Slurry & non-
Newtonian Flow

Accurately model any slurry or non-Newtonian fluid system
Design concentrate pipelines, tailings, paste backfill systems, and more
The industry choice for the design and modeling of efficient & reliable slurry flow systems.

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Features

The Slurry Module can be used to model settling or non-settling non-Newtonian fluids as well as Pulp & Paper Stock Flow Systems.

Comprehensive Fluid And Equipment Databases

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Slurry Methods

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Automatic Equipment Sizing

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Dynamic Analysis

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Comprehensive databases of over 1200 fluids and over 800 equipment components included as standard. Databases are used extensively in FluidFlow in order to reduce the volume of data entry.

New fluids (including petroleum fractions), fluid mixtures and components can be quickly and easily added.
Databases that describe the performance and limits of fluid equipment items
Library of pipe materials, insulation materials and soil types for buried pipe calculations.
Database of manufacturers, costs, and user-defined areas of application.

Settling slurry calculation methods available include Durand, Wilson-Addie-Sellgren-Clift (WASC), WASP, Liu Dezhong and the Four Component Model. Non-settling slurry calculations methods depend on rheology data. These can be described as Power Law, Bingham Plastic, Hershel Buckley or Casson. Pulp & Paper Stock loss correlations include TAPPI & Moller K.

Simulating the performance of settling slurries is dependent on the solid density, concentration, particle shape and size distribution, as well as the properties of the carrier fluid. Selecting the optimum pipeline velocity is usually the most important factor in the design and operation of slurry systems. Fluids can be mixed on the flowsheet. This allows for dilution effects in slurries to be considered.

Powerful Automatic Equipment Sizing technology included. FluidFlow will propose the most economical pipe size based on physical property data, capital equipment cost and energy costs.

Automatically size relief valves and bursting disks to ISO and API standards.
Pumps can be automatically sized based on either a design flow rate or design pressure rise across the system.
Automatically size pipes or ducts based on any of the following three methods; 1) Economic Velocity, 2) By Velocity and 3) By Pressure Gradient.

Scripting allows the user to perform dynamic analysis on a model. These time-dependent simulations allow investigation into tank fill/drain times, system pressure as demands vary, control philosophies, and more.

Scripting can be used to perform a wide range of dynamic simulations including:

Analyse system pressure as demands vary.
Investigate system control philosophies.
Evaluate valve performance for variable speed pumps.
Flare stack depressurisation.
Optimise pump and system performance.
Analyse scale build-up in systems and study the effect on flow rate.

Applications

Design

Robust slurry pipelines by modeling heterogeneous settling slurries, non-Newtonian slurries, and complex slurry flows for broad particle size distributions that display both settling and non-settling characteristics. Pulp & Paper systems are also solved using the Slurry & non-Newtonian Module.
Calculate system pressure losses using any of five available methods and consider solids derating (three available methods) of end suction centrifugal pumps.
Characterise non-Newtonian non-settling slurries by defining fluid constants or a series of data-points for Shear Rate vs Shear Stress and switch between the four available rheology relationships (Herschel-Bulkley, Power Law, Casson and Bingham Plastic) and choose the relationship/curve-fit which best represents your defined data-points.

Analyse

Pipeline velocities relative to calculated deposition velocity to ensure you avoid particle settling/pipe blockage.
Study plant performance and determine slurry physical properties throughout the entire system, including solids delivered.
Identify the cause of operational issues with new or existing plant and evaluate solutions. FluidFlow highlights potential problem areas including the risk of saltation/pipe blockage.

Size

Rapid pump sizing function enabling efficient pump selection. This helps ensure your selected pumps are operating at an efficient and reliable duty-point.
Determine pipe sizes using any of the four available correlations.
Develop Hydraulic & Energy Grade Line (EGL/HGL) graph plots to help evaluate performance of pumps installed in series in long distance distribution lines.

Communicate

Fully customisable reports allow for effective communication to colleagues, clients and peer review.
Customise flowsheet to visually communicate key results and design information.
Develop a clear and transparent design audit trail.

Example Systems

1. Nickel Ore Delivery System:

The image below provides an example of a nickel ore slurry delivery system with a solids concentration of 38% by weight.

In this case, the particle d50 was known and defined however, you can also enter particle size distribution (PSD). The pumps in this case have been automatically sized based on a design flow rate.

This example shows a pumped slurry system that has been exported to Excel. The content of the export can be fully controlled. You can download the xls file via the download link below. Click on the tabs to display the various Excel pages. Exporting to Excel allows you to customise your reports and provides an excellent method of communicating the results of a study, to a client or colleague.

Download XLS file

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Download XLS file

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2. Mine Pit Dewatering & Overland Pipeline System:

The image below provides an illustration of a typical mine dewatering system. This system consists of six pumps on a pontoon providing the initial lift to the upper elevation where the water is then transported via 17 km of overland piping with changing elevation to the final location.

Download XLS file

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Download XLS file

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3. Hydraulic & Energy Grade Line (HGL/EGL):

You can plot the hydraulic grade line (HGL) for your piping network allowing you to show the variation in piezometric head. The energy grade line (EGL) can also be plotted to show the variation in total head across the system.

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Articles to read

6 Mar, 2019

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Slurry & non-
Newtonian Flow

Features

Comprehensive Fluid And Equipment Databases

Slurry Methods

Automatic Equipment Sizing

Dynamic Analysis