Flow Behaviour of Nata de Coco Suspension in Circular and Spiral Pipe

Abstract

Recently, energy efficiency research in several fields is an important topic to be developed. In fluid flow, several methods are constantly be innovated to increase pressure drops. In the piping system, some researchers add several types of additives to the base fluid to get a reduction in resistance. The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of the Nata de Coco fiber solution that was flowed through the pentagon test pipeline. In this test, the discharge variation carried out to obtain a low to high Reynolds number, namely 20,000. The percentage of drag reduction calculated using experimental data obtained, where the pressure drop measured at the test pipe with a distance of 1500 mm. From the research results, it is known that the addition of Nata de Coco fiber suspension into the water can reduce resistance in both round and spiral pipes. The maximum drag reduction of working fluid with a concentration of 100 ppm for spiral pipes is around 34.68% and for circular pipe, it is around 22.1% at the same Reynolds number, which is around 19,000. Nata de Coco fiber solutions tend to spread and flow straight in the middle of the experimental pipe and buffer region layer and continue to expand towards the wall; these reduce wall friction and achieve maximum drag reduction. Furthermore, Nata de Coco fiber suspension is good for mechanical degradation effects. Based on this research, it can be concluded that Nata de Coco can be considered as a solution to reduce the friction of flow.