Pressure drop and non-Newtonian behavior of ice slurry in a horizontal pipe

In this work, the pressure drop and non-Newtonian behavior of ice slurry with a freezing-point depression of methanol were investigated in a horizontal pipe under varying methanol concentrations (8–25%) and ice mass fractions (0–29%). The testing section was composed of a horizontal 316 stainless steel pipe with an inner diameter of 25.4 mm. The effect of flow velocity, initial concentration, and ice mass fraction on the pressure drop, flow regimes, and non-Newtonian behavior of ice slurry flow was revealed. A comparison of the experimental data with various existing fluid models used for ice slurry exhibited poor predictability of the pressure drop using these existing models (i.e., a mean deviation of 30–86%). Therefore, a fluid model was developed by using a nonlinear regression method, and defining the pressure drop as a function of methanol concentration and ice mass fraction. The resulting model successfully predicted the experimentally obtained pressure data with a mean deviation of 15%. This work thus advances the understanding of the rheological characteristics of ice slurry and will contribute to further development of this alternative cooling technology.