Experimental Research on Reducing Hydraulic Resistance When Transporting High-Viscosity Fluids by Pipeline

摘要

The paper dwells upon reducing the hydraulic resistance of a pipeline by generating a wall-adjacent gas layer when transporting a high-viscosity medium. The research team has designed an experimental setup that contains a device for generating two-layer annular flow. The stability of such two-layer annular flow has been studied by simulating a viscous fluid (motor oil) and a wall-adjacent gas layer. Experiments show using a two-layer annular flow effectively reduces the hydraulic resistance when transporting a high-viscosity medium by a round pipe. Using two-layer annular flows in hydraulic systems and industrial pipelines improves the throughput and reduces the energy costs of transporting high-viscosity fluids by reducing pressure losses that occur when overcoming the friction forces arising during such transport. The experimental data thus show that a wall-adjacent gas layer can improve the pipeline throughput by up to ～50% when transporting a high-viscosity Newtonian fluid through a rough-surfaced steel pipe.