Experimental study on pressure drop and heat transfer in pipelines for brine based ice slurry Part II: Dimensional analysis and rheological model

The rheological behaviour of the ice slurry made from 9% NaCl brine has been experimentally studied in this work. Starting from the dimensional analysis of pressure drop and heat transfer processes, the minimum numbers of non-dimensional parameters present in these processes have been determined. Rheological behaviour has been adjusted to the experimental data on ice slurry pressure drop. Two different behaviours were observed depending on the shear rate values, with a clear yield stress recognizable in the low shear rate region and a shear thickening behaviour for high shear rate values. A modified Herschel–Bulkley rheological model has been proposed, which is able to predict ice slurry behaviour in both, low and high shear rate region. The influence of the parameters involved has been determined and an analytical equation for the Darcy friction factor has been obtained from the model proposed and compared to experimental results. The comparison showed a very good agreement between these data.