However, it is not a simple matter to acquire the needed data over the appropriate range or to solve the equation for / for a given flow rate and pipe diameter, in turbulent flow. 

For the Bingham plastic, there is no abrupt transition from laminar to turbulent flow as is observed for Newtonian fluids. Instead, there is a gradual deviation from purely laminar flow to fully turbulent flow. For turbulent flow, the friction factor can be represented by the empirical expression of Darby and Melson (1981) [as modified by Darby et al. (1992)] ... 

The model for turbulent drag reduction developed by Darby and Chang (1984) and later modified by Darby and Pivsa-Art (1991) shows that for smooth tubes the friction factor versus Reynolds number relationship for Newtonian fluids (e.g., the Colebrook or Churchill equation) may also be used for drag-reducing flows, provided (1) the Reynolds number is defined with respect to the properties (e.g., viscosity) of the Newtonian solvent and (3) the Fanning friction factor is modified as follows ... 

Evaluate the kinetic energy correction factor a in Bernoulli s equation for turbulent flow assuming that the 1/7 power law velocity profile [Eq. (6-36)] is valid. Repeat this for laminar flow of a Newtonian fluid in a tube, for which the velocity profile is parabolic. 

The a s are the kinetic energy correction factors at the upstream and downstream points (recall that a = 2 for laminar flow and a = 1 for turbulent flow for a Newtonian fluid). 

The basic procedure for the power law fluid is the same as above for the Newtonian fluid. We get a first estimate for the Reynolds number by ignoring fittings and assuming turbulent flow. This is used to estimate the value of / (hence Kpipe) using Eq. (6-44) and the Knt values from the equivalent 3-K equation. Inserting these into Eq. (7-50) then gives a first estimate for the diameter, which is then used to revise the Reynolds number. The iteration continues until successive values agree, as follows ... 

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