Title: Non-Newtonian Fluid Flow in Coiled Tubing: Theoretical Analysis and Experimental Verification
Author(s): Y. Zhou, SPE, and S.N. Shah, SPE; The University of Oklahoma
Presentation: 2002 SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition
Date:
September 29-October 2, 2002
Abstract: This paper presents a comprehensive theoretical study of the flow of non-Newtonian fluid in coiled tubing using the boundary layer approximation method. First, a boundary layer approximation analysis was applied to the governing equations of continuity and motion of a power law fluid in the curved tubing flow geometry. Momentum integral equations for the boundary layer flow were then derived and solved numerically. The resulting solutions of the velocity field were used to develop a new friction factor correlation in terms of generalized Dean number, coiled tubing curvature ratio, and flow behavior index of the power law model. The new correlation of this study and a previous correlation by Mashelkar and Devarajan were evaluated using experimental data obtained from full-scale coiled tubing flow experiments. An excellent agreement was found between the new correlation and the experimental results. The Mashelkar and Devarajan correlation failed to result in any acceptable agreement with the experimental data, nor did it match the Ito correlation for the Newtonian fluids (n = 1). This work extends the range of applicability of the new correlation to fluids with flow behavior indices as low as 0.25, which would cover most fluids used for coiled tubing operations in the oil and gas industry.