Viscosity
Viscosity
Viscosity
Viscosity is a measure of the resistance of a fluid which is being deformed by either shear
stress or tensional stress. In everyday terms (and for fluids only), viscosity is "thickness".
Thus, water is "thin", having a lower viscosity, while honey is "thick", having a higher
viscosity. Viscosity describes a fluid's internal resistance to flow and may be thought of
as a measure of fluid friction. For example, high-viscosity magma will create a tall, steep
stratovolcano, because it cannot flow far before it cools, while low-viscosity lava will
create a wide, shallow-sloped shield volcano. Put simply, the less viscous something is,
the greater its ease of movement (fluidity). All real fluids (except superfluids) have some
resistance to stress, but a fluid which has no resistance to shear stress is known as an ideal
fluid or inviscid fluid. The study of viscosity is known as rheology.
The word "viscosity" derives from the Latin word "viscum" for mistletoe.
Viscosity coefficients:
Viscosity coefficients can be defined in two ways:
Viscosity is a tensorial quantity that can be decomposed in different ways into two
independent components. The most usual decomposition yields the following viscosity
coefficients:
• Shear viscosity, the most important one, often referred to as simply viscosity,
describing the reaction to applied shear stress; simply put, it is the ratio between
the pressure exerted on the surface of a fluid, in the lateral or horizontal direction,
to the change in velocity of the fluid as you move down in the fluid (this is what is
referred to as a velocity gradient).
• Volume viscosity or bulk viscosity, describes the reaction to compression,
essential for acoustics in fluids, see Stokes' law (sound attenuation).
Alternatively,
For example, at room temperature, water has a dynamic shear viscosity of about 1.0 ×
10−3 Pa∙s and motor oil of about 250 × 10−3 Pa∙s
Viscosity measurement:
Main article: Viscometer
One of the most common instruments for measuring kinematic viscosity is the glass
capillary viscometer.
In paint industries, viscosity is commonly measured with a Zahn cup, in which the efflux
time is determined and given to customers. The efflux time can also be converted to
kinematic viscosities (centistokes, cSt) through the conversion equations.
A Ford viscosity cup measures the rate of flow of a liquid. This, under ideal conditions, is
proportional to the kinematic viscosity.
Also used in paint, a Stormer viscometer uses load-based rotation in order to determine
viscosity. The viscosity is reported in Krebs units (KU), which are unique to Stormer
viscometers.
Vibrating viscometers can also be used to measure viscosity. These models such as the
Dynatrol use vibration rather than rotation to measure viscosity.
Extensional viscosity can be measured with various rheometers that apply extensional
stress.
Units
[edit] Dynamic viscosity
The usual symbol for dynamic viscosity used by mechanical and chemical engineers —
as well as fluid dynamicists — is the Greek letter mu (μ)[4][5][6][7]. The symbol η is also
used by chemists, physicists, and the IUPAC[8].
The SI physical unit of dynamic viscosity is the pascal-second (Pa∙s), which is identical
to N∙m-2∙s. If a fluid with a viscosity of one Pa∙s is placed between two plates, and one
plate is pushed sideways with a shear stress of one pascal, it moves a distance equal to the
thickness of the layer between the plates in one second.
The cgs physical unit for dynamic viscosity is the poise[9] (P), named after Jean Louis
Marie Poiseuille. It is more commonly expressed, particularly in ASTM standards, as
centipoise (cP). Water at 20 °C has a viscosity of 1.0020 cP or 0.001002 kilogram/meter
second.
1 P = 1 g∙cm−1∙s−1.
The relation to the SI unit is
1 P = 0.1 Pa∙s,
1 cP = 1 mPa∙s = 0.001 Pa∙s.
In many situations, we are concerned with the ratio of the viscous force to the inertial
force, the latter characterised by the fluid density ρ. This ratio is characterised by the
kinematic viscosity (Greek letter nu, ν), defined as follows:
The cgs physical unit for kinematic viscosity is the stokes (St), named after George
Gabriel Stokes. It is sometimes expressed in terms of centistokes (cSt or ctsk). In U.S.
usage, stoke is sometimes used as the singular form.
At one time the petroleum industry relied on measuring kinematic viscosity by means of
the Saybolt viscometer, and expressing kinematic viscosity in units of Saybolt Universal
Seconds (SUS).[10] Other abbreviations such as SSU (Saybolt Seconds Universal) or SUV
(Saybolt Universal Viscosity) are sometimes used. Kinematic viscosity in centistoke can
be converted from SUS according to the arithmetic and the reference table provided in
ASTM D 2161.[11]
[edit] Gases
Viscosity in gases arises principally from the molecular diffusion that transports
momentum between layers of flow. The kinetic theory of gases allows accurate
prediction of the behavior of gaseous viscosity.
James Clerk Maxwell published a famous paper in 1866 using the kinetic theory of gases
to study gaseous viscosity.[14] To understand why the viscosity is independent of pressure
consider two adjacent boundary layers (A and B) moving with respect to each other. The
internal friction (the viscosity) of the gas is determined by the probability a particle of
layer A enters layer B with a corresponding transfer of momentum. Maxwell's
calculations showed him that the viscosity coefficient is proportional to both the density,
the mean free path and the mean velocity of the atoms. On the other hand, the mean free
path is inversely proportional to the density. So an increase of pressure doesn't result in
any change of the viscosity.
From fluid mechanics, shear stress, τ, on a unit area moving parallel to itself, is found to
be proportional to the rate of change of velocity with distance perpendicular to the unit
area:
for a unit area parallel to the x-z plane, moving along the x axis. We will derive this
formula and show how μ is related to λ.
Interpreting shear stress as the time rate of change of momentum, p, per unit area A (rate
of momentum flux) of an arbitrary control surface gives
where is the average velocity along x of fluid molecules hitting the unit area, with respect
to the unit area.
, assuming that molecules hitting the unit area come from all distances between 0
and λ (equally distributed), and that their average velocities change linearly with
distance (always true for small enough λ). From this follows:
where
Sutherland's formula can be used to derive the dynamic viscosity of an ideal gas as a
function of the temperature:
in Sutherland's formula:
Valid for temperatures between 0 < T < 555 K with an error due to pressure less than
10% below 3.45 MPa.
C T0 μ0
The Chapman-Enskog equation[18] may be used to estimate viscosity for a dilute gas. This
equation is based on a semi-theoretical assumption by Chapman and Enskog. The
equation requires three empirically determined parameters: the collision diameter (σ), the
maximum energy of attraction divided by the Boltzmann constant (є/к) and the collision
integral (ω(T*)).
with
[edit] Liquids
In liquids, the additional forces between molecules become important. This leads to an
additional contribution to the shear stress though the exact mechanics of this are still
controversial.[citation needed] Thus, in liquids:
The dynamic viscosities of liquids are typically several orders of magnitude higher than
dynamic viscosities of gases.
The viscosity of the blend of two or more liquids can be estimated using the Refutas
equation[19][20]. The calculation is carried out in three steps.
The first step is to calculate the Viscosity Blending Number (VBN) (also called the
Viscosity Blending Index) of each component of the blend:
(1)
where v is the kinematic viscosity in centistokes (cSt). It is important that the kinematic
viscosity of each component of the blend be obtained at the same temperature.
The next step is to calculate the VBN of the blend, using this equation:
(2)
Once the viscosity blending number of a blend has been calculated using equation (2), the
final step is to determine the kinematic viscosity of the blend by solving equation (1) for
v:
(3)
The viscosity of air depends mostly on the temperature. At 15.0 °C, the viscosity of air is
1.78 × 10−5 kg/(m∙s), 17.8 mPa.s or 1.78 × 10−4 P. One can get the viscosity of air as a
function of temperature from the Gas Viscosity Calculator
The dynamic viscosity of water is 8.90 × 10−4 Pa∙s or 8.90 × 10−3 dyn∙s/cm2 or 0.890 cP at
about 25 °C.
Water has a viscosity of 0.0091 poise at 25 °C, or 1 centipoise at 20 °C.
As a function of temperature T (K): μ(Pa∙s) = A × 10B/(T−C)
where A=2.414 × 10−5 Pa∙s ; B = 247.8 K ; and C = 140 K[citation needed].
Viscosity of liquid water at different temperatures up to the normal boiling point is listed
below.
Temperature Viscosity
[°C] [mPa·s]
10 1.308
20 1.002
30 0.7978
40 0.6531
50 0.5471
60 0.4668
70 0.4044
80 0.3550
90 0.3150
100 0.2822
Example of the viscosity of milk and water. Liquids with higher viscosities will not make
such a splash when poured at the same velocity.
Honey being drizzled.
viscosity
hydrogen 8.4
air 17.4
xenon 21.2
viscosity viscosity
However, others argue that solids are, in general, elastic for small stresses while fluids
are not.[28] Even if solids flow at higher stresses, they are characterized by their low-stress
behavior. This distinction can become muddled if measurements are continued over long
time periods, such as the Pitch drop experiment. Viscosity may be an appropriate
characteristic for solids in a plastic regime. The situation becomes somewhat confused as
the term viscosity is sometimes used for solid materials, for example Maxwell materials,
to describe the relationship between stress and the rate of change of strain, rather than
rate of shear.
with constants A1, A2, B, C and D related to thermodynamic parameters of joining bonds
of an amorphous material.
Not very far from the glass transition temperature, Tg, this equation can be approximated
by a Vogel-Fulcher-Tammann (VFT) equation.
If the temperature is significantly lower than the glass transition temperature, T < Tg, then
the two-exponential equation simplifies to an Arrhenius type equation:
with:
If the temperature is highly above the glass transition temperature, T > Tg, the two-
exponential equation also simplifies to an Arrhenius type equation:
with:
When the temperature is higher than the glass transition temperature, T > Tg, the
activation energy of viscosity is low because amorphous materials are melt and have
most of their joining bonds broken which facilitates flow.
which only depends upon the equilibrium state potentials like temperature and density
(equation of state). In general, the trace of the stress tensor is the sum of thermodynamic
pressure contribution plus another contribution which is proportional to the divergence of
the velocity field. This constant of proportionality is called the volume viscosity.
[edit] Fluidity
The reciprocal of viscosity is fluidity, usually symbolized by φ = 1 / μ or F = 1 / μ,
depending on the convention used, measured in reciprocal poise (cm∙s∙g−1), sometimes
called the rhe. Fluidity is seldom used in engineering practice.
The concept of fluidity can be used to determine the viscosity of an ideal solution. For
two components a and b, the fluidity when a and b are mixed is
which is only slightly simpler than the equivalent equation in terms of viscosity:
where χa and χb is the mole fraction of component a and b respectively, and μa and μb are
the components pure viscosities.
Viscous forces in a fluid are a function of the rate at which the fluid velocity is changing
over distance. The velocity at any point r is specified by the velocity field v(r). The
velocity at a small distance dr from point r may be written as a Taylor series:
where dv / dr is shorthand for the dyadic product of the del operator and the velocity:
Viscous forces are the result of relative motion between elements of the fluid, and so are
expressible as a function of the velocity field. In other words, the forces at r are a
function of v(r) and all derivatives of v(r) at that point. In the case of linear viscosity, the
viscous force will be a function of the Jacobian tensor alone. For almost all practical
situations, the linear approximation is sufficient.
Any matrix may be written as the sum of an antisymmetric matrix and a symmetric
matrix, and this decomposition is independent of coordinate system, and so has physical
significance. The velocity field may be approximated as:
where Einstein notation is now being used in which repeated indices in a product are
implicitly summed. The second term from the right is the asymmetric part of the first
derivative term, and it represents a rigid rotation of the fluid about r with angular velocity
ω where:
For such a rigid rotation, there is no change in the relative positions of the fluid elements,
and so there is no viscous force associated with this term. The remaining symmetric term
is responsible for the viscous forces in the fluid. Assuming the fluid is isotropic (i.e. its
properties are the same in all directions), then the most general way that the symmetric
term (the rate-of-strain tensor) can be broken down in a coordinate-independent (and
therefore physically real) way is as the sum of a constant tensor (the rate-of-expansion
tensor) and a traceless symmetric tensor (the rate-of-shear tensor):
where δij is the unit tensor. The most general linear relationship between the stress tensor
σ and the rate-of-strain tensor is then a linear combination of these two tensors:[33]
where ς is the coefficient of bulk viscosity (or "second viscosity") and μ is the coefficient
of (shear) viscosity.
The forces in the fluid are due to the velocities of the individual molecules. The velocity
of a molecule may be thought of as the sum of the fluid velocity and the thermal velocity.
The viscous stress tensor described above gives the force due to the fluid velocity only.
The force on an area element in the fluid due to the thermal velocities of the molecules is
just the hydrostatic pressure. This pressure term (−p δij) must be added to the viscous
stress tensor to obtain the total stress tensor for the fluid.
The infinitesimal force dFi on an infinitesimal area dAi is then given by the usual
relationship: