New Model for Non-Spherical Particles Drag Coefficients in Non-Newtonian Fluid

Abstract

The settlement drag coefficient of non-spherical particles (SDCNPs) is a crucial parameter in the field of petroleum engineering. Accurately predicting the SDCNPs in the fluid is essential to the selection and design of proppant and hydraulic design in the fracturing scheme. Although many models for anticipating the SDCNPs have been proposed, none of them can be adopted for non-Newtonian fluid (NNF) and Newtonian fluid (NF). In the investigation, the SDCNPs in NF and NNF are studied experimentally, and the anticipation mode of the settlement drag coefficient of spherical particles (SDCSPs) in different fluids (including Newton, Herschel-Bulkley and power law) is proposed. On this basis, the shape depiction parameter circularity is introduced to develop the SDCNPs. The results exhibit that the predicted values of the SDCNPs model perfectly align with the experimental values, and the average relative errors are 5.70%, 6.24% and 6.72%, respectively. The mode can accurately describe the settlement behavior of non-spherical particles (NSPs) and provide a basis for the application of NSPs in petroleum engineering.