ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the limited literature available on the hydrodynamics of nonspherical particles submerged in flowing non-Newtonian liquids or settling in quiescent non-Newtonian media. In contrast to the vast literature available on the importance of wall effects on sphere motion in Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids, no analytical treatments are available which shed any light on the magnitude of the extra retardation effect on nonspherical particles. Typical instances involving the motion of particles in non-Newtonian fluids include the suspension of heavy abrasive particles in liquid detergents and of heavy proppants in fracturing fluids, pipeline transportation of coarse particles in non-Newtonian carrier fluids, and so forth. Rigorous analytical treatment is not possible for the cross-flow configuration even for Newtonian fluids. At present, insufficient data are available to put forward predictive expressions for wall factor for different shaped particles in purely viscous fluids.
