THE INFLUENCE OF SURFACE WETTABILITY ON FLOW CHARACTERISTICS OF CRUDE OIL IN CIRCULAR PIPE.

In this study, the flow properties of singlephase liquid in circular pipes with different wettabilities at different flow regions were simulated by FLUENT software. The slip effect of wetting interface was characterized by directly setting the slip boundary condition on wall. The effect of apparent contact angle on the pressure drop and frictional resistance of #26 white oil in laminar flow was analyzed. The effects of pipe diameter and surface wettability on the flow property of tap water in turbulent flow were studied. The characteristics of flow field and velocity distribution under different flow regions were discussed respectively. The verification of experimental data showed that the numerical simulation method and boundary conditions were reliable and accurate. The simulation results showed that the pressure drop of white oil decreased with the increase of contact angle in the same pipe diameter. The frictional resistance of white oil was negatively correlated with the slip velocity on wall, that is, the greater the slip velocity, the smaller the frictional resistance. In different pipe diameters, the greater the increase of contact angle and the smaller the pipe diameter, the more obvious the influence of surface wettability on the pressure drop of liquid. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]