Rheological Features of Water Flow in Microcracks

Rheophysical phenomena during the flow of a viscous fluid (water) in differently opened flat microcracks have been studied. The role of the electrokinetic factor in the manifestation of the nonlinear rheological effect in a water flow in a microchannel model — the transformation of a Newtonian fluid into a non-Newtonian one — is examined experimentally. Water flow curves were recorded and, based on the Bingham model, its rheological parameters were assessed for differently opened microcracks. It has been established that the non-Newtonian nature of water in microcracks is determined mainly by the value of the electrokinetic potential of the flow, and by reducing it, using antistatic additives, the nonlinear nature of the flow can be weakened significantly.