Flow instabilities during annular displacement of one non-Newtonian fluid by another

Abstract

This paper describes an experimental setup for axial laminar flow of liquids in the annulus between two eccentered cylinders. The design uses a conductivity method for measuring peak axial velocities around the annulus, and for the determination of displacement efficiency when displacing one fluid by another (displacement efficiency being defined as the ratio of volume of displaced fluid removed from the annulus, to the volume of the annulus, after a given number of annular volumes have been pumped). In an eccentric annulus, lower axial velocity in the narrow side produces “channeling” of the displacing fluid in the wide side and reduces the displacement efficiency. A positive density contrast between the two fluids can increase the efficiency by promoting azimuthal flow of the (denser) displacing fluid towards the narrow side. In this paper we report that gravity driven azimuthal flow is prone to severe instabilities which accelerate the displacement process but may leave behind an immobile strip of the displaced fluid in the narrow side.