EXPERIMENTAL MEASUREMENTS ON NON-NEWTONIAN AND DRAG REDUCTION FLOWS IN PIPES

Abstract

A laboratory setup was designed for experimental study of non-Newtonian and drag reducing fluid flow in a square cross section pipe. Aqueous solutions of carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) in water were used as the non-Newtonian fluids while dilute solutions of polyethylene oxide (PEO) in water as the drag reducing fluids. An injection technique was used to overcome the pump degrading effects on the PEO solutions. A turbometer was used for flow rate measurements, a pressure transducer for pressure measurements, Pitot tubes for velocity measurements and Preston tubes for wall shear stress measurements. The performance and calibration of the previous devices are presented in this paper with some results compared with theory.