Three New Topics in Solid-Liquid Flow (TSE03P, TSE03Q)

The projects proposed here are combined computational and experimental studies of three new problems of solid-liquid flows. The first problem is to obtain explicit formulas for the lift on particles in shear flows of pure fluids and slurries by correlating data from direct numerical simulation (DNS). The numerical studies to be undertaken look to the development of methods for interrogating the underlying mechanics of principles and correlations rather than to code development. The first problem is submitted for funding as a GOALI grant in collaboration with Barree and Associates, a consulting firm specializing in stimulation and well performance optimization. This collaboration follows our earlier GOALI grant in collaboration with STIM-LAB, a laboratory supported by a consortium of oil and oil service companies, which carries out experiments providing real data for correlations and modeling, which may be used for validating numerical experiments from DNS. Bob Barree Mike Conway (from STIM-LAB) and the PI’s group have made good progress toward a proppant flow-back model and other software products addressing unsolved practical problems of the fracturing industry [7, 8].