Polymeric Fluids Research Articles

Bentonite and polymeric support fluids used for stabilization in excavations

Bentonite is a natural and finite mineral resource. Dilute suspensions of sodium montmorillonite clay in water represents bentonite slurries. Suspension and orientation of colloidal clay particles define rheological properties in bentonite slurry (BS). The BS has been used about seventy years to temporarily support the excavations. More recently, polymer support fluids (PSF) gained much popularity and are widely used compared to bentonite support fluids. The PSF are categorized into natural (pure) and synthetic polymers. Physico-chemical properties of PSF are different than BS irrespective of the quite similarity in the mode of action. Synthetic polymer fluids are molecularly engineered fluids that can be a popular alternative of conventional BS deployed as excavation support fluids in different foundation applications such as diaphragm wall panels and pile bores. The synthetically engineered fluids of polymers (water-soluble) are different from conventional BS. The PSF offer additional benefits because their use is cost effective, eco-friendly, and these polymers need smaller site footprint as well as easy preparation, mixing, handling, management and ultimately the final disposal. Nevertheless, synthetic polymers have advantage over bentonite, however, foundation engineers and scientists have also certain concerns about their use because of their performance related issues. For an efficient use of polymers, specific properties and in situ behavior of polymers as well as their sorption onto the soils must be recognized because the polymer concentration in the solution is decreased with time during their use. The present manuscript reviewed the relative performance of excavation support fluids and displayed an arranged marriage of physicochemical and rhelogical properties of natural and synthetic excavation support fluids used in the foundation industry. This information will be highly useful to scientific community for their future ventures and will lay a foundation to understand the mechanisms of stabilization in open and deep excavations.

A high-temperature resistant and high-density polymeric saturated brine-based drilling fluid

Three high-temperature resistant polymeric additives for water-based drilling fluids are designed and developed: weakly cross-linked zwitterionic polymer fluid loss reducer (WCZ), flexible polymer microsphere nano-plugging agent (FPM) and comb-structure polymeric lubricant (CSP). A high-temperature resistant and high-density polymeric saturated brine-based drilling fluid was developed for deep drilling. The WCZ has a good anti-polyelectrolyte effect and exhibits the API fluid loss less than 8 mL after aging in saturated salt environment at 200 °C. The FPM can reduce the fluid loss by improving the quality of the mud cake and has a good plugging effect on nano-scale pores/fractures. The CSP, with a weight average molecular weight of 4804, has multiple polar adsorption sites and exhibits excellent lubricating performance under high temperature and high salt conditions. The developed drilling fluid system with a density of 2.0 g/cm3 has good rheological properties. It shows a fluid loss less than 15 mL at 200 °C and high pressure, a sedimentation factor (SF) smaller than 0.52 after standing at high temperature for 5 d, and a rolling recovery of hydratable drill cuttings similar to oil-based drilling fluid. Besides, it has good plugging and lubricating performance.

Dynamics of rigid achiral magnetic microswimmers in shear-thinning fluids

Here, we use magnetically driven self-assembled achiral swimmers made of two to four superparamagnetic micro-particles to provide insight into how swimming kinematics develop in complex, shear-thinning fluids. Two model shear-thinning polymer fluids are explored, where measurements of swimming dynamics reveal contrasting propulsion kinematics in shear-thinning fluids vs a Newtonian fluid. When comparing the velocity of achiral swimmers in polymer fluids to their dynamics in water, we observe kinematics dependent on (1) no shear-thinning, (2) shear-thinning with negligible elasticity, and (3) shear-thinning with elasticity. At the step-out frequency, the fluidic environment's viscoelastic properties allow swimmers to propel faster than their Newtonian swimming speed, although their swimming gait remains similar. Micro-particle image velocimetry is also implemented to provide insight into how shear-thinning viscosity fluids with elasticity can modify the flow fields of the self-assembled magnetic swimmers. Our findings reveal that flow asymmetry can be created for symmetric swimmers through either the confinement effect or the Weissenberg effect. For pseudo-chiral swimmers in shear-thinning fluids, only three bead swimmers show swimming enhancement, while four bead swimmers always have a decreased step-out frequency velocity compared to their dynamics in water.

Numerical Analysis of Viscous Polymer Resin Mixing Processes in High-Speed Blade-Free Planetary Blender Using Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics

High-speed planetary mixers can rapidly and efficiently combine rheological liquids, such as polymer resins and paste materials, because of the large centrifugal forces generated by the planetary motion of the mixing vessel. Only a few attempts have been made to computationally model and analyze the intricate mixing patterns of highly viscous substances. This paper presents meshless flow simulations of the planetary mixing of polymeric fluids. This research utilized the smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) approach for numerical calculations. This method has advantages over the finite-volume method, which is a grid-based computational technique, when it comes to modeling interfacial and free surface flow problems. Newtonian rheology and interfacial surface force models were used to calculate the dissipative forces in the partial differential momentum equation of fluid motion. Simulations of the flow of an uncured polyurethane resin were carried out while it was mixed in a planetary mixer, under various operating conditions. Simulations using SPH were able to accurately reproduce the intricate flow and blending pattern, providing insight into mixing mechanics and mixing index evolution characteristics according to operating conditions for the planetary mixing of polymeric fluids. The simulation results showed that the spiral band, which promotes the mixing performance, is densely and distinctively formed under high-speed operation conditions.

Review: Kirkwood-Riseman Model in Non-Dilute Polymeric Fluids.

In two prior articles, I demonstrated from extensive simulational studies by myself and others that the Rouse model of polymer dynamics is invalid in polymer melts and in dilute solution. However, the Rouse model is the foundational basis for most modern theories of polymeric fluid dynamics, such as reptation/scaling models. One therefore rationally asks whether there is a replacement. There is, namely by extending the Kirkwood-Riseman model. Here, I present a comprehensive review of one such set of extensions, namely the hydrodynamic scaling model. This model assumes that polymer dynamics in dilute and concentrated solution is dominated by solvent-mediated hydrodynamic interactions; chain crossing constraints are taken to create only secondary corrections. Many other models assume, contrariwise, that in concentrated solutions, the chain crossing constraints dominate the dynamics. An extended Kirkwood-Riseman model incorporating interchain hydrodynamic interactions is developed. It yields pseudovirial series for the concentration and molecular weight dependencies of the self-diffusion coefficient Ds and the low-shear viscosity η. To extrapolate to large concentrations, rationales based on self-similarity and on the Altenberger-Dahler positive-function renormalization group are presented. The rationales correctly predict how Ds and η depend on polymer concentration and molecular weight. The renormalization group approach leads to a two-parameter ansatz that correctly predicts the functional forms of the frequency dependencies of the storage and loss moduli. A short description is given of each of the papers that led to the hydrodynamic scaling model. Experiments supporting the aspects of the model are noted.

A new class of Finitely Extensible Nonlinear Elastic FENE-P model obtained with a thermodynamical approach and the use of compressible natural configurations. Part I: Isothermal deformations

In a recent contribution to the fundamental understanding of polymer fluid dynamics, Khambhampati and Rajagopal (2021) established a connection between the natural configuration theory of Rajagopal and Srinivasa (2000) and the FENE-P model of Bird et al. (1987 [6]). In this paper we capitalize on the result in Khambhampati and Rajagopal (2021) and present a new class of FENE-P models using a more general Helmholtz potential within the conceptual framework of evolving natural configurations. To show its qualitative behavior, we exemplify with a classical Couette flow between infinite parallel plates. The model is capable of reproducing key features experimentally observed such as stress relaxation and the overshoot of the shear stress at the beginning of typical shear stress growth experiments. Comparison against the FENE-P type model obtained in Khambhampati and Rajagopal (2021) is used for comparison.

Orientational dynamics and rheology of active suspensions in weakly viscoelastic flows

Microswimmer suspensions in Newtonian fluids exhibit unusual macroscale properties, such as a superfluidic behavior, which can be harnessed to perform work at microscopic scales. Since most biological fluids are non-Newtonian, here we study the rheology of a microswimmer suspension in a weakly viscoelastic shear flow. At the individual level, we find that the viscoelastic stresses generated by activity substantially modify the Jeffery orbits well-known from Newtonian fluids. The orientational dynamics depends on the swimmer type; especially pushers can resist flow-induced rotation and align at an angle with the flow. To analyze its impact on bulk rheology, we study a dilute microswimmer suspension in the presence of random tumbling and rotational diffusion. Strikingly, swimmer activity and its elastic response in polymeric fluids alter the orientational distribution and substantially amplify the swimmer-induced viscosity. This suggests that pusher suspensions reach the superfluidic regime at lower volume fractions compared to a Newtonian fluid with identical viscosity.

Dynamics of squirmers in explicitly modeled polymeric fluids (a)

Biological microswimmers such as bacteria and sperm cells often encounter complex biological fluid environments. Here we use the well-known squirmer microswimmer model to show the importance of the local fluid microstructure and non-continuum effects on their swimming speed in different polymeric and filamentous fluids. Surprisingly, we find that different squirmer types move at considerably different speed in filamentous fluids which cannot be explained by existing continuum models, but by considering the local fluid and polymer properties around the squirmers. Furthermore, direct squirmer-polymer interactions slow down in particular pushers by trapping large stiff filaments in a self-generated recirculation region in front of them.

Factors of reducing the informativity of test injections during proppant fracturing with water-based polymer fluids

Factors of reducing the informativity of test injections during proppant fracturing with water-based polymer fluids

Global strong solutions and large time behavior to a micro-macro model for compressible polymeric fluids near equilibrium

In this paper, we mainly study the global strong solutions to a micro-macro model for compressible polymeric fluids with small initial data and their long-time decay rates of all order spatial derivatives. This model is a coupling of isentropic compressible Navier-Stokes equations with a nonlinear Fokker-Planck equation. We first present that the micro-macro model admits a unique global strong solution provided the initial data are close to equilibrium state for d≥2. Moreover, for d≥3, we show a new critical Fourier estimation that allows us to derive the long-time decay rates of the L2 norm for all order spatial derivatives.

Parallel Emergence of Rigidity and Collective Motion in a Family of Simulated Glass-Forming Polymer Fluids

Parallel Emergence of Rigidity and Collective Motion in a Family of Simulated Glass-Forming Polymer Fluids

Unsteady flows of micropolar fluids parallel to the axis of an annular domain with a porous layer

Transient flows of micropolar fluids through circular domains are investigated. The flow domain has two annular regions. The outer region is clean, while the inner region contains a porous medium. The analytical solutions in closed forms for the linear and angular velocities in both regions are determined using the Laplace transform and finite Hankel integral transform under the assumptions of the continuity of the velocities, stresses, and couple stresses on the interface. The obtained solutions are new in the literature and can generate solutions for some particular cases of filtration processes involving polymeric fluids with additives or other fluids that show similarities to micropolar fluids. Effects of various parameters on the fluid motion have been investigated by numerical simulations and graphical illustrations.

Research on the Mesoscopic Characteristics of Kelvin–Helmholtz Instability in Polymer Fluids with Dissipative Particle Dynamics

In this paper, the two-dimensional Kelvin–Helmholtz (KH) instability occurring in the shear flow of polymer fluids is modeled by the dissipative particle dynamics (DPD) method at the coarse-grained molecular level. A revised FENE model is proposed to properly describe the polymer chains. In this revised model, the elastic repulsion and tension are both considered between the adjacent beads, the bond length of which is set as one segment’s equilibrium length. The entanglements between polymer chains are described with a bead repulsive potential. The characteristics of such a KH instability in polymer fluid shear flow can be successfully captured in the simulations by the use of the modified FENE model. The numerical results show that the waves and vortexes grow more slowly in the shear flow of the polymer fluids than in the Newtonian fluid case, these vortexes become flat, and the polymer impedes the mixing of fluids and inhibits the generation of turbulence. The effects of the polymer concentration, chain length, and extensibility are also investigated regarding the evolution of KH instability. It is shown that the mixing of two polymer fluids reduces, and the KH instability becomes more suppressed as the polymer concentration increases. The vortexes become much longer with the evolution of the elongated interface as the chain length turns longer. As the extensibility increases, the vortexes become more flattened. Moreover, the roll-up process is significantly suppressed if the polymer has sufficiently high extensibility. These observations show that the polymer and its properties significantly influence the formation and evolution of the coherent structures such as the waves and vortexes in the KH instability progress.

Settling of Drilling Cuttings in Polymeric Solutions: A Parametric Investigation.

Drilling fluids, commonly referred to as drilling mud, are pumped into the wellbore to expedite the drilling process by moving drilling cuttings to the surface, suspending cuttings, controlling pressure, stabilizing exposed rock, and providing buoyancy, cooling, and lubrication. Understanding the settling of drilling cuttings in base fluids is crucial for successfully mixing drilling fluid additives. In this study, the response surface method Box-Benhken design (BBD) is used to analyze the terminal velocity of the drilling cuttings in a polymeric base fluid of carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC). The impact of polymer concentration, fiber concentration, and cutting size on the terminal velocity of the cuttings is investigated. The BBD of the three factors (low, medium, and high) is used for two fiber aspect ratios (3 and 12 mm length). The size of the cuttings varied between 1 and 6 mm, while the concentration of CMC was between 0.49 and 1 wt %. The concentration of the fiber was in the range of 0.02-0.1 wt %. Minitab was utilized to determine the optimum conditions for reducing the terminal velocity of the suspended cuttings and then evaluate the effects and interactions of the components. The results show good agreement between model predictions and the experimental results (R2 = 0.97). According to the sensitivity analysis, cutting size and polymer concentration are the most crucial factors affecting the terminal cutting velocity. Large cutting sizes have the most significant impact on polymer and fiber concentrations. The optimization results revealed that a CMC fluid with a viscosity of 630.4 cP is sufficient to maintain a minimum cutting terminal velocity of 0.234 cm/s with a cutting size of 1 mm and a 0.02 wt % of the 3 mm length fiber.

Numerical investigation of electroconvection transport of polymer electrolyte solutions on a perfectly selective membrane

Ion-selective properties are widely used in desalination, energy storage in batteries, electroplating, etc. This paper presents a direct numerical simulation of electroconvective flow (ECF) in electrolyte solutions on a perfectly selective membrane surface (PSMS), considering fluid viscoelasticity and Joule heating. Different polymer elasticities on PSMS mass transfer are investigated in detail, including the instantaneous evolution, morphology structure, ion transport mechanism, and global assessment. The results reveal that polymer electrolytes promote the formation of small vortices (low flux) and merge into a reduced number of large vortex structures (high flux). The crown and spike morphology of charge density and the mushroom-like morphology of salt concentration tend to be cloudier in the polymer electrolytes, with a marked decrease in injection height compared to that of Newtonian fluid. The streaks of strong polymer stretching reduce fluctuations with increased interface impedance in the extended space charge layer (ESCL), described by the first normal stress difference (N1) and the local Weissenberg number (Wil). The cumulative distribution function (CDF) and power spectral density (PSD) are characterized by an effective enhancement of the system stability, reducing the ion mass transfer and reaching a maximum of 45 %. The relevant results also facilitate an improved understanding of the complex nature of polymeric fluids in electroosmotic flow.

Water-based drilling fluid with palygorskite: cutting carrying and contaminants

AbstractIn the petroleum industry, one of the most important functions fluids must perform is to carry cuttings efficiently. In this context, the contamination of drilling fluids represents a challenge to the industry because it alters the properties of these fluids. This work compares two drilling fluids (one palygorskite-based and the other polymer-based), evaluating the effects of contaminants on these drilling fluids and their ability to carry cuttings. A contaminant is considered to be any material that causes undesirable changes in the properties of the drilling fluid. Contamination of an aqueous drilling fluid by calcium hydroxide (Ca(OH)2) and brine can increase the filtrate volume, decrease the perforation rate and alter the rheological properties of the fluid. This work analyses the effects of contamination by Ca(OH)2 and brine on the properties of salted water-based drilling fluids viscosified with palygorskite. For comparison, tests were performed with a polymeric drilling fluid. The cutting-carrying capacity of these fluids was verified using the empirical correlations of Moore (1974), Chien (1994) and Walker & Mayes (1975). The results show that the drilling fluid with palygorskite is resistant to contamination with Ca(OH)2 and brine, presenting low filtrate volume values. The drilling fluid with palygorskite presented greater slip velocities than the polymeric drilling fluid. Regarding the cutting-carrying capacity, the drilling fluid with palygorskite presented positive transport ratio values (>0), making it suitable for carrying rock cuttings. However, the polymeric drilling fluid showed better performance in terms of cutting-carrying capacity.

MHD micropolar fluid flow in porous media

The analysis of mass and heat transfer in magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) flows has significant applications in heat exchangers, cooling nuclear reactors, designing energy systems and casting and injection processes of different types of fluids. On the other hand, extraction of crude oil, the flow of human or animal blood, as well as other polymer fluids or liquid crystals are just some examples of micropolar fluid flows. Due to the broad application spectrum of the theory of micropolar fluid flows, and the significance the impact the external magnetic field has on the flow of these fluids, this paper considers the stationary flow of a micropolar fluid between two plates under the influence of an external magnetic field which is perpendicular to the direction of the flow. Stationary plates are maintained at constant and different temperatures, while the whole problem is considered in the non-inductive approximation. The equation system used to define the physical problem under consideration is reduced to the system of differential equations that have been solved analytically and the solutions of which are of general nature. In addition to the solutions for velocity, microrotation and temperature, the paper gives solutions for shear stress at plates, the Nusselt number and flow rate. The provided solutions have been applied in order to reach some general conclusions about the influence of the magnetic field and physical characteristics of a micropolar fluid and the characteristics of porous media on the nature of micropolar fluid flows in porous media by means of chart analysis. General conclusions, obtained in the result analysis in this paper, give us the opportunity to understand the flows of micropolar fluids and highlight their significance.

Modification and Application of Materials for Strong Inhibitory Drilling Fluid

Due to the strong inhibition of drilling fluid, many polymer fluid loss additives can not play their role. Therefore, it is necessary to develop some water loss reducing materials that can withstand the strong inhibition environment. In this paper, the surface of asbestos fiber was modified and treated by indoor experiments. The physical and chemical properties of the obtained drilling fluid treatment samples were evaluated to optimize the appropriate amount of reagents used for surface treatment of asbestos. Subsequently, the drilling fluid performance of the obtained treatment agent samples were evaluated at different temperatures to analyze the effect of temperature on the drilling fluid performance. The surface of asbestos fiber was modified by adsorbed cationic surfactant CTAC which better solved the problem of entanglement of asbestos fiber in drilling fluid. The mechanism of the action of the surface of asbestos fiber was analyzed by scanning electron microscope observation experiments. Subsequently, different amounts of modified asbestos fiber was added to the drilling fluid and the performance of drilling fluid was evaluated at different temperatures. The experimental results showed that the modified asbestos fiber reduced the filtration loss of drilling fluid and still maintained good filtration loss reduction effect at 200°C.

A natural polymer extracted from Chia seeds for application in chemical enhanced oil recovery by taper polymer concentration (TPC) and alkali-polymer (AP) slug injection into sandstone oil reservoirs

In this research, the extracted mucilage from Chia seeds is introduced as a new natural polymer for use in polymer injection into oil reservoirs. Chia seeds polymer (CSP) is environmentally friendly, economical, efficient and available, and its industrial production and extraction are done in the world for use in various applications. Polymer fluid injection was performed under two polymer injection scenarios: taper polymer concentration (TPC) and alkali-polymer (AP) slug injection. CSP is stable up to salinity above 90,000 ppm and also maintains its performance at reservoir temperature. The viscosity changes of CSP solutions against shear rate confirm its non-Newtonian behavior, which increases in intensity with increasing CSP concentration. The CSP hydrocolloid increases the viscosity of the injection fluid at low concentrations to suitable values for EOR. In this way, the viscosity values of polymer solutions at concentrations of 200, 400, 600, 800, 1000 and 1200 ppm were equal to 27.14, 42.36, 68.11, 93.75, 125.62 and 154.51 mPa.s, respectively. Although the viscosity of CSP solutions decreases with increasing salinity and temperature, there is no sharp drop and the obtained values are suitable even at high salinity and temperature. The hydrophilicity of the sandstone reservoir rock is proportional to the increase in CSP concentration. The contact angle sizes at concentrations of 600, 800, 1000 and 1200 ppm were obtained as 84.98°, 78.04°, 70.39° and 67.69°, respectively. CSP injection under both scenarios reduces the water-cut well and oil recovery is increased by 21.2% and 16.3% by TPC and AP injection, respectively.

Development of a Novel Surfactant-Based Viscoelastic Fluid System as an Alternative Nonpolymeric Fracturing Fluid and Comparative Analysis with Traditional Guar Gum Gel Fluid.

Surfactant-based viscoelastic (SBVE) fluids have recently gained interest from many oil industry researchers due to their polymer-like viscoelastic behaviour and ability to mitigate problems of polymeric fluids by replacing them during various operations. This study investigates an alternative SBVE fluid system for hydraulic fracturing with comparable rheological characteristics to conventional polymeric guar gum fluid. In this study, low and high surfactant concentration SBVE fluid and nanofluid systems were synthesized, optimized, and compared. Cetyltrimethylammonium bromide and counterion inorganic sodium nitrate salt, with and without 1 wt% ZnO nano-dispersion additives, were used; these are entangled wormlike micellar solutions of cationic surfactant. The fluids were divided into the categories of type 1, type 2, type 3, and type 4, and were optimized by comparing the rheological characteristics of different concentration fluids in each category at 25 °C. The authors have reported recently that ZnO NPs can improve the rheological characteristics of fluids with a low surfactant concentration of 0.1 M cetyltrimethylammonium bromide by proposing fluids and nanofluids of type 1 and type 2. In addition, conventional polymeric guar gum gel fluid is prepared in this study and analyzed for its rheological characteristics. The rheology of all SBVE fluids and the guar gum fluid was analyzed using a rotational rheometer at varying shear rate conditions from 0.1 to 500 s-1 under 25 °C, 35 °C, 45 °C, 55 °C, 65 °C, and 75 °C temperature conditions. The comparative analysis section compares the rheology of the optimal SBVE fluids and nanofluids in each category to the rheology of polymeric guar gum fluid for the entire range of shear rates and temperature conditions. The type 3 optimum fluid with high surfactant concentration of 0.2 M cetyltrimethylammonium bromide and 1.2 M sodium nitrate was the best of all the optimum fluids and nanofluids. This fluid shows comparative rheology to guar gum fluid even at elevated shear rate and temperature conditions. The comparison of average viscosity values under a different group of shear rate conditions suggests that the overall optimum SBVE fluid prepared in this study is a potential nonpolymeric viscoelastic fluid candidate for hydraulic fracturing operation that could replace polymeric guar gum fluids.