CHAPTER 3.

THEORETICAL STUDIES ON LAMINAR AXIAL FLOW

OF NON-NEWTONIAN FLUIDS THROUGH ECCENTRIC ANNULI

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

fluids through an annular space where the axes of the inner tube and the

outer tube coincide with each other. Under many circumstances however,

the realistic situation is that the axis of the inner tube offsets some

distance from the axis of the outer tube and thus the annulus is

"eccentric". During oilwell drilling operations, for example, the

drillpipe is often positioned eccentrically in the casing or wellbore,

especially in the inclined section of a directional well where the

drillpipe has a strong tendency to offset towards the low-side of the

wellbore.

In this chapter; we will investigate the laminar flow of

non-Newtonian fluids through an eccentric annulus. Again, the solutions

will be developed based on the power-law model and the Bingham plastic

model which have been most commonly used to describe the rheological

behaviour of two different kinds of non-Newtonian fluids; i.e. the

fluids which exhibit a yield stress and the fluids which do not.

3.1. Previous studies

3.1.1. Fluids without a yield stress

The eccentric annular flow of fluids without a yield stress has been

under investigation for many decades. Two alternative methods have been

used in the previous studies. The first mehtod uses the bi-polar

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Eq.(2-20a) may be replaced by the following explicit equation for

k i0.3 and k/(1-k 1 ) .5. 0.5:

2
1 ." k l 1/2 k
k
+
= [
1 j + —2
2
(2-20b)
2 -in ( --)
ki

Now the unsheared plug boundaries k_ and ki. can be calculated easily

from Eqs.(2-14 1 ) and (2-20b).

Volumetric flowrate/pressure gradient

For the volumetric flowrate, Fredrickson and Bird ( ") obtained that:

q (2-21)
IIq
P

where the dimensionless volumetric flowrate is expressed as:

wq - i [ ( 1 — k, 4 ) — 2 ki. -(ki. — k)(1 — k22)

— 1 k
3 p
-(1 + k 1 3 ) +. (
1 k - 2-k + - k p )3] (2-22)
3 P

From Eq.(2-21), the pressure gradient may be calculated by:

cry
g. ____P_ (2-23)
P 4
W q -r 2

23
procedures of the bipolar coordinate method have been summarized in

Appendix (A3-1).

b. Slot model method

Because of the complexity of the bipolar coordinate method, some

investigators tryed to find an approximate method to solve the problems

of eccentric annular flow. Tao and Donovan (18) probably first treated a

fine clearance eccentric annulus as a slot with variable height. They

used an approximate model to calculate the slot height and developed the

analytical solutions of the velocity profile and the volumetric flowrate

for Newtonian fluids. Later, Vaughn (17) extended this approach to the

eccentric annular flow of power-law fluids. Iyoho and Azar (18) derived

the exact model for calculating the slot height and developed the

solution of the velocity profile for power-law fluids. They claimed

that their model should be valid for all the cases where k l a 0:3:

Tosun (18) and Uner, et.al: (28) recently extended Iyoho and Azar's model

to approximate the volumetric flowrate in eccentric annular flow of

Newtonian and power-law fluids -, respectively.

It should be pointed out that the slot model is in reality a

modified model for flow between two parallel flat plates: The only

difference is that the slot model treats the distance between the plates

as a variable instead of a constant: As a result ,

profile obtained from the slot model is linear and velocity profile is
_
symmetric about the mid-point across the annular space. It is known ,- as

shown in the preceding chapter ,

linear and the velocity profile is not symmetric about the midpoint in a
_
concentric annulus, so there is no reason to assume that this situation

would occur in an.eccentric annulus. Although a concentric annulus

26
can be modelled accurately under some circumstances by a constant-height

slot for volumetric flowrate/pressure gradient calculations(213,21a);

similar treatment may result in erroneous results for the problems

pertaining to the shear stress and velocity profiles. For example, in a

concentric annulus with the radii ratio of k l = 0.3, the shear stress on

the inner tube is about 54% higher in magnitude than that on the outer

tube for Newtonian fluids, and 38% higher for power-law fluids with

n = 0.5. Obviously the shear stress profile can not be treated as

linear and the shear stresses on the inner and the outer tubes can not

be treated as equal in magnitude.

A summary of derivation of the slot model for eccentric annular flow

of power-law fluids is given in Appendix (A3-2).

3.1.2. Fluids with a yield stress

The only investigation, in the knowledge of the present author, into

eccentric annular flow of fluids with a yield stress was reported in

Guckes' paper (13) in which the procedures for calculating the volumetric

flowrate for Bingham plastic fluids using the bipolar coordinate

approach were presented. However, Guckes failed to impose the boundary

condition for the central unsheared plug to the solutions and thus the

effect of the central unsheared plug on volumetric flowrate was

neglected. So Guckes' procedures are but complicated approximations.

Guckes conducted experiments and the results showed a large discrepancy

between the experimentally measured and the predicted volumetric

flowrates: This was 'unexplainable', according to the author:

27
3.2. Proposed representation of eccentric annular geometry

In the present analysis of eccentric annular flow, an eccentric

annulus is assumed to be replaced by an infinite number of concentric

annuli with variable outer radii. Fig.(3-1) depicts an eccentric

annulus with an eccentricity 'e'. The point 0 is the centre of the

inner tube which is taken as the centre of the eccentric annulus. 0' is

the centre of the outer tube. 4 , is a characteristic angle as defined

in Fig.(3-1). If the cylindrical coordinate system is used and the

z-coordinate is assumed to coincide with the axis of the inner tube,

then '0' will be the angular coordinate of the coordinate system. The

outer radius of the eccentric annulus is defined as 'r 2 e '. Applying the

cosine rule to the triangle 0A0' and simplifying, we find:

e 2 2 I1/ 2
r 2 e . cos(0) + ( r 2 [e.sin(0)] (3-1)

It is assumed that the eccentric annulus at position OA may be

replaced by a concentric annulus with the inner radius 'r 1 ' and the

outer radius tr2et; instead of 'r 2 '. With variation of '0', 1r2e'

varies while 'r 1 ' remains constant. Then the whole eccentric annulus

may be replaced by an infinite number of concentric annuli with variable

outer radius t r 2 e ' defined by Eq.(3-1). When e = 0; r2 e = r2 and the

present case reduces to that of a concentric annulus:

By using the above method, the equations developed for the

concentric annular flow in the preceding chapter can be modified easily

for the analysis of the eccentric annular flow: In the following

sections, we will show how to use the present method to analyse the

eccentric annular flow of power-law and Bingham plastic fluids,

respectively.

28
 (i) calculate the equivalent outer radius, r 2 e , of the eccentric

annulus at .O using Eq.(3-1);

(ii) calculate the local radii ratio, k / e , according to its

definition;

(iii) replacing r2 with r 2 e in Eq.(2-14') and k l with k l e in

Eq.(2-20a), the equations for the plug boundary radii at 0, i.e. k_ e and

*F e , can be obtained by solving the following simultaneous equations:

2-T
e
kPe k - ke
e
(3-10)
g p-r 2

e
[ 1 - ( k 7) 2] [(k:)2- (ke)2] 2 k
(k: ).101)
2
)7; )
ke 2
k+

_ k
[ ke keN _ (1 4. .7) e -1
k4. -10-7) - k e -10--) } = 0 (3-11a)
+
ke ki

Based on Eq.(2-20b), Eq.(3-11a) can be approximated by the following

equation for the cases where ki e 0:3 and kp e/(1-k 1 e ) 0:5:

e 1/2 ke
1 ( ki)2
e-
k+ = [ +- (3-lib)
_ 2
2 )

(iv) replacing k l , k- , k+ and r 2 with kie kal. e and r2e

respectively, in Eqs.(2-17) through Eqs.(2-19) , the profiles of the

shear stress ,- shear rate and the velocity may be obtained as follows:

e e 2
g •r (k • )
e =• P- r
- - ie. } (k0 ji.:e) ( -3 - 12a)
z r 2 k p
32
CD
 In the following analysis, the symbols used in the preceding chapter

for the concentric annular flow will be modified by simply adding the

superscript 'e' to represent the corresponding parameters for eccentric

annular flow.

3.3. Eccentric annular flow of power-law fluids

For the present analysis of the eccentric annular flow of power-law

fluids, the following dimensionless parameters are defined:

r ere
kk = — = —2
e e e 2 r
r2 r2 r22

To use the method described in the preceding section for the

analysis of various profiles in eccentric annular flow of power-law

fluids, the following procedures may be followed:

(i) calculate the equivalent outer radius, r 2 e , of the eccentric

annulus at 6 using Eq.(3-1);

(ii) calculate the local ratio of the radii; k1e, according to its

definition;

(iii) replacing k i with * l e in Eq.(2-10a) or Eq.(2-10b), the local

zero shear stress point, ko e , may be obtained:

e
k s 1 e 2 5
0 (0)2 (k o )
[ —2- - k ] dk = [ k ] dk (3-2a)
e k e k
1k i k
o

e 2
1 - (k 1 ) 1/2
-e
k = [ (3-2h)
o 1
2•1n(7-)
k?

Similarly with Eqs.(2-10b) and (2-10a), Eq.(3-2b) may be used to

29
coordinates to describe the eccentric annular geometry; the second one

treats an eccentric annulus as a slot of variable height:

a: Bipolar coordinate method

The flow of Newtonian fluids through an eccentric annulus had been

tackled for a long time as a methematical and hydrodynamic problem by

mathematicians using the bipolar coordinate system (9 9 10) . In 1962,

Redberger and Charles ( " ) reported their numerical evaluations of the

velocity profile and the volumetric flowrate for the Newtonian eccentric

annular flow and showed two significant results: 1) the fluid velocity

is higher in the enlarged region than in the reduced region of an

eccentric annulus; 2) the volumetric flowrate increases with increase of

offset of the inner tube for a given pressure gradient. Mitsuishi and

Aoyagi ( 12) extended the bipolar coordinate method to the eccentric

annular flow of non-Newtonian fluids using the Sutterby model and

similar conclusions as those obtained by Redberger and Charles were

reached. They also conducted the experiments and reported that the

calculated velocities and the volumetric flowrates were in good

agreement with their experimental data: Guckes(13) presented a

systematic procedure for calculating the volumetric flowrate by using

the bipolar coordinate approach and developed a series of dimensionless

curves for the laminar eccentric annular flow of power-law fluids:

There are also some other investigators (14,15) using the bipolar

coordinate method to solve the eccentric annular flow problem:

Examining the above reported investigations it may be seen that:

although the bipolar coordinate method may theoretically gives accurate

solutions for eccentric annular flow -, the procedures are extremely

tedious, and laborious iterative computations are required. The

25
approximate Eq.(3-2a) for the cases where n 0.5 and k/ e0.3:

(iv) replacing r2 with r 2 e ; k1 with k l e and ko with ko e in Eq.(2:-.7)

through Eqs.(2-9), the profiles of the shear stress, shear rate and the

velocity may be obtained, respectively,

(ke)2
e _2 e k o
T
zr
= 2 r2 L (3-3)

e
g -r s
Is
(koe)2
2-K '
(3-4)

where '+' is used for k < ko e and '-' for k > ko e , and

e e 2
g -r s_ (k o )
ve (
2-K
) -r e dek
kl
k ] dk

(kle k ko e ) (3-5a)

e
g n_-r 2 s_ (k:) 2 , s di
e(
V
z
^X---
2-K
) - r e2 - fir k

(ire k S 1) (3-5b)

For the volumetric flowrate, based on Eq.(211a), the general

formula may be expressed for the present eccentric annular flow as:

121 1
- 2
q r 2.(ke)2-ve-k di de (3-6)
e
0 ki
2 Z

Based on Eq.(2-12) and considering the symmetry of the two halves of the

eccentric annulus, the dimensionless volumetric flowrate may be obtained

as:

30
 71.
e 1 s e 3+s e 2 1+5
- ( ) (k2) { 1 -.( k ) ] -
q 1+3.n to
o

(k!).1-5 (i : ) 2 (4)2 ,1+s

Then the volumetric flowrate and the pressure gradient expressions may

be obtained as, respectively:

g -r s
qr 22 -( --2-2- ) .7 (3-8)

g ( , K
e 3 r2 (3-9)
W.r2

3.4: Eccentric annular flow of Bingham plastic fluids

For the present analysis of the eccentric annular flow of Bingham

plastic fluids -, it is necessary to define the following dimensionless

parameters:

e e e
e r1 r r r
r e - e- -e - + 1.e - 2
k1 - — k_ - — ic = — r
ee e + e ''2 =
r2 r2 r2 r2 2

and the dimentionless plug width at 6 is defined as:

ree- r
e e e + -
k k - k =
P
r2

The following procedures may be followed for the analysis of the

profiles of the shear stress -, shear rate and the velocity in the

eccentric annular flow of Bingham plastic fluids:

31