Mathematical Simulation of the Swirling Flow of a Dilatant Herschel–Bulkley Fluid in a Cylindrical Channel

Results of an investigation of the swirling flow of a dilatant Herschel–Bulkley fluid with a yield point in a cylindrical channel are presented. It was established that the effective viscosity of such a fluid at the input cross section of a cylindrical channel increases with increase in the intensity of its vortex, which can cause plugging of the channel. As the Rossby number of this fluid increases, its effective viscosity in the region of unstable flow at the axis of the channel decreases, and the opposite effect takes place in the near-wall zone of the channel. As the fluid flow stabilizes downstream, the effective viscosity of the fluid in the near-wall region of the channel decreases, and the effective viscosity of the fluid near the channel axis increases, which leads to the formation of a quasi-solid fluid flow.