Measurement
of viscosity
(Viscometers)
By
Dr. Indrajith D. Nissanka
Email: [email protected]
Viscosity measurement
➢ Units of Viscosity 𝑑𝑢
✓ SI Units for Dynamics viscosity: Pa.s, N.s/m2 𝜏=𝜇
𝜇 : dynamic viscosity 𝑑𝑦
✓SI Units for Kinematic viscosity
𝜇
= 𝜈 : kinematic viscosity
𝜌
➢Units used in industry
✓ Dynamic viscosity: poise (P) or centi-poise (cP) 1 Pa-s, or 10 poise
✓ Kinematic viscosity: stokes (St) or centi-stokes (cSt) 1 m²/s = 10⁶ cSt = 10⁴ St.
Device used for measurement of viscosity is known as viscometer
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Type of Viscometers
➢Orifice Viscometer
➢Capillary viscometers
➢Falling ball/sphere viscometer
➢Rotational viscometer
➢Vibrational viscometer
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Capillary viscometer
(Ostwald viscometer)
➢ Consisting of a U-shaped glass tube with
two bulbs (one higher and one lower).
➢ Fluid passes from the higher bulb to the
lower bulb through a capillary, and
viscosity is measured by timing how long
it takes the fluid to pass through the tube
Viscosity can be calculated by using a
known liquid (say water)
𝜇𝑤 𝜌𝑤 𝑡𝑤
𝜇𝐿 =
𝜌𝐿 𝑡𝐿
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Capillary viscometer
➢ Based on a laminar flow through a circular pipe.
➢ Suitable head is provided to the liquid so that it can flow freely through the
capillary tube of certain length into a collection tank
➢ The HagenPoiseuille equation for laminar
flow can be applied to calculate the
viscosity
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Falling ball viscometer
➢ Consists of a long container of constant area filled
with a liquid whose viscosity has to be measured
➢ Container is kept in a constant temperature bath a
➢ Smooth spherical ball is allowed to fall
vertically through the liquid under its own
weight(W )
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Orifice viscometer/ effux type viscometer
(Saybolt and Redwood Viscometers)
➢ Works on the principle of vertical
gravity flow of a viscous liquid
through a capillary tube
➢ Viscosity is estimated by measuring
the time to flow a certain amount of
measure liquid
➢ Saybolt seconds and Redwood seconds
Redwood viscometer
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Vibrating viscometer
➢ Use a powered vibrating rod to measure viscosity
➢ Different fluids are more or less resistant to
vibrations depending on how viscous they are
➢ Measuring the dampening of the vibration,
or by measuring how quickly the vibration
of the viscometer degrades
✓ Popular due to high accuracy
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Rotating cylinder viscometer
➢ Consists of two co-axial cylinders suspended
coaxially as shown in the Fig.
➢ The narrow annular space between the cylinders is
filled with a liquid for which the viscosity needs to be
measure
➢ The outer cylinder has the provision to rotate while the
inner cylinder is a fixed one and has the provision to
measure the torque and angular rotation
➢ Measure toque can be used to measure the viscosity
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Example
A capillary tube viscometer consists of large diameter reservoir and small
diameter vertical tube. The sample of an oil is placed in the reservoir and
flow rate due to gravity is measured. The tube is 0.1 m long and 1 mm
diameter. Height of the liquid in reservoir above the orifice inlet is 0.02 m.
Oil been tested had 1050 kg/m3 density. If the flow rate is 10-8 m3/s what
is the viscosity of oil? (you can use standard equations for capillary tube
viscometer)
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Example
A falling ball viscometer is used to measure the viscosity of a liquid. The falling
ball used has radius of 0.5 cm and made of material with density of 8 g/cm3. Once
it reaches to terminal velocity, ball takes 10 s to travel 1 m height of the liquid
column. If the tested liquid density is 1.2 g/cm3, what is the viscosity of liquid
(you can use standard equations for capillary tube viscometer)
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Example
Find the viscosity of the fluid if the inner cylinder rotates at the speed 300 rpm,
and torque is measured to be 1.8 Nm. The length of the cylinder is 40 cm.
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