Flow of Carreau Fluids Through Non-Uniform Pore throats

TL;DR

This paper presents an analytical study of Carreau fluid flow through non-uniform pore throats, identifying flow regimes and transitions, and applies the model to simulate shear-thinning and shear-thickening fluids in porous media.

Contribution

It introduces a new analytical solution for Carreau fluids in non-uniform geometries and develops a pore network model for complex fluid flow simulation.

Findings

Identified flow regimes and transition points for Carreau fluids.

Developed a pore network model for shear-thinning and shear-thickening fluids.

Validated the model with flow simulations in porous media.

Abstract

The creeping flow of a generalized Newtonian fluid in a non--uniform pore throat is investigated analytically. The analytical solution determines the flow regimes and the transition point from Newtonian to the power law flow regime. As an application of the new model, a regular lattice--based pore network model is constructed to simulate the flows of shear--thinning and shear--thickening fluids through porous media. The pore throats have convergent--divergent geometries.