UDC 532.

RHEOPHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF WATER FLOW IN

MICROCRACKS

PhD candidate, Aida Aslanova

Department of Petroleum Engineering
Baku Higher Oil School,
Khojaly Avenue 30, Baku, Azerbaijan, AZ 1010
Mobile phone: +994515662320
Contact e-mail: aida.soltanova@bhos.edu.az

Jalil Jalilov
Learner of Landau School
6 Gulbala Aliyev St, Baku, Azerbaijan, AZ 1010
jalil.jalilov128@gmail.com

Abstract
In this research work, the rheophysical aspects of the non-Newtonian behavior of water during flow in thin micro-
channels are considered experimentally. Based on the Bingham model, rheological parameters of water flow are
estimated at different micro-slit clearances. Using the microchannel model it is established that the nonlinear
rheological effect in the flow of water in micro-slits is mainly caused by the value of the electrokinetic potential of the
system, by controlling of which it is possible to significantly regulate the non-Newtonian nature of the fluid .

Keywords: antistatic additives, slit openness, electric double layer, streaming potential, microchannel

1. Introduction
Currently, the development of low-permeable hydrocarbon reservoirs is becoming an increasingly urgent
task, and therefore, the study of the laws of fluid movement in subcapillary pores and microcracks is a
crucial scientific and technical problem.
Despite a large number of experimental and theoretical works, there are some issues in this area that
require further researches.
According to the results of some experimental studies, a viscous liquid during flow in low-permeable
reservoirs exhibits an anomalous non-Newtonian character, accompanied by a violation of the linearity of
the filtration process, and, consequently, Darcy's law (1-3, 7-10).
It is established (4) that starting from a certain critical size of the opening of the crack, the flow of a
Newtonian fluid (water, viscous oil) becomes non-Newtonian, with the manifestation of an initial
pressure gradient and flow locking.
However, to date there is no consensus on the mechanism of these phenomena, although there are
different approaches to explain the abnormal hydrodynamic behavior of liquids during flow in a low-
permeable porous medium and microcracks.
The work (5) is one of the first steps to study the influence of the electrokinetic potential of the flow on
the hydraulic characteristics of real liquid systems, in which it was revealed that various
thermohydrodynamic effects in heterogeneous liquid systems are largely determined by the electrokinetic
factor, by regulating which it is possible to significantly change the rheophysical state of the system.
The rheophysical peculiarities of water flow in microchannel was considered experimentally.
2. Materials and Methods
The experimental setup mainly consisted of a microchannel model, a high-pressure balloon, and a
thermostat. Tap water was used as the working fluid. The microchannel model with a length of 30cm and
a width of 4cm was formed by two parallel smooth steel plates with a thickness of 1.8 cm. Fig. 1 shows
the scheme of the experimental system.

Fig.1. 1-a high-pressure cylinder, 2- A reducer for regulating the supply of compressed air, 3-a container
for the test liquid, 4-a thermal bath, 5-a slot model, 6-a thermostat, 7-standart pressure gauge, 8-
thermometers
Microcracks of a given opening (h) were obtained by installing non-wettable gaskets of the corresponding
micron thickness between the plates. The experiments were carried out at various values of h in the range
of 20÷50 μm.
To ensure the isothermality of the process, the model was placed in a thermobath connected to an
ultrathermostat. To determine the pressure drop at the inlet and outlet of the model, model pressure
gauges were installed with an error of 0.2-0.35%. The mass flow rate of the liquid was determined on
electronic scales with an accuracy of 0.001 mg.

3. Results and discussion

 Upon reaching a steady flow regime, the flow curves for water were plotted at different values of the
crack opening.
It is known that the volumetric flow rate of a liquid with a steady laminar flow between two stationary
parallel plates is defined as Q = bh3ΔP/12µL, where, b, L and h, respectively, are the width, length and
openness of a rectangular slit.
Fig. 2 shows the flow curves obtained from experiments at five values of the opening of the crack h –
20μm, 30μm, 40 μm, 45 μm and 50 μm, at a constant temperature T = 300C.

Fig. 2 Flow curves 1 –20 μm, 2 – 30 μm, 3 –40 μm, 4 – 45 μm, 5 – 50 μm

As can be seen, for the crack with h=30μm, the water flow curve is linear and corresponds to the
Newtonian model. However, at lower values of h, the flow becomes nonlinear – water behaves like a non-
Newtonian fluid with some initial pressure gradient ΔP 0 typical for Bingham fluids, which is consistent
with the results of previous studies [4]. With a decrease in the opening of the crack, starting from the
threshold value h = 45 μm, the nonlinear nature of the water increases, the effect of locking the flow is
manifested, which is maximally expressed at the lowest value of the gap (h =20μm) in the considered
range.
In the observed transformation of a Newtonian system into a non-Newtonian one, strengthening of
rheological nonlinearity, enhancing of hydraulic resistance in thin slits, the role of the electrokinetic
factor, in particular, the stream potential, is unconditional. According to Coehn rule (6), double electric
layer (DEL) is formed at the contact boundary between liqud and solid surface with a certain
electrokinetic potential. The distribution of DEL is rather blurry and the thickness of diffusion layer might
be several microns. The electrostatic field created by the DEL affects the character of the flow around the
boundary zone. For channels with sufficiently large opening thicknesses, this effect can be insignificant.
However, for microchannels, the situation becomes principally different – electrokinetic potential creates
additional hydraulic resistance.
In the experiments, the streaming potential Δφ was measured with a microvoltmeter (CHY 20
Multimeter) using platinum electrodes at the input and output of the model. The measurement error did
not exceed 0.8%.
When plotting the flow curves, for each individual case, measurements of the streaming potential Δφ
were simultaneously carried out. The values of Δφ, with a pressure difference of ΔР = 1atm, for different
values the crack opening h, are shown in Fig. 3. Through the recording of the potensial differences
between inlet and outlet of the model, pressure difference has been kept as 1 atm.

Fig.3. The dependence of the stream potential Δφ on the magnitude of the opening of the crack
(h).
It is established that the value of Δφ significantly depends on the opening h and increases with decreasing
of the gap. So, for values of h - 50μm, 45μm, 40μm, 30μm and 20μm, at ΔP=1atm, the average values of
Δφ, respectively, are equal to 1910mV, 2190mV, 2680mV, 2975mV and 3360mV. With decreasing of h,
the stream potential Δφ increases and reaches its highest value at the smallest thickness. (Fig.3).
The obtained results indicate that the hydraulic characteristics of the water flow in microcracks
significantly depend on the degree of electrokinetic factor of the flow and by its corresponding variation
the flow parameters can be significantly changed.
Authors are gratefull to Professor Fuad Veliyev for setting of the task and discussing of obtained results.
Conclusion
The non-Newtonian behaviour of water flow in a microchannel of rectangular cross-section has been
examined in this research work. The electrokinetic potential of the water system was measured. The effect
of the potential change of the fluid system on the rheophysical characteristics of water flow has been
established. The experimental results indicate significant effect of potential differences between the
entrance and the output of the model on the flow parameters. The critical openness of h of the rectangular
microcrack model has been defined to be 25 μm. The obtained results conincide with the empirical
methods of the determination of critical thickness of the model (4, 11-14).
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