Title: Theoretical Analysis of Laminar Flow of Power-Law Fluids in Coiled Tubing
Author(s): Subhash N. Shah, and Yunxu Zhou, Well Construction Technology Center, The University of Oklahoma
Publication: AIChE Journal. September 2007, Vol. 53, No. 9, pp. 2210-2220.
Date: September 2007
Abstract:
This paper presents a comprehensive theoretical study of the flow of power-law 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 fluid 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 did not result in any acceptable agreement with the experimental data, nor did it match the Ito correlation for the limiting case of 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 as well as fluids used in other industries.
