Turbulent Flow Improvement to Reduce Drag Force in the Pipeline Network Using PDRs

Abstract

The major challenge associated with saving energy in the pumping stations of fluid transportation in the pipeline network, especially the crude oil transportation for long-distance is drag forces, where leading to increase energy consumption then costs. Therefore, the effective solver to overcome these problems is added polymer drag reduction (PDR) with the main fluid using the drag reduction technique (DR). This paper emphasizes a comparison between the effect of the polymers drag reduction (PDRs) solution with water alone on the drag reduction performance. To accomplish this target, the torque values were measured using the rotational disk apparatus (RDA) at different speeds ranging from 50 to 3500 rpm. Three types of polymer drag reduction (PDR) were employed: PEO, PIB, and HTA at different concentrations (50, 150, 300, 600, 1200) ppm.  The rheology tests were shown an obvious reduction in the viscosity of the selected polymers. The results clearly reveal that selected polymers are excellent drag reduction agents, where the torque values increase with increasing the rotational speed and concentration. Further, the highest drag reduction percentage was achieved around 45% by PIB solution at 1200 ppm and 3000 rpm.