Effect of ultrasonic irradiation on rheological properties of asphaltenic crude oils

In this work, the rheological changes of several crude oil samples exposed to ultrasonic waves for different time intervals in addition to the effect of temperature on viscosity behavior of heavy crude oils were investigated using a series of steady shear flow and oscillatory tests. The colloidal structural evolutions of flocs in oil samples were illustrated by analysis of the size distribution of flocculated asphaltene particles （confocal microscopy tests）. The rheological investigations indicate that the ultrasonic irradiation dissolved heavy components in crude oil. After ultrasonic treatment, the Kouh-e-Mond crude oil was found to be pseudoplastic. In addition, confocal microscopy confirms that there was an optimum duration for ultrasonic irradiation, at which the viscosity and flocculation rate of asphaltenic crude oils reduced to the minimum values. The optimum was found to be approximately 40 min for the Kouh-e-Mond crude oil. Experimental results illustrate that the ultrasonic irradiation could disaggregate heavy colloid components in crude oil, and breakdown of asphaltene molecules would only occur in a specific time interval of irradiation. Also according to the temperature sweep test, the oil temperature rise caused by ultrasonic irradiation was not the main reason for theological changes of the crude oil and this alteration may be due to physical and chemical phenomena induced by sonication in crude oil.

Numerical Simulation and Analysis of Power Consumption and Metzner-Otto Constant for Impeller of 6PBT

Majority of non-Newtonian fluids are pseudoplastic with shear-thinning property, which means that the viscosity will be different in different parts of the stirred tank. In such mixing process, it is difficult to predict accurately the power consumption and mean shear rate for designing novel impeller. Metzner-Otto method is a widely accepted method to solve these questions in mixing non-Newtonian fluids. As a result, Metzner-Otto constant will become a key factor to achieve an optimum way of economical mixing. In this paper, taking glycerine and xanthan gum solutions as research system, the power consumption, stirred by the impeller composed of perturbed six-bent-bladed turbine （6PBT） with differently geometrical characteristics in a cylindrical vessel, is studied by means of computational fluid dynamics （CFD）. The flow is modeled as laminar and a multiple reference frame （MRF） approach is used to solve the discretized equations of motion. In order to determine the capability of CFD to forecast the flow process, the torque test experiment is used to measure the glycerine solution power consumption. The theological properties of the xanthan gum solutions are determined by a Brookfleld rheometer. It is observed that the power consumption predicted by numerical simulation agrees well with those measured using torque experiment method in stirring glycerine solution, which validate the numerical model. Metzner-Otto constant is almost not correlated with the flow behavior index of pseudoplastic fluids. This paper establishes the complete correlations of power constant and Metzner-Otto constant with impeller geometrical characteristics through linear regression analysis, which provides the valuable instructions and references for accurately predicting the power consumption and mean shear rate of pseudoplastic fluids in laminar flow, comparatively.

A novel oil-in-water drilling mud formulated with extracts from Indian mango seed oil

Drilling muds with less environmental impact are highly desired over conventional diesel-based mud systems,especially in light of the emerging strict environmental laws.In this article,a novel oil-in-water(O/W)emulsion drilling fluid formulated with a methyl ester extracted from Indian mango seed oil was evaluated.The effect of the weight percent of different constituents of the emulsion/suspension including the oil phase,bentonite,and polyanionic cellulose polymer on the rheology and the fluid loss was examined.The methyl ester oil phase/mud system displayed superior physical,chemical,rheological and filtration properties relative to the diesel and the mango seed oil.Eco-toxicity of the methyl ester and diesel(O/W)emulsion mud systems was assessed using the acute lethal concentration test.The Indian mango methyl ester(O/W)emulsion mud displayed much less impact on fish population.Flow characteristics collected from the flow model at 85°C suggested excellent shear thinning behavior of the Indian mango methyl ester(IMME)(O/W)emulsion mud.Moreover,the IMME(O/W)emulsion displayed strong pseudoplastic behavior,an attractive feature in a drilling mud,with increasing clay content and polymer concentration.The methyl ester mud was thermally stable over a wide range of the constituent concentrations.Furthermore,a particle size analysis revealed that engineered drilling muds targeting suspension of particles with certain size range can be formulated by changing the volume fraction of the methyl ester in the mud system.

Chaotic characteristics of pseudoplastic fluid induced by 6PBT impeller in a stirred vessel

Xanthan gum solutions with different mass concentrations were used to study the chaotic characteristics induced by the impeller of perturbed six-bent-blade turbine(6 PBT) in a stirred vessel. Based on the velocity time series obtained by the experiment of particle image velocimetry(PIV), with the software MATLAB(R2016a), the distributions of the largest Lyapunov exponent(LLE) and Kolmogorov entropy(K entropy) of the system, as two important parameters for characterizing the chaotic degree, were investigated respectively. Results showed that both of the LLE and K entropy increased with the increasing speed at the beginning. As the speed was up to 200 r·min-1, the two parameters reached the maximal values meanwhile, corresponding to 0.535 and 0.834, respectively, which indicated that the chaotic degree of the flow field was up to the highest level. When the speed was increased further, both of the LLE and K entropy decreased on the contrary, which meant that the chaotic degree was decreasing. It was also observed that the chaotic characteristics of flow field were hardly affected by the fluid rheology and the detecting positions. The research results will enhance the understanding of the chaotic mixing mechanism and provide a theoretical reference for optimizing impeller structure.

Improved nonlinear fluid model in rotating flow

The pseudoplastic circular Couette flow （CCF） in annuli is investigated. The viscosity is dependent on the shear rate that directly affects the conservation equations solved by the spectral method in the present study. The pseudoplastic model adopted here is shown to be the suitable representative of nonlinear fluids. Unlike the previous studies, where only the square of the shear ered to ease the numerical manipulations, quadratic power is also taken into account. rate term in the viscosity expression is consid- in the present study, the term containing the The curved streamlines of the CCF can cause the centrifugal instability leading to toroidal vortices, known as the Taylor vortices. It is further found that the critical Taylor number becomes lower as the pseudoplastic effect increases. The comparison with the existing measurements on the pseudoplastic CCF results in good agreement.

A Numerical study of the flow with heat Transfer of a Pseudoplastic fluid Between Parallel Plates

One dimensional flow with heat transfer of a pseudoplastic fluid between two infinite horizontal parallel plates is investigated. The thermophysical properties of the fluid are assumed to be constant and numerical solution using the finite element method, along with the corresponding exact solution for the fluid velocity and the fluid temperature is obtained. The effect of variation of the governing parameters is studied using figures and tables. It is found that the numerical solution agrees well with the corresponding exact solution and that the fluid velocity, together with the fluid temperature, increases with increasing values of the governing parameters.

The Morphology of Patterning with Pseudoplastic Metal Nanoparticle Fluids during Heat Treatment

A pseudoplastic metal nanoparticle fluid （PMNF） is used in nanoimprint to fabricate semiconductors and func- tional devices. The evaporation of the solvent and the sintering of the Au PMNF are investigated. The key parameters, which influence the morphology of patterning, such as the radius of metal particles, the concentra- tion of metal particles, the Hamaker constant of the solvent, viscosity of the fluids and the evaporation velocity, are analyzed. Based on a two-sphere sintering model, the equations are derived, which represent the relationships between the relative shrinkage and radius of the metal particles, sintering temperature and time. The optimal parameters for the heat treatment are provided in nanoimprint.

Self-lubricating epoxy-based composite abradable seal coating eliminating adhesive transfer via hierarchical design

Aluminum-based composite abradable seal coatings are pivotal to improving the efficiency of aero engines or gas turbines.However,the adhesive transfer frequently occurs between metallic blade tips and aluminum-based composite coatings,resulting in engine vibration and even jam.Many past studies had tried to solve this problem by reducing coating hardness,improving lubrication,or strengthening blade tips,but all had failed.In this paper,we proposed a novel epoxy-based composite abradable seal coating,eliminating adhesive transfer by changing metal-to-metal scraping pair to metal-to-polymer scraping pair.The coating was developed via a hierarchical structure design.Large spherical pores were uniformly distributed in the continuous epoxy matrix with fine graphite dispersion.By adding 20 vol.%graphite and 50 vol.%hollow microspheres,a self-lubricating epoxy-based coating of 0.26 friction coefficient with thermal conductivity of 0.28 W/(m·K),coating HR15 Y hardness at 54.8,and bonding strength at 18.7 MPa can be reached.When the metallic blades scrape the epoxy-based composite coating,no adhesive transfer occurs.Besides,a smooth scraped surface is formed by pseudoplastic deformation.This epoxy-based composite abradable seal coating opens a new way to improve the efficiency and reliable operations of air engine compressors.