Question:medium

A drilling fluid following the power law model is circulated in a wellbore at a rate of 600 gal/min. The internal diameter (Di) of the drill pipe is 4.276 inches, and the power law flow behaviour index n for the fluid is 0.67.
The wall shear rate is given by \[ \dot{\gamma}_w = \left(\frac{3n+1}{4n}\right)\frac{8V}{D_i} \] where V is the average velocity of the drilling fluid inside the drill pipe.
[Given: 1 gallon = 3785.4 cm3, 1 inch = 2.54 cm]
The wall shear rate (in s^-1) is __________ (rounded off to one decimal place).

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First find the mean pipe velocity V from Q/A in consistent units, then plug into the given wall shear rate formula.
Updated On: Jul 28, 2026
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Correct Answer: 338

Solution and Explanation

Step 1: Rework the same problem using SI units instead of cgs units, as an independent check: 
$D_i = 4.276 \times 0.0254 = 0.108610$ m

Step 2: Convert the flow rate to cubic metres per second: 
$1$ gallon $= 3785.4$ cm$^3 = 0.0037854$ m$^3$ 
$Q = 600 \times 0.0037854 = 2.27124$ m$^3$/min 
$Q = 2.27124 / 60 = 0.037854$ m$^3$/s

Step 3: Compute the cross-sectional area in square metres: 
Radius $= 0.108610/2 = 0.054305$ m 
$A = \pi (0.054305)^2 = \pi \times 0.00294906 = 0.0092647$ m$^2$

Step 4: Compute the average velocity in metres per second: 
$V = Q/A = 0.037854 / 0.0092647 = 4.0858$ m/s

Step 5: Note that 4.0858 m/s equals 408.58 cm/s, matching the cgs calculation exactly, which confirms the unit conversion is consistent: 
$4.0858 \times 100 = 408.58$ cm/s

Step 6: Compute the power law coefficient once again: 
$\frac{3n+1}{4n} = \frac{3(0.67)+1}{4(0.67)} = \frac{3.01}{2.68} = 1.12313$

Step 7: Compute 8V/Di using the SI values, keeping the units of V and Di consistent so the ratio still comes out in s^-1: 
$8V = 8 \times 4.0858 = 32.6864$ m/s 
$8V/D_i = 32.6864 / 0.108610 = 300.95$ s$^{-1}$

Step 8: Multiply by the power law coefficient to obtain the wall shear rate: 
$\dot{\gamma}_w = 1.12313 \times 300.95 = 338.0$ s$^{-1}$, which matches the cgs unit calculation exactly.

Final Answer: 
\[ \boxed{\dot{\gamma}_w = 338.0 \text{ s}^{-1}} \]

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