Slater Hydr Trasp Theory PDF

The hydraulic transportation of thickened sludges
PT Slatter
Department of Civil Engineering, Cape Technikon, PO Box 652, Cape Town, South Africa
Abstract
Industries which pump sludges are under continuous pressure to decrease water content, and increase concentration. Environmentally superior disposal techniques are demanding that such sludges have high mechanical strength properties. This results in a
sludge with an increasing viscous character. At high concentration, the viscous forces which are usually highly non-Newtonian
and yield stress in nature become dominant, and flows inevitably become laminar.
The objective of this paper is to demonstrate the effect and evaluate the impact that increasing non-Newtonian viscous stresses
particularly yield stress have on the pipelining problem.
An industrially relevant sludge pipe flow study is presented, demonstrating and quantifying the relationship between sludge
rheology and flow regime. It is argued that laminar flow will result in settlable solids accumulating on the pipe invert, leading to
pipe blockage. Although some practical remedies have been proposed, this problem requires urgent and focussed research.
Keywords: rheology, pipe flow, blockage, laminar, transition, turbulent, yield stress
Symbol
Unit
Description
The objective of this paper is to demonstrate the effect and evaluate

the impact that increasing non-Newtonian viscous stresses particularly yield stress have on the pipelining problem.
D
f
F
He
K
r
R
Re
u
V
Theory and literature
Pa
Rheological characterisation
Pa.s
m
m
The rheological characterisation of non-Newtonian sludges has

received much attention in the literature and the development of
this discipline is ongoing. Although more complex rheological
models are available, this paper has deliberately targeted a more
pragmatic approach, and the simplest model which can accommodate a yield stress has been used. To this end, the Bingham plastic
rheological model (Grovier and Aziz, 1972) has been found useful
by many researchers to approximate the viscous flow behaviour of
non-Newtonian sludges (Xu et al., 1993; Spinosa and Lotita, 2001;
Slatter, 2001). The constitutive equation for pipe flow is given by:
Notation
internal pipe diameter

Fanning friction factor
constitutive rheological relation function
Hedstrm number
fluid consistency index, plastic viscosity
radius at a point in the pipe
internal radius of the pipe
Reynolds number
point velocity
average velocity
fluid density
shear stress
yield stress
m/s
m/s
kg/m3
Pa
Pa
Subscripts
0
c
at the pipe wall

critical (at the laminar/turbulent transition)
du
dr
= y + K
[1]
Introduction
Laminar flow
Industries which pump sludges are under continuous pressure to

decrease water content, and increase concentration. Environmentally superior disposal techniques are demanding that such sludges
have high strength mechanical properties. This results in a sludge
with an increasing viscous character. At high concentration, the
viscous forces which are usually highly non-Newtonian and yield
stress in nature become dominant, and flows inevitably become
laminar (Slatter, 2002).
For laminar pipe flow, the general constitutive rheological relationship F can be cast in the form
This paper was originally presented at the 2004 Water Institute of

South Africa (WISA) Biennial Conference, Cape Town, South Africa,
2-6 May 2004.
+2721 460-3055; fax: +2721 460-3710 ; e-mail: [email protected]
66
ISSN 0378-4738 = Water SA Vol. 30 No. 5 (Special edition)
du
du
= F and
= F 1 ( ).
dr
dr
[2]
Also, for pipe flow, the shear stress (r) varies linearly over the pipe
cross-section
(r ) =
0
r.
R
[3]
The velocity profile u(r) is obtained by integration of the constitutive rheological relationship, i.e.:
Available on website http://www.wrc.org.za
u (r ) = F1 ( (r ) ) dr
where u (R ) = 0 .
[4]
The volumetric flow rate Q and bulk velocity V are obtained by

integrating the product of annular area elements and the velocity
profile over the pipe cross section,
R
Q = u (r ) 2r dr
and
V = Q / A.
[5]
Applying this procedure to the Bingham plastic case, the constitutive equation can be integrated twice as shown above to produce the
velocity profile and the well known Buckingham Equation:-
u=
V=
) (
2 2 ,
y
y
4 K 0 0
D
[6]
Analysis and typical applications

Laminar/turbulent transition
For most sewage sludges the density is approximately 1 000 kg/m3
and the Slatter and Wasp critical velocity equation reduces to:
V
= 0.82
cS & W
[12]
This relationship (which is strictly valid for large pipes) is presented in Fig. 1. Since most pipelines will not operate above a
velocity of 3 m/s (Slatter and Wasp, 2002), Fig. 1 shows that once
the yield stress exceeds approximately 13 Pa, the pipeline will
operate in laminar flow.
2 2 2 2
y
y 0
y
y
0
.
+
+
2 [7]
4
3
( y )2
3 0
2 K 0
The laminar/turbulent transition

The intersection method first proposed by Hedstrm is a practical
approach which uses the intersection of the laminar and turbulent
flow theoretical lines as the laminar/turbulent critical point
(Hedstrm, 1952; Shook and Roco, 1991;Wilson, 1997). This
method has given good results as reported by Xu et al., 1993. For
industrial design cases with large, industrial size pipes (large
pipe as defined by Slatter and Wasp (2000), the critical velocity
can also be calculated using (ibid)
V
= 26
cS & W
[8]
Note that critical velocity under these circumstances is independent

of pipe diameter.
Figure 1
Relationship between critical velocity and yield stress
Pipe flow system curves

Turbulent flow
Slatter (1995) developed a turbulent flow model appropriate for
non-Newtonian sludges. A roughness Reynolds number for nonNewtonian sludges was formulated to accommodate a particle
roughness effect. This formulation can be modified (Slatter and
Van Sittert, 1997) to reflect the pipe roughness k as,
8 V
*
Re =
r
In order to apply the above issues to a realistic design case, the

sludge characterised by (Slatter, 1997) will be used at 3 concentrations (6%, 8%, and 10%), in a 300mm diameter pipeline. The
results of this analysis are presented in Fig. 2.
Figure 2 reinforces the above finding, and shows that turbulence will not be achieved at realistic velocities (i.e. V<3m/s).
8 V*
+ K
[9]
This roughness Reynolds number was used to correlate the classical roughness function B in the same way as for Newtonian fluids.
If Rer < 3.32 then B = 2.5 ln Rer + 5.5. This is analogous with smooth
wall turbulent flow for which the flow behaviour can be predicted
from:
V
R
= 2.5 ln + 2.5 ln Re r + 1.75
V*
k
[10]
If Rer > 3.32 then B = 8.5. This is analogous with fully developed
or rough wall turbulent flow for which the flow behaviour can be
predicted from:
V
R
= 2.5 ln + 4.75
V*
k
Figure 2
System curve for 6%, 8% and 10% sludge in a 300mm diameter
pipeline (from Slatter, 1997)
[11]
67
Discussion
Operating sludge pipelines in laminar flow presents a major
problem, as reported by Graham et al. (2002). Since there are no
turbulent eddies present, all settleable solids present will report to
the pipe invert. In the absence of any similar resuspension mechanism in laminar flow, the settled solids will remain and collect on
the pipe invert, inevitably leading to pipeline blockage (15).
One possible remedy is that proposed by Cooke (2002) that the
pressure gradient be maintained high enough (1-2 kPa/m) so that
the settled bed sliding friction is overcome, and the settled bed will
move. However, for long lines this relatively high pressure gradient
may not be feasible. Another possibility is to flush the line with a
water plug at regular intervals (Gillies et al., 1999), or when
elevated line operating pressures are encountered. Provided that
there is sufficient operating head reserve, the reduced viscosity of
the water will permit turbulent conditions to be established, and the
settled solids would then be transported along the pipe.
No conclusive understanding or well researched mechanistic
analysis of this phenomenon has yet been established, and laminar
flow sludge pipelining remains an urgent unresolved industrial
problem, if high concentration sludges are to be hydraulically
transported.
Conclusions
It has been shown that high concentration sludge pipelines will
operate in the laminar flow regime. This method of operation
presents a critical problem settlable solids will accumulate on the
pipe invert and lead to eventual pipe blockage. Although some
practical remedies have been proposed, this problem requires
urgent and focussed research.
References
COOKE R (2002) Laminar flow settling: the potential for unexpected
problems. British Hydromechanics Research Group 15th International Conference on Slurry Handling and Pipeline Transport
HYDROTRANSPORT 15; Banff, June. 121-133.
68
GILLIES RG, HILL KB, McKIBBEN MJ and SHOOK CA (1999) Solids

transport by laminar Newtonian flows. J. Powder Technol.
GRAHAM L, HAMILTON R, RUDMAN M, STRODE P and PULLUM
L (2002) Coarse solids concentration profiles in laminar pipe flows.
British Hydromechanics Research Group 15th International Conference on Slurry Handling and Pipeline Transport HYDROTRANSPORT
15; Banff, June. 149-158.
GROVIER GW and AZIZ K (1972) The Flow of Complex Mixtures in
Pipes. Van Nostrand Reinhold Co.
HEDSTRM BOA (1952) Flow of plastics materials in pipes. Ind. and
Eng. Chem. 44 (3).
SHOOK CA and ROCO MC (1991) Slurry Flow: Principles and Practice.
Butterworth-Heinemann.
SLATTER PT (1995) Turbulent flow of non-Newtonian slurries in pipes.
8th Int. Conf. on Transport and Sedimentation of Solid Particles Prague: 24-26 January.
SLATTER PT (1997) The rheological characterisation of sludges. IAWQ
J. Water Sci. Technol. 36 (11) 9-18.
SLATTER PT (2001) Sludge pipeline design. J. Water Sci. Technol. 44
(10) 9-18.
SLATTER PT (2002) Non-Newtonian Laminar Pipe Flow A Place In The
Sun At Last! Invited Keynote Address - 11th International Conference
on Transport and Sedimentation of Solid Particles - Ghent, September.
33-40.
SLATTER PT and VAN SITTERT FP (1997) The effect of pipe roughness
on non-Newtonian turbulent flow. 9th Int. Conf. on Transport and
Sedimentation of Solid Particles - Cracow: 2-5 September. 621- 635.
SLATTER PT and WASP EJ (2000) The laminar/turbulent transition in
large pipes. 10th Int. Conf. on Transport and Sedimentation of Solid
Particles - Wroclaw: 4-7 September. 389-399.
SLATTER PT and WASP EJ (2002) Yield stress - How low can you go?;
11th Conf. on Transport and Sedimentation of Solid Particles - Ghent,
September. 173-182.
SPINOSA L and LOTITA V (2001) The evaluation of sludge physical
consistency; IWA International Conference on Sludge Management,
Taipei, 25-28 March. 98-103.
WILSON KC (1997) Transitional and turbulent flow of Bingham plastics.
Proc. of the Rheology in Industry EF (USA) Conf., San Diego.
XU J, GILLIES R, SMALL M and SHOOK CA (1993) Laminar and
turbulent flow of kaolin slurries. 12th Int. Conf. on slurry handling and
pipeline transport, Hydrotransport 12, BHR Group, p 595.

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The hydraulic transportation of thickened sludges

The objective of this paper is to demonstrate the effect and evaluate

Theory and literature

The rheological characterisation of non-Newtonian sludges has

internal pipe diameter

at the pipe wall

Industries which pump sludges are under continuous pressure to

This paper was originally presented at the 2004 Water Institute of

ISSN 0378-4738 = Water SA Vol. 30 No. 5 (Special edition)

Available on website http://www.wrc.org.za

The volumetric flow rate Q and bulk velocity V are obtained by

Analysis and typical applications

The laminar/turbulent transition

Note that critical velocity under these circumstances is independent

Pipe flow system curves

In order to apply the above issues to a realistic design case, the

Available on website http://www.wrc.org.za

ISSN 0378-4738 = Water SA Vol. 30 No. 5 (Special edition)

ISSN 0378-4738 = Water SA Vol. 30 No. 5 (Special edition)

GILLIES RG, HILL KB, McKIBBEN MJ and SHOOK CA (1999) Solids

Available on website http://www.wrc.org.za

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