Volume 15, Issue 3

A new model for mean velocity profile of turbulent water flow with added drag-reducing surfactants is presented in this paper. The general problem of drag due to frictional resistance is reviewed and drag reduction by the addition of polymers or surfactants is introduced. The model bases on modified Prandtl's mixing length hypothesis and includes three parameters, which depend on additives and can be evaluated by numerical simulation from experimental datasets. The advantage of the model in comparison with previously reported models is that it gives uniform curve for whole pipe section and can be determined for a new surfactant with less necessary measurements. The use of the model is demonstrated for surfactant Habon-G as an example.

Exponential integral functions were fitted to relaxation data obtained from tensile and shear loading of an asphalt-sand mixture at different temperatures. This approach yields a better fit to the experimental data than the traditional Prony series and provides physical insight into essential characteristics of the relaxation processes that govern the asphalt-sand mixture. We expect that using this model beyond the time range covered by the experimental data would result in a significantly better representation of the material behavior than would extrapolation of the Prony series fit.

The effect of high ac electric fields upon a liquid crystalline polymer solution, poly(n-hexyl isocyanate) in p-xylene, is examined. The results show that the solutions exhibit an increase in rheological properties proportional to the strength of the field at concentrations well below those exhibiting liquid crystalline behavior. The effects of frequency and field strength are examined as a means to explain this previously unreported phenomenon.