Scale effects in polymer solution pipe flow

Abstract

Satisfactory scaling from laboratory-scale pipe-flow data to large industrial pipelines is an area of practical concern in the utilization of drag-reducing polymer solutions. From experimental data for pipes 0.0254 m in diameter and above, it is shown that accurate scaling can be obtained using a simple, pocket-calculator method. However, pipes of say, 0.005 m and smaller provide much less accurate scaling data for larger pipes. A detailed study of the velocity profiles in drag-reducing flow indicates a total lack of similarity of the profiles of the very small pipes compared with the larger.