Tube viscometers

The basic design is that of the Ostwald viscometer a U-tube with two reservoir bulbs separated by a capillary, as shown in Figure 24a. The Hquid is added to the viscometer, pulled into the upper reservoir by suction, and then allowed to drain by gravity back into the lower reservoir. The time that it takes for the Hquid to pass between two etched marks, one above and one below the upper reservoir, is a measure of the viscosity. In U-tube viscometers, the effective pressure head and therefore the flow time depend on the volume of Hquid in the instmment. Hence, the conditions must be the same for each measurement. 

Viscosity can also be determined from the rising rate of an air bubble through a Hquid. This simple technique is widely used for routine viscosity measurements of Newtonian fluids. A bubble tube viscometer consists of a glass tube of a certain size to which Hquid is added until a small air space remains at the top. The tube is then capped. When it is inverted, the air bubble rises through the Hquid. The rise time in seconds may be taken as a measure of viscosity, or an approximate viscosity in mm /s may be calculated from it. In an older method that is commonly used, the rate of rise is matched to that of a member of a series of standards, eg, with that of the Gardner-Holdt bubble tubes. Unfortunately, this technique employs a nonlinear scale of letter designations and may be difficult to interpret. 

If it is known that a particular form of relation, such as the power-law model, is applicable, it is not necessary to maintain a constant shear rate. Thus, for instance, a capillary tube viscometer can be used for determination of the values of the two parameters in the model. In this case it is usually possible to allow for the effects of wall-slip by making measurements with tubes covering a range of bores and extrapolating the results to a tube of infinite diameter. Details of the method are given by Farooqi and Richardson. 21 ... 

In a series of experiments on the flow of flocculated kaolin suspensions in laboratory and industrial scale pipelines(26-27-2Sl, measurements of pressure drop were made as a function of flowrate. Results were obtained using a laboratory capillary-tube viscometer, and pipelines of 42 mm and 205 mm diameter arranged in a recirculating loop. The rheology of all of the suspensions was described by the power-law model with a power law index less than unity, that is they were all shear-thinning. The behaviour in the laminar region can be described by the equation ... 

Inside film heat transfer coefficient 496 INSINGER, T. H. 486, 492, 564 Institution of Chemic al Engineers 516 Instruments, capillary tube viscometer 196... 

Bubbles, in fluidized beds, 11 805-806 Bubble size control, 11 805 in fluidized beds, 11 819, 821 Bubble size distribution, 12 14 in foams, 12 11 Bubble tear-offs, 20 229 Bubble tray absorbers, 1 27, 29 design, 1 83-86 Bubble-tube reactor, 25 194 Bubble tube viscometer, 21 739 Bubble two-phase theory of fluidization, 11 805-806... 

Mooney clearly showed that the relationship between the shear stress at the wall of a pipe or tube, DAP/4L, and the term 8V/D is independent of the diameter of the tube in laminar flow. This statement is rigorously true for any kind of flow behavior in which the shearing rate is only a function of the applied shearing stress.1 This relationship between DAP/4L and 8VJD may be conveniently determined in a capillary-tube viscometer, for example. Once this has been done over the range of... 

Viscosities must be determined experimentally. For settlable solids, the suspension viscometer of Orr and DallaValle (05) is recommended. For other suspensions any good rotational or capillary-tube viscometer is suitable (see Section VI). 

A. Detebmination of Sheab-stress-Sheab-bate Relationships 1. Capillary-Tube Viscometers... 

The essential features of capillary-tube viscometers may be summarized to be... 

Orr and DallaValle (05) have designed a capillary-tube viscometer which is especially suited for use with suspensions which tend to settle. This instrument, shown in Fig. 13, consists of the following four components ... 

It may be concluded that well-designed rotational and capillary-tube viscometers are generally more useful than any other type. Accordingly, rheological equations for interpretation of data have been presented for these two types of instruments. 

Thus, the pressure drop AP for laminar flow through a tube varies in proportion to the viscosity n, the average flow velocity v, and the tube length L, and in inverse proportion to the square of the tube diameter d. Since v is proportional to the total flow rate Q (m s ) and to d, C P should vary in proportion to ft, Q, L, and The principle of the capillary tube viscometer is based on this relationship. 

Analysis of Data Obtained in a Capillary Tube Viscometer... 

Meyerhoff (4) and Goedhart and Opschoor (5) have measured the viscosity of each eluting GPC fraction by coupling an automatic capillary tube viscometer with the GPC syphon. The low polymer concentration in each fraction necessitated an extremely accurate efflux time measurement to 0.01 second since the flow time of each fraction containing polymer has flow times, th greater than that of pure solvent, t0, by at most 2.00 seconds. The specific viscosity sv. of the ith polymer fraction is calculated from the flow times of the pure solvent and the polymer fraction. 

If one considers fluid flowing in a pipe, the situation is highly illustrative of the distinction between shear rate and flow rate. The flow rate is the volume of liquid discharged from the pipe over a period of time. The velocity of a Newtonian fluid in a pipe is a parabolic function of position. At the centerline the velocity is a maximum, while at the wall it is a minimum. The shear rate is effectively the slope of the parabolic function line, so it is a minimum at the centerline and a maximum at the wall. Because the shear rate in a pipe or capillary is a function of position, viscometers based around capillary flow are less useful for non-Newtonian materials. For this reason, rotational devices are often used in preference to capillary or tube viscometers. 

This unit describes a method for measuring the viscosity (r ) of Newtonian fluids. For a Newtonian fluid, viscosity is a constant at a given temperature and pressure, as defined in unit hi. i common liquids under ordinary circumstances behave in this way. Examples include pure fluids and solutions. Liquids which have suspended matter of sufficient size and concentration may deviate from Newtonian behavior. Examples of liquids exhibiting non-Newtonian behavior (unit hi. i) include polymer suspensions, emulsions, and fruit juices. Glass capillary viscometers are useful for the measurement of fluids, with the appropriate choice of capillary dimensions, for Newtonian fluids of viscosity up to 10 Pascals (Newtons m/sec 2) or 100 Poise (dynes cm/sec 2). Traditionally, these viscometers have been used in the oil industry. However, they have been adapted for use in the food industry and are commonly used for molecular weight prediction of food polymers in very dilute solutions (Daubert and Foegeding, 1998). There are three common types of capillary viscometers including Ubelohde, Ostwald, and Cannon-Fenske. These viscometers are often referred to as U-tube viscometers because they resemble the letter U (see Fig. HI.3.1). 

Figure H1.3.1 Schematic of a glass capillary (U-tube) viscometer. Contributed by Jody Renner-Nantz...

Viscometers of relatively complex geometry, for example the Ostwald glass U-tube viscometer, can be used to measure the viscosity of Newtonian liquids, which is independent of shear rate and time, after calibration with a Newtonian liquid of known viscosity. Such instruments cannot be used for Theologically characterizing non-Newtonian liquids, and therefore cannot be classed as rheometers, as geometrical complexity prevents evaluation of shear stress and shear rate at a given location independently of sample rheological behavior. 

Sieben, A., Cellulase and other hydrolytic enzyme assays using an oscillating tube viscometer. Anal Biochem 1975, 63,(1), 214-9. 

Figure 3-16 Tube Viscometer Design Considerations (Vitali and Rao, 1982).

Table 3-3 Tube Viscometer Flow Data on Guava Puree 13.6 °Brix, 58°C ...

Figure 3-18 Shear Rate-Shear Stress Data on Guava Puree Obtained with a Tube Viscometer (Vitaii and Rao, 1982). Both pseudo and true shear rates are shown.

No, Fluid is non-Newtonian peihaps a capillaty/tube viscometer can be used... 

Some of the considerations in selecting a capillary/tube viscometer for viscosity measurement are shown in Figure 3-45. 

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