CHAPTER 4.

THEORETICAL STUDIES ON LAMINAR HELICAL FLOW OF

POWER-LAW FLUIDS THROUGH CONCENTRIC ANNULI

In Chapter 2, we have discussed laminar axial flow of non-Newtonian

fluids through a concentric annulus where both the inner and the outer

tubes are stationary and thus the flow is purely axial. If one of or

both the tubes are rotated, however, a tangential component of the fluid

velocity, or say, rotating flow, will be imposed upon the annular flow,

in addition to the axial velocity component. In this situation, each

fluid particle will follow a spiral or a helical path about the axis of

the tubes with an angular velocity w and an axial velocity vz. This is

the so called 'annular helical flow' or simply 'helical flow'. A

perfect practical example of the helical flow is the flow of drilling

fluids through the drilling annulus when the drillpipe is rotated.

For a Newtonian fluid, its viscosity is a constant and thus not

shear-dependent. So the axial and the tangential components of a

helical flow are independent of each other. Therefore they can be dealt

with separately and the solutions for the helical flow can be obtained

by a simple superposition of the two flow components. These separate

treatments may be seen in many standard textbooks of fluid

mechanics(81191b).

For non-Newtonian fluids, i.e. the fluids with a shear-dependent

viscosity function, the axial and the tangential components will be

interdependent and the resulting helical flow will not be a simple

superposition of the axial flow and the tangential flow. Therefore the

tangential and the axial components of the flow must be dealt with

simultaneously ih this situation. This chapter presents a theoretical

39
analysis of laminar helical flow of power-law non-Newtonian fluids

through a concentric annulus:

4.1. Previous studies

Numerous studies have been reported on the modelling of laminar

helical flow of non-Newtonian fluids. Rivlin's study (23) contained a

treatment of helical flow for incompressible fluids and he developed two

simultaneous, first-order, non-linear differential equations for

determining the angular and the axial velocity components. Coleman and

Noll (24) solved the problem for general fluids by making no special

constitutive assumptions other than fluid incompressibility and showed

that it is necessary to know only one material function which relates

shear stress and shear rate in simple shear flow in order to calculate

the volumetric flowrate. Fredrickson (25) presented equations for the

helical flow of viscoelastic fluids which contains an arbitrary apparent

viscosity function.

Following the above treatments, a number of other studies have also

been reported. Savins and Wallick (26) showed how the axial volumetric

flowrate and angular velocity become interdependent in helical flow of

Oldroyd-type fluids. With a single set of data obtained from their

experiment, Dierckes and Schowalter( 27) claimed that excellent agreement

had been obtained between the experimentally measured ' and the

theoretically calculated volumetric flowrate for polyisobutylene (PIB)

solution based on the power-law model. Later their result was further

confirmed by Rea and Schowalter (29) who experimentally measured both

velocity profiles and volumetric flowrates and obtained substantial

agreement between the predicted and the experimental data.

Walker and Al-Rawi( 29 ) presented a paper in 1970 in which an

110
iterative solution method was proposed for calculating the pressure

gradient in non-Newtonian helical flow based on the equations developed

by Fredrickson (25) . Walker and Al-Rawi's work, in the knowledge of the

present author, is the only study reported so far in terms of the

pressure gradient calculation in annular helical flow of non-Newtonian

fluids.

There are some other studies which have been reported on the annular

helical flow of non-Newtonian fluids(3°;31).

In the present analysis, analytical dimensionless equations for the

apparent viscosity, shear stress, velocities and the axial volumetric

flowrate in the laminar annular helical flow of power-law fluids will be

developed for the first time. Based on these equations, a comprehensive

analysis will be performed to study the characteristics of annular

helical flow of power-law fluids. In addition, an analytical solution

for the pressure gradient will also be derived and by using the proposed

solution, the pressure gradient can be obtained directly and no

Iterative solution is necessary.

For convenience of derivation in the following analysis; the

dimensional equations will be developed first, then the dimensionless

parameters will be defined and finally the dimensionless equations will

be derived.

4.2. Derivation of the governing equations

In order to simulate the situation in oilwell drilling annuli, it is

assumed throughout the following analysis that the inner tube is rotated

at an angular velocity to l while the outer tube is held stationary and

the fluid flows under the action of a constant pressure gradient in the

axial direction. For other cases, e.g. where the inner tube is held

111
stationary while the outer tube is rotated or both the tubes are rotated

with different speeds, solutions can be obtained easily based on the

present analysis by modifying the corresponding boundary conditions.

Therefore, the present analysis does not lose its generality for the

helical flow because of the assumption that the inner tube is rotated

while the outer tube in held stationary. Fig.(4-1) illustrates the

helical flow system.

In Section 2.2.1 of Chapter 2, we discussed several characteristics

of laminar axial flow of fluids through a concentric annulus. It was

found that the only non-zero velocity component, the axial velocity

'vz', is a function of 'r' only. Based on this characteristic, the

governing equation for the flow was derived from the equations of

motion.

It can be shown that the characteristics identified for the

concentric annular axial flow will also exist in the present case of the

annular helical flow through a concentric annulus except that the

tangential component of the fluid velocity is not zero. Considering

that a concentric annulus is axisymmetric and its cross-section is

uniform in z-direction, it can be easily deduced that the tangential

component of the fluid velocity 've is independent of '6' and 'z' and

thus it is also a function of r only. Thus the two velocity components

in the considered helical flow may be expressed as:

Vz = Vz(r) (4-1a)

Ve = v0(r) (4 -1b)

Therefore, based on Eq.(1-6) through Eq.(1-8), the non-zero components

of the stress tensor are the shear stress Tzr and Ter which are also

functions of r only, i.e.

42
E
cp
4..•
CO
>1
CO

n
0
W..
.n.
CO
0
.mm.
n.
0
..0

CO

1n•••
0

C
0
..
4-*
CO
1.
4.,
CO
D
..
T zr Tzr(r) (4-2a)

T ar = Ter(r) (4 -2b)

Then, the equations of motion, i.e. Eqs.(2-2), may be simplified for

the present case to the following three equations:

2
V9 3P
. P13 1.r
f
P (4-3a)

a 2
(r • T ) 0 (4-3b)
ar er

g - 1 2— (r —r )=O (4-3c)
p r 3r zr

where gp is defined by Eq.(2-6) in Chapter 2. Eq.(4-3a) states that the

centrifugal force developed by the rotational motion of the fluid is

balanced by the pressure force and the gravitational force. This

equation determines the radial pressure distribution. However, since it

contributes nothing to the fluid motion, it can be dropped out in the

present analysis. Integrating Eqs.(4-3b) and (4-3c) yields:

T = 2
er
• r

—2 r a - r • T C (4-4b)
2 zr

where 0 and C are constants of integration. The above equations are the

governing equations for annular helical flow through concentric annuli:

Like Eq.(2-5) for annular axial flow, Eqs.(4-4) are developed without

any assumption regarding the rheological behaviour of the fluid, so it

is valid for both Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids:

43 •
4.3. Derivation of the dimensional equations

Shear stress profiles

In Eq.(4-4a) we have obtained the expression for shear stress Ter.

The shear stress Tyr may be found by applying the boundary condition to

Eq.(4-4b) that Tyr = 0 at r = ro:

0
2
(4-5a)
Or-

2
r
o
T = —2 ( r - )
zr 2

Apparent viscosity profile

According to Eq.(1-6) through (1-8) and Eqs.(4-1), the shear stress

Ter and Tyr may be expressed in terms of velocity gradients as:

aw
) _ (11-6a)
T er Pa ( r

Bv
z
T- (4-6b)
zr Pa ar

where the angular velocity w may be also expressed as:

til (4-7)

For the present annular helical flow, based on Eq.(1-12), the scalar

product of the rate of deformation tensor may be simplified as:

44
Eq.(4-5b) with Eq.(4-6b):

2
g
z ( r - - )2
P a ar 2

Integrating the above equation and applying the boundary condition that

v z 0 at r r l , we have:

r 2
g I 1
o
( - r ) dr (4-11b)
z 2 p
ri a

Determining equations for 0 and rn

Because the outer tube is held stationary, the constant can be

determined by applying the boundary condition to Eq.(-11a) that w=0

at r r2, whereupon, we have:

0 - (4-12a)
r2 dr
3
jr-
r2 a

Similarly, the constant ro is determined by applying the boundary

condition to Eq.(4-11b) that vz -_0 at r = r2 ,. then:

r2 21- dr 1/2
, ri P a (4 - 12b)
-r - k )
o r2 dr
p -r
r1 a

It should be reminded that Eq.(-12a) and Eq.(4-12b) are not the

explicit expressions for 0 and ro, respectively, because both the terms

'0' and 'ro t are contained in the term 'pa' of the Eqs.(4 - 12).

Therefore, Eqs.(4-12) together with Eq.(4-10) must be solved

46
simultaneously in order to obtain the constants 0 and r6.

Volumetric flowrates

The general formula for the axial volumetric flowrate maY be

expressed as:

r2
q .- 2ir r•vz•dr (4-13a)
1 r1
Integrating the above equation by parts and noting that vz = 0 at r = r1

and r r 2 , we may find that:

2 DV
-2irIr2 z dr (4 -13b)
2 Br
ri

Substituting the derivative of Eq.(4-11b) into the above equation, it

may be obtained that:

1r2
irg r-(r2 -r o 2)
q ___2 dr (4-13c)
2 p
Jr-1 a

4.4: Derivation of the dimensionless equations

In Section 2.3 of Chapter 2, the following three dimensionless

variables have been defined:

r r1 r
k= ..._ o
k1 =— k = —
r2 r 2o r2

For the present case of annular helical flow, some additional

dimensionless parameters are required. .Examining Eqs.(4-4) through

47
Eqs.(4-13), we may find that the following dimensionless parameters may

be defined:

= 3 7 -
WI g -r s
g-r
p2 ( )

The physical significance of the above dimensionless parameters can

be identified as follows:

(i) from Eq.(4-4a) it may be found that O/r2 2 represents the shear

stress on the outer tube. The term gp-r 2 represents the axial pressure

stress. So according to its defination above, a may be considered as a

ratio of the tangential shear stress on the outer tube to an equivalent

axial pressure stress;

(ii) because the term:

g -r a s
( K )

has the dimensions of shear rate, it may be taken as an equivalent axial

shear rate while w i is the tangential shear rate on the inner tube: So

the dimensionless parameter No may be considered as the ratio of the

tangential shear rate on the inner tube to an equivalent axial shear

rate. Hereafter we call No the dimensionless angular velocity of the

inner tube.

By using the above dimensionless parameters, the dimensionless

equations for the laminar helical flow of power-law fluids may be

derived from the corresponding dimensional equations developed in the

preceding section.

48
• ▪ •

From Eq.(4-10), the dimensionless apparent viscosity may be found:

.( g • r )S 02 (k 2k 2)2 n-1
2n
/l a K [ + o
(4-14)
1-1 g p -r 2
A4 4.)12

Corresponding to 0 and ro, the determining equations for the

dimensionless constants a and,k 0 may be found, respectively, as:

it

(4-15a)
3
W -A
kl

1 1 A
it 1/2
K• 1
A ( (4 -15b)
0 1 dA
-A
NI p

Because the term w u in Eqs.(15) contain both a_ and Ao, the

dimensionless constants a and ko must be determined by combining

Eq.(4-14) and solving Eq.(4-15a) and Eq.(4-15b) simultaneously.

The dimensionless tangential and axial shear stresses may be

obtained from Eqs.(4-5), respectively, as:

T
Or a
2 (4-16a)
Te g- r
p
2 A

2
A
w =
zr . 1 ( A. 0
(4 -16b)
TZ g •r 2 A
P 2

The dimensionless angular velocity and the axial velocity can be

found from Eq.(4-11a) and Eq.(4-11b), respectively,

49