Drag enhancement of aqueous electrolyte solutions in turbulent pipe flow.

Detailed experimental results are presented for both laminar and turbulent flow of aqueous solutions in pipes of different diameters. Nonelectrolytes, such as sugar solutions followed the normal Moody pressure loss curves. Drag enhancement was demonstrated for turbulent flow of aqueous electrolyte solutions but not for laminar flow. The increased pressure drop for turbulent electrolyte flow was attributed to an electroviscous effect and a theory was developed to explain the drag enhancement. The increased pressure drop for the turbulent region of flow was shown to depend on the Debye length in the laminar sublayer on the pipe wall. Reasonable predictions of the increasing drag were obtained for both 1:1 and 2:1 electrolyte solutions.