DRAG REDUCTION OF A CATIONIC SURFACTANT SOLUTION AND ITS SHEAR STRESS RELAXATION

In order to study the mechanisms of the turbulent frictional drag reduction by surfactant additives,the drag reduction,the shear viscosity and the shear stress relaxation were measured for solutions of a cationic surfactant cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide （CTAB） with the same molar sodium salicylate as a counter-ion.It is found that the first step relaxation time decreases with increasing concentration and,thus,with the maximum drag-reducing rates,which indicates that the stiffness of the micellar structures with the first relaxation time,increases with the increase of the concentration of CTAB.Furthermore,for this surfactant,a viscoelastic property is necessary for reducing drag,while a stronger viscoelasticity characterized by a tail relaxation time does not necessarily mean a higher drag-reducing rate.

Drag-reduction of a nonionic surfactant aqueous solution and its rheological characteristics

In order to develop turbulent drag-reducing technology by using an environmentally friendly additive in a water-transporting system,the drag reducing characteristics in a non-ionic surfactant(Oleyldimethylamineoxide,ODMAO) dilute aqueous solution flowing in a circular pipe of 5 mm diameter have been experimentally investigated with an air-driven fluid resistance test device.The rheological characteristics of the solution have also been examined by a rheometer with a cone-plate flow cell.The results show that the ODMAO solutions are drag-reducing when concentration is 400 ppm or higher,that the critical Reynolds number corresponding to the maximum drag reduction rate increases with both concentration and temperature,and that the maximum drag reduction rate can reach up to 70% in the straight pipe.At low shear rates,the shear viscosity of ODMAO solutions with a relatively high drag-reduction behaves similarly to Newtonian fluids;at above a certain critical shear rate,it is firstly shear-thickening,then shear-thinning.Such shear-rate-dependent characteristics of the shear viscosity are attributed to the different transitions of micellar network structure induced by different shear rates.Relaxation of shear stress after removing an applied constant shear rate at which the solution is in the SIS(shear-induced structure) state is found to be well expressed by a 2-step Maxwell model with a tail relaxation time much shorter than that for a drag-reducing cationic surfactant,which indicates that for the ODMAO solution,a viscoelasticity as strong as a drag-reducing cationic surfactant is not needed to realize turbulent drag-reduction.

Drag-reduction behavior of an unusual nonionic surfactant in a circular pipe turbulent flow

The Alkyl Polyglucoside（APG） is a nonionic surfactant with no toxicity and with high biodegradability, its drag-reduction behavior in a circular pipe flow is measured, and the rheological characteristics are investigated with a rheometer with a cone-plate flow cell. From the measured results, the APG is shown to have a high drag-reduction capacity, whose shear viscosity is shear-ratedependent at high concentrations, while its solution at concentrations with drag-reduction effects is non-viscoelastic as verified by zero relaxation time in the relaxation process of the shear stress, which contradicts the general viewpoint that there is a correlation between the viscoselastic characteristics and the turbulent drag reduction for the drag-reduction surfactant. However, the APG solution is birefringent as observed through a birefringent test, which indicates that there are rod-shaped micelles in the solution under the shearing flow. The higher extensional viscosity inferred from the extensional phenomenon observed in the measurements of the shear viscosity could be responsible for the drag reduction property of this nonionic surfactant.