Scale-up prediction of the head loss of a high concentration, non-Newtonian particulate slurry

Abstract

The design of a mineral slurry transportation system is difficult because of the non-Newtonian nature of the flow at high slurry concentrations. The behavior of the slurry depends on many physio-chemical properties such as particle density, particle size distribution (PSD), particle shape, chemical composition, pH etc. This work presents a comparative study between three preferred methods of scale-up of the head loss in larger diameter pipelines, namely Bowen’s Method, rheological method and Wilson’s Method. The performance of each method is validated with the pipe loop test data in a 200 DN pipeline. A high concentration (>50% by weight) iron ore concentrate slurry was used for carrying out the above study. This work would be beneficial for engineers involved in the design and maintenance of the slurry pipelines with respect to the choice of the scale-up methods available for estimation of the head loss for a time independent, homogenous, non-Newtonian particulate slurry for both laminar and turbulent regime.

Keywords:

• Slurry transportation
• high concentration
• mineral slurry
• scale-up
• non-Newtonian fluid

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to express their sincere gratitude to the CSIR - Institute of Minerals and Materials Technology (IMMT), Bhubaneswar for allowing to use the facilities available to carry out the above research work. The authors would also like to thank the Director, CSIR-IMMT for allowing to publish this work.

Disclosure statement

The authors report that there are no competing interests to declare.