Flow of Non·Newtonian Fluids

Through Eccentric Annuli

YueJln Luo, SPE, and "'.M. Peden, SPE, Heriot-Watt U.

Summary. The laminar eccentric annular flow of non-Newtonian fluids is analyzed with a new method where an eccentric annulus
is represented by an infinite number of concentric annuli with variable outer radii. The analytical solutions for the shear stress, shear
rate, velocity, and volumetric flow rate/pressure gradient are obtained for both power-law and Bingham-plastic fluids. This method
is shown to provide more accurate approximations for various profiles and good predictions of the volumetric flow rate/pressure
gradient in eccentric annular flow. In addition, turbulent eccentric annular flow is discussed.

Introduction
Fluid flow through an annular space is an often-encountered engi- of incompressible fluids through concentric annuli, the equation of
neering problem that has been under investigation for many decades. motion can be integrated in cylindrical coordinates to yield
If the annular space is concentric, the flow can currently be ana-
TT zr -(gp/2)r 2 =c, ................................. (3)
lyzed without much difficulty. But if the annular space is eccentric-
i.e., the axes of the inner and outer tubes do not coincide with each where c is an integration constant and g p is the pressure gradient
other-a great deal of effort is required. Unfortunately, the latter defined by
case represents the majority of realistic situations. For example,
in drilling operations, the drillpipe is usually positioned eccentri-
gp =pgz -(oP[/oz).
cally in the wellbore, especially in a deviated wellbore where the Power-Law Fluids. For power-law fluids, applying the boundary
drillpipe has a strong tendency to offset toward the low side be- condition Tzr=O at r=ro, we can establish the expression for the
cause of gravitational effects. shear-stress profile as
A number of studies have focused on the eccentric annular flow Tzr =(gp/2)r[I-(ro/r)2] . ............................ (4)
problem. Initially, mathematicians l ,2 studied Newtonian fluids as
a hydrodynamic problem, using the bipolar-coordinate system to The expression for the shear-rate profile can be found by com-
transform the eccentric annular geometry into a rectangular region. bining Eqs. I and 4:
Redberger and Charles 3 used a similar approach to evaluate the 1'= ±(gp/2K)S Ir-(r6/r)jS, .......................... (5)
velocity profile and the volumetric flow rate for Newtonian fluids
numerically. Subsequently, Mitsuishi and Aoyagi4 extended the where "+" is for r<ro, "-" for r>ro, and s=1/n.
approach to non-Newtonian fluids, and Guckes 5 presented proce- The velocity profile is obtained by integrating Eq. 5:
dures for calculating the volumetric flow rate for power-law and
Bingham-plastic fluids. Although the bipolar-coordinate method may v=(gp )S} ,(rij -r)'dr, rl:5r:5rO, ............... (6a)
theoretically give exact solutions, the procedures are extremely tedi- 2K '1 r
ous and involve laborious computations.
To find simple approximations, Tao and Donovan6 treated an
eccentric annulus as a variable-height slot and developed the ana-
lytical solutions of the velocity profile and the volumetric flow rate
and v=( gp Yj '2(r_ rij)'
2K, r
dr, r0:5r:5r2' ............ (6b)

for Newtonian fluids. Vaughn 7 later extended this method to
power-law fluids, and Iyoho and Azar 8 modified the model to cal-
culate the slot height. Tosun 9 and Uner et al. lO recently extended
Iyoho and Azar's slot-height model to approximate volumetric flow
rates for both Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids. Note that the
slot model, because it is in essence a modified model for flow be-
tween parallel plates, will result in unrealistic symmetric profiles
of the shear-stress/shear-rate magnitlldes and the velocity.
In this analysis, an eccentric annulus is treated as being com-
posed of an infinite number of concentric annuli with variable out-
er radii. Using this method, we develop analytical solutions for the
shear stress, shear rate, velocity, and volumetric flow rate/pres-
sure gradient for both power-law and Bingham-plastic fluids.
Concentric Annular Flow
The power-law and Bingham-plastic models are the most commonly
used models for describing the rheological behavior of viscous shear-
thinning fluids, which represent the majority of non-Newtonian
fluids. The power-law model is usually expressed as
Tzr=-KI"iln-l.y, n:5l, ............................ (I)
and the Bingham-plastic model can be written as
Tzr =±C1-llp"i, ITzrl2!:C1, ............................ (2)
where "+" is for 1'<0 and "-" is for 1'>0.
Fredrickson and Bird II and Laird 12 first analyzed the flow of
power-law and Bingham-plastic fluids through concentric annuli.
Based on their analyses, for the steady-state and isothermal flow
·Nowat BP Research Centre Sunbury.
Copyright 1990 Society of Petroleum Engineers
From Eqs. 4 through 6, we can see that the velocity profIles and
the magnitudes of shear stress/shear rate are not symmetric about
the radial position of r=ro, where the shear stress is zero and the
velocity is maximum. The determining equation for ro may be
found by combining Eqs. 6a and 6b and setting them equal for
r=ro:
r,o(rij
J
)S
- - r dr=J
rr2( rij)S
r - - dr .................... (7)
'1 r '0 r
Fig. I shows rO/r2 vs. nand rl/r2' ro is rather insensitive to
the variation of the flow-behaviour index, n. In fact, within an error
of about 3 %, Eq. 7 may be approximated by setting n = I for the
cases where n>0.5 and rl/r2>0.3; i.e.,
ro=..J(r~-rr)/[2 In(r2/rl)]' ........................ (8)
Hanks and Larsen 13 found that the volumetric flow rate in the
concentric annular flow of power-law fluids may be expressed as
q=r~(gpr2/K)SqaD' ............................... (9)
where qaD, the dimensionless volumetric flow rate, may be defined
as
qaD= I::n (~)T[I-C: YT+S -C: Y-T C: Y
-C: YT +Sj. ............................... (to)

SPE Production Engineering, February 1990 91

 8= 0, 27t

1.0
r/1"2= 0.9
0
..<: = 0.8
0.9
en
:::> = 0.7
Ci
< 0.6
cr = 0.6
en
en - 0.5
w
..J
Z
0.7
8en - 0.4
z

-
w
1:
CJ 0.6
- 0.3

0.2

0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.6 0.9 1.0

FLOV BEHAVIOR INDEX n

8=7t
Fig. 1-Dlmenslonless radius Ao In concentric annular flow
of power-law fluids. Fig. 2-Nomenclature for an eccentric annulus.

The expression for the pressure gradient may be found by revers- where bp = rp - rn' the width of the unsheared plug, and
ing Eq. 9:
gp = (qlqaDd)n(K1r2)' ............................. (11)

Bingham-Plastic Fluids. For Bingham-plastic fluids, an unsheared

"plug" with boundaries rn and,p ('n<rp) exists in the middle
of the concentric annular flow. In the region Of'I <r<rn' '}'>O. r2
+[(rp-rn)-(r2-rI)+rp In -rn Inrn]=O ..... (16a)
Applying the boundary condition to Eq. 3 that Tzr = -u at r=rn
rp rl
yields
However, it can be shown that, within an error of about 0.2 %,
Tzr=-(gpl2)[('~/r)-r]-(rnlr)u, rl srsrn . ......... (12a)
Eq. 16a can be replaced by the following explicit equation for
Similarly, from Tzr=U at r=rp , Eq. 3 becomes rI/r2;::0.3 and bpl(r2-rI)SO.5:
Tzr=(gpl2)[r-(r;lr)] + (rplr)u, rp S rS r2' ........... (12b)
Combining Eqs. 2 and 12 yields
Now'n and rp can be calculated easily from Eqs. 15 and 16b.
An interesting characteristic of Bingham-plastic flow should be
noted. When the width of the unsheared plug obtained from Eq.
15 is greater than ('2 -rI), the unsheared plug will cover the en-
tire annulus and the fluid will become stagnant. The minimum pres-
sure gradient required to initiate concentric annular flow of
Bingham-plastic fluids may be obtained from Eq. 15 as

(gp)min =2u/(r2 -'1)' . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (17)

The velocity expressions can be obtained by integrating Eqs. 13a
and 13b: For the volumetric flow rate, Fredrickson and Bird 11 obtained
q=(gpr~/Jl.p)qaD' ................................. (18)
gp 2 r r -rl
(
v=-- rn I n - - - - 2 2) +-u [rn In--(r-'I)
r
], where the dimensionless volumetric flow rate is expressed as
2Jl.p '1 2 Jl.p rl

rl Srsrn .................................. (14a)

gp[d-,z
and v=-- - - - - r p In- 2(
r2)] +-u[rp In--(r2-r)
r2 , l
[1+(~)3]+~(2rp-bp)} . ........... (19)
2Jl.p 2 r Jl.p r
p
_ 4b
'psrsr2' .................................. (14b) 3r2 r2 3r2 r2
The boundaries of the unsheared plug, rn and rp, can be found
from two simultaneous equations: From Eq. 18, the pressure gradient can be calculated by
bp =2ulgp , ...................................... (15) gp=qJl.plqaDr~ . .................................. (20)
92 SPE Production Engineering, February 1990
 1.0 1.0
rlrz = o.S r/r2= 0.5
n= o.S ao=O.l
m e/rZ= 0.2
(f)
(f)
e/r2= 0.2
m
.... ILl 0.5
ex
I-
m
0.5
...
0:
(f)

ex 0:
<
<
.... ILl
:J: :I:
m 0.0 (f) 0.0
(f)
m m
m
....
..J
ILl
..J
Z Z
0 8(f) -0.5
m -0.5 z
....zx: ILl
~
0 0

-1.0 -1.0

0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0

e
DIMENSIONLESS RADIUS Ae DIMENSIONLESS RADIUS A

Fig. 3-Shear-stress profiles In eccentric annular flow of Fig. 4-Shear-stress profiles In eccentric annular flow of Bing-
power-law fluids. ham-plastic fluids.

Repre.entatlon of Eccentric Annular Geometry

In this analysis, an eccentric annulus is assumed to be replaced by
and ve =( I gp)S r2'[re _ (r8 )2
2K r. r
JSdre, r~:s re :sr~, .... (25b)
an infinite number of concentric annuli with variable outer radii.
Fig. 2 depicts an eccentric annulus with an eccentricity e, where
Point 0 is the center of the inner tube, taken as the center of the Considering the symmetry of the two halves of the eccentric an-
eccentric annulus, and Point 0' is the center of the outer tube. 0 nulus, the dimensionless volumetric flow rate can be obtained from
is a characteristic angle. The outer radius of the eccentric annulus Eq.IO:
is defmed as r2 e. Applying the cosine rule to Triangle OAO', we
fmd e _ n (I)S I. .(r~- )3+S[[ 1- (r~)2JI+S
qaD-- - -
r~ =e cos(O)+..J r~ -[e sin(O)]2. . ................... (21) 1+3n 2 r2 0 r~

We assume that the eccentric annulus at Position OA can be re-

placed by a concentric annulus with inner radius rl and outer
radius r~ instead of r2' We do this by varying 0 so that r~ varies
and rl remains constant. Then the whole eccentric annulus can be
replaced by an infinite number of concentric annuli with variable
outer radii r~ defmed by Eq. 21. When e=O, r~ =r2 and the situ- The volumetric flow rate and the pressure gradient are
ation reduces to that of a concentric annulus. qe =r~(g;r2IK)Sq:.o .............................. (27)
Eccentric Annular Flow
and g;=(qelq:.or:j)n(Klr2)' .......................... (28)
For convenience, the symbols used previously for the concentric
annular flow will be modified by adding a superscript e to repre-
sent the corresponding parameters for the eccentric annular flow. Bingham-Plastic Fluids. For the eccentric annular flow of
Bingham-plastic fluids, the unsheared-plug boundaries, r~ and r e ,
Power-Law Fluids. If r2 is replaced with r~. Eq. 8 for ro should may be obtained by substituting r~ for r2 in Eq. 16b or 16a aJ'd
be valid at Position OA of the eccentric annulus, as shown in Fig. combining with Eq. 15. Note from Eq. 15 that the width of the
2. Thus, unsheared plug, bp ' is independent of the annular clearance in con-
centric annular flow; thus, in eccentric annular flow, it is indepen-
r~=..J[(r~)Lrrv[2 In(r~/rl)] ..................... (22) dent of O. The shear stress, shear rate, and velocity can be obtained
by substituting r~ for r2, r~ for rn' and r; for rp in Eqs. 12
is the radius at which the velocity is maximum and the shear stress through 14, respectively, as we have done for the power-law ec-
is zero along Line OA (Fig. 2). As with Eq. 8, we assume that centric annular flow. The volumetric flow rate, from Eq. 19, may
Eq. 22 is valid for the cases where n2:0.5 and rl/r~2:0.3. be derived as
The shear-stress profile in eccentric annular flow can be obtained
by substituting ro in Eq. 4 with r~:
e _1
qaD--J r . . (r~)4[[
- 1- (rl)4J
- rp(rp-b
-2 - - -)
p
T:r=(gpl2)r[1-(r~re)2] . ......................... (23) 80 r2 r~ r~ r~

Similarly, the shear-rate profile can be found by replacing ro in

Eq. 5 with r~:
'Ye=±(gpI2K)Slre_[(r~2/reJis, .................... (24)
x 1- -[ (rl )2J- - 1+ (rl- )3J+ -
r~
4bp [
3r~ r~
bp (2rp -bp
3r~ r~
)3]dO.
where .. +" is for r e < r~ and .. -" for r e > r~. From Eqs. 6a and ..................................... (29)
6b, the velocity profile for eccentric annular flow is
Therefore,
qe=(g;r~//A-p)q:.o ................................ (30)

e_ e /A-p I r 4 qaD'
and gp-q e ............................... (31 )
2
SPE Production Engineering, February 1990 93
 1.0 1.0

....<
llJ ....<
lI.J
0.5
0.5 a::
a::
a:: a::
< <
llJ
llJ
:r :r
VI
VI
0.0 VI 0.0
VI VI
U'J lI.J
lI.J ..J
..J Z
Z 0
0
;;; ;;;
z -0.5
z
llJ -O.S
~ ",1"2= 0.5 0
:E: ",1"2= 0.5
C
n= 0.5 0'0. 0. 1

8/"2= 0.2 .1"2= 0.2

-1.0 -1.0
0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0

DIMENSIONLESS RADIUS ~ DIMENSIONLESS RADIUS ~e

Fig. S-8hear-rate profiles In eccentric annular flow of power- Fig. 6-Shear-rate profiles In eccentric annular flow of Bing-
law fluids. ham-plastic fluids.

In addition, a special feature of the eccentric annular flow of
Bingham-plastic fluids should be mentioned. A Bingham-plastic fluid
may not start to flow over an entire eccentric annulus at the same
time as it does in a concentric annulus; i.e., the fluid may be flow-
ing in one area but may be stagnant in another, depending on the
imposed pressure gradient and the eccentricity.
Let's consider the left half of the eccentric annulus correspond-
ing to 9=0 and 9=7r as shown in Fig. 2. Theoretically, if the pres-
sure gradient is increased gradually from zero, the flow will begin
at some point where 9=0, which is the flowing area with the max-
imum dimension. The flow will then spread toward the areas with
smaller dimensions. Eq. 15 shows that, if the width of the unsheared
plug equals (r 2-r1) at 9, the fluid will be stagnant in the areas
with characteristic angles greater than 9. Because r2 = r2 + e at the
maximum dimension position-i.e., at I1=O-the minimum pres-
sure gradient required to start flow is
(gp)min 18=0 =2o'i(r2 +e-rl)' ...................... (32a)
Similarly, the minimum pressure gradient required to start flow over
the entire eccentric annulus is
(gp)minI8=r=2ul(r2 -e-rl)' ...................... (32b)
Anal,sls of R.sults
Using the method described above, we calculated the shear-stress,
shear-rate, and velocity proftles corresponding to different values
of 11 in eccentric annular flow of power-law and Bingham-plastic
fluids (see Figs. 3 through 8). For convenience, we made T z/' '"ie,
and v e dimensionless in these figures by dividing them by their
corresponding maximum absolute values at 9=0; ITz/lmax 8=0,
l'"ie 1max 11=0, and lvel max 8=0, respectively, so that their magnitudes
fall between 0 and 1.0. The radial position was made dimension-
less by dividing ·r e by its corresponding outer radius, r 2. For
Bingham-plastic fluids, the yield stress was made dimensionless by
dividing u by r2gpl2. This dimensionless yield stress may also be
considered the dimensionless unsheared-plug width bplrz in the
corresponding concentric annular flow.
Figs. 3 and 4 show the shear-stress proftles. The dotted lines in
Fig. 4 correspond to the unsheared-plug regions. Because the pro-
ftles are not linear, the magnitude of the shear stress is not sym-
metric about the zero-shear-stress points. Because a smaller 11
corresponds to a larger dimensioftal area across the annulus, the
shear stress is higher in magnitude in the enlarged area than in the
reduced area of the eccentric annulus. Similar conclusions hold for
the shear-rate ~d velocity proftles shown in Figs. 5 through 8.
Note that because'"i ;:: 0 in the inner half and'"i s 0 in the outer half
of the annulus, the shear stress and shear rate in Figs. 3 through
6 vary between positive and negative values. In Fig. 6, the shear-
rate profIles for Bingham-plastic fluids are not continuous because
the shear rates are zero across the unsheared-plug regions. In ad-
dition, particular attention should be given to the velocity profIles
of the Bingham-plastic fluid shown in Fig. 8, where the unsheared

1.00 1.00

>-
.... 0.75 ...>- 0.75
u u
0 0
..J ..J
lI.J UJ
> >
U'J VI
U'J O.SO en O'so
lI.J llJ
..J ..J
Z Z
0 0
;;; VI
Z
Z

=
lI.J

=
lJ.J
0.25 0.25
c 0

0.00 0.00
0.4 0.6 O.B 1.0 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0

DIMENSIONLESS RADIUS ~e DIMENSIONLESS RADIUS ~

Fig. 7-Veloclty profiles In eccentric annular flow of power- Fig. 8-Veloclty profllas In eccentric annular flow of Bingham-
law fluids. plastic fluids.

94 SPE Production Engineering. February 1990

 3.0 3.0
I'

.....0'" 2.5
r/r2= 0.7
---
n=
NEW METliOO
1.0
0'"
..... 2.5
r/r 2= 0.7
---
n=
NEW METHOD
0.6

I If
/
"
/'
"0'" <T
_~_w_
BIPOLAR METliOO ----- BIPOLAR METHOO
8 ,/ 8
I- ------ SLOT METHOO
/.' I-
------ SLOT METHOD
< .z,~. . ' <
2.0 .,
'" , '" 2.0
'/
1L.l
# 1L.l

/
I- I-
< <
'":=- .y;"'''' '":-
0 0
...J .p:,'" ...J
u. 1.5 u. 1.5

V' /
~

1.0
0.0
-~
0.2 0.4

ECCENTRICITY
0.6

e/ (r2-r1)
0.8 1.0
1.0
0.0 -- 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0

Fig. 9-Volumetric flow rates In eccentric annular flow of New- Fig. 10-Volumetrlc flow rates In eccentric annular flow of
tonian fluids. power-law fluids.

plug is relatively wider in the reduced area than in the enlarged
area of the eccentric annulus. Therefore, the unsheared plug may
cover the entire space across the annulus in the reduced area; thus,
the fluid may become stagnant in this region while still flowing in
the enlarged area of the annulus, as mentioned previously.
The present solution of the volumetric flow rate for power-law
fluids has been compared numerically with those obtained with the
bipolar-coordinate and slot-model methods. Comparison between
the proposed and ~e slot-model methods show that, for the low-
eccentricity cases, the proposed method gives better approxima-
tions. For the middle- and higher-eccentricity cases, however, the
slot model gives better approximations. The volumetric flow rates
predicted with different methods for the cases r1/r2=0.7 and
n= 1.0,0.6 are shown in Figs. 9 and 10, where the horizontal coor-
dinate is the fractional eccentricity defined as
Ere/(r2 -r1)' ................................... (33)
Pressure gradients obtained with the proposed method for power-
law fluids are shown in Fig. 11.
As mentioned previously, the slot model gives unrealistic pro-
files for shear stress, shear rate, and velocity. In some cases, how-
ever, it may provide good approximations of the average magnitude
of shear stresses on the inner and outer walls of an annulus. There-
fore, the slot model may approximate the volumetric flow rate/pres-
sure gradient well in some cases of both concentric 14 and eccentric
annular flow.
Guckes 5 presented the procedures for Bingham-plastic fluids but
neglected the effect of the central unsheared plug on the volumet-
ric flow rate. It can be shown, however, that this effect is signifi-
cant when the width of the plug, bp /(r2 - r1), is relatively high.
Therefore, Guckes' results are, at best, only approximations, and
we do not compare predictions for the volumetric flow rate/pres-
sure gradient from our proposed model with those obtained from
the bipolar method for Bingham-plastic fluids. Figs. 12 and 13 show
the volumetric flow rate and pressure gradient, respectively, for
the eccentric annular flow of Bingham-plastic fluids obtained with
our proposed method.
Figs. 9 through 13 show that increasing the eccentricity of an
annulus increases the volumetric flow rate if the pressure gradient
is held constant, or decreases the pressure gradient if the volumet-
ric flow rate is held constant, for both the power-law and Bingham-
plastic fluids.
Discussion of Turbulent Eccentric Annular Flow
Consider a simple case of pipe flow where there are two separate
pipes with different diameters through which the same kind of fluid
is flowing. If the pressure gradients are the same in both pipes,
then the fluid velocity will be higher in the larger pipe than in the
smaller one, regardless of the flow regime and the fluid rheologi-
cal behavior. This may explain why the velocity is higher in the
enlarged area than in the reduced area in eccentric annular flow,
as shown in the preceding discussion. Similar examples may also

l'0r-~~-.------'------'r------.------'

.....crt
"crt CT
.....
0
"0'"
~ 0.8
<
'"
I-
Z
!::!
-
0
I-
<
Cl '"
1L.l
< I-
<
'"'"
1L.l
0.6
'"
:-
0
2
'"
:::J
...J
U.

'"a.'"
1L.l
r/r 2= 0.7
'"
0.4
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0

Fig. 11-Pressure gradients In eccentric annular flow of Fig. 12-Volumetrlc flow rates In eccentric annular flow of
power-law fluids. Bingham-plastic fluids.

SPE Production Engineering. February 1990 95

 qaD = dimensionless volumetric flow rate in annular flow
1.0
r = radial position, m [in.]
of rn,rp = inner and outer boundary radii of unsheared plug,
"-
"of O. B m [in.]
0
ro= zero-shear-stress radial position, m [in.]
~

>-- rl,r2 = inner and outer radii of annulus, m [in.]

<
c: 0.6 r~ = outer radius of eccentric annulus defined by Eq. 21,
>--
z
w m [in.]
0 s = lin
< 0.4
c: v = local velocity, mls [ft/sec]
'"
w
0.10
z = axial coordinate of cylindrical coordinate system
c: 0.20
~
(f)
(f) 0.2 r / r 2= 0.5 0.25 "i = local shear rate, lis
w 0.30 (J = characteristic angle defined in Fig. 2, rad
c:
CL
>..e = re/r~
0.0 >"0 = rO/r2
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 P-p = plastic viscosity, Pa' s [cp]
p = fluid density, g/cm 3 [Ibm/gal]
ECCENTRICITY s/ (r -r )
2 1 u = yield stress, Pa [Ibf/tOO ft2]
UD = 2u/r2gp' dimensionless yield stress
Fig. 13-Pre88ure gradients In ecc.entrlc annular flow of Bing- T zr = shear stress on r plane in z direction,
ham-plastic fluids. Pa [lbf/l00 ft2]

explain the volumetric flow rate and pressure-gradient behavior in
eccentric annular flow.
Although the mathematical models presented here are valid for
laminar flow only, the general behavior of turbulent eccentric an-
nular flow of Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids should be simi-
lar. Experimental results obtained by Tao and Donovan 6 and by
Jons~on and Sparrow l5 for Newtonian fluids support this con-
clusion.
Conclusions
t. A new model is introduced for the analysis of fluid flow through
eccentric annuli where an eccentric annulus is treated as an infinite
number of concentric annuli with variable outer radii. The advan-
tages of the proposed method are that it is simple and may provide
more accurate results.
2. Using the proposed method, we obtained analytical solutions
for the shear stress, shear rate, velocity, and volumetric flow
rate/pressure gradient for both power-law and Bingham-plastic
fluids.
3. The general characteristics in turbulent eccentric annular flow
are similar to those found in corresponding laminar flow.
Acknowledgments
We thank the sponsors of this research project at Heriot-Watt U.:
Enterprise Oil PLC, Esso Exploration U.K. Ltd., and the Marine
Technology Directorate of the Science and Engineering Research
Council of the U.K.
Nomenclature
bp = width of unsheared plug,
m [in.]
c = integration constant
e = eccentricity defined in Fig. 2, m [in.]
EI = fractional eccentricity, dimensionless
gp = pressure gradient upstream minus downstream
conditions, Palm [psi/ft]
gz = z component of gravitational constant, m/s2 [ft/sec 2]
K = consistency index, Pa' sn [cpn]
n = flow-behavior index, dimensionless
PI = friction pressure in fluid flow, Pa [psi]
q = volumetric flow rate, m3 Is [gal/min]
Superscript
e = eccentric annular flow-
References
1. Dryden, H.L, Mumaghn, F.P., and Bateman, H.: Hydrodynamics,
Dover Publications Inc., New York City (1956) 198, 232-41.
2. Heyda, J.F.: "A Green's Function Solution for the Case of Laminar
Incompressible Flow Between Non-Concentric Circular Cylinders,"
l. Franklin Inst. (Jan. 1959) 267, No.1, 25-34.
3. Redberger, P.J. and Charles, M.E.: "Axial Laminar Flow in a Circu-
lar Pipe Containing a Fixed Eccentric Core," Cdn. l. Chern. Eng. (Aug.
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SPEPE
Original SPE manuscript received for review Sept. 27, 1987. Paper accepted for publica-
tion Oct. 20, 1989. Revised manuscript received Sept. 18, 1989. Paper (SPE 16692) first
presented at the 1987 SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition held in Dallas,
Sept. 27-30.

96 SPE Production Engineering, February 1990