Ice slurry has been widely used in air conditioners

food

and other industries owing to its good performance in flow

heat transfer and cold storage. To study the effect of solid particle size on the rheological characteristics of ice slurry

three kinds of polyethylene particles (density about 0.922 g/cm3) with average particle sizes of 0.31 mm

0.43 mm

and 0.51 mm were selected as the solid phase in this study. The pressure drop of the mixed slurry flowing in a horizontal circular pipe was measured by changing its velocity and solid-phase content. A piecewise fitting rheological equation was determined based on the relationship between shear stress and shear rate. The effect of particle size on the rheological properties of two–phase liquid such as ice slurry was studied. The results show that the shear stress of the mixed slurry increases with increasing particle size

solid-phase content

and shear rate. The slurry behaves as a shear-thickening fluid

and its rheological index is always greater than 1. The rheological coefficient of the slurry increases with an increase in the solid-phase content under the condition of constant particle size. When the solid content is lower than 15%

the rheological coefficient increases significantly with increasing particle size.