CFD Simulation of Drag Reduction in Horizontal Pipelines Transporting Oil-based Nano-silica Nano-Fluids

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

1 Department of Chemical Engineering, Shiraz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Shiraz, Iran

2 Department of Chemical Engineering, Darab branch, Islamic Azad University, Darab, Iran

3 Department of Chemical Engineering, Shiraz branch, Islamic Azad University, Shiraz, Iran

Abstract

This study innovatively investigates the effect of silica nanoparticles on crude oil pipeline flow drag reduction using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Turbulent flow conditions were assumed for all simulations according to Reynolds number values. The results of the numerical simulations were validated against the experimental measurements, showing a maximum deviation of less than 8.6% in percentage drag reduction (DR%). The effect of some parameters such as fluid viscosity, flow velocity and pipe diameter (defined collectively by the Reynolds number) and pipe materials with various Nano-silica concentrations (0.25–1 wt.%), on drag reduction in the single-phase flow regime was investigated. Among the conditions investigated, optimal agreement with experimental results and highest drag reduction was recorded at 0.75 wt.% Nano-silica concentration at a Reynolds number of 13,931. Drag reduction has been found to increase with increasing concentrations of nanoparticles for fixed Reynolds numbers. For a fixed nanoparticle concentration, higher Reynolds number is also found to yield better drag reduction. These results confirm the effectiveness of the crude oil optimized using the nanoparticles in reducing the flow resistance under turbulent flow.

Keywords

References

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Chemical Process Design
Volume 5, Issue 1
June 2026
Pages 14-28

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