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Direct Yield Stress Measurement With The Vane Method PDF
Direct Yield Stress Measurement With The Vane Method PDF
Relaxation of Shear and Normal Stresses in DoubleStep Shear Deformations for a Polystyrene Solution. A Test
of the DoiEdwards Theory for Polymer Rheology
J. Rheol. 25, 549 (1981); 10.1122/1.549650
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Direct Yield Stress Measurement
with the Vane Method
Synopsis
In the vane method for measuring the yield stress, the conventional analysis
assumes that the stress is uniformly distributed on a cylindrical sheared surface
to calculate the yield stress from the maximum torque and vane dimensions. By
using two simple procedures, the present work shows that this assumption is
justified at the moment of yielding. The yield stress calculated using the proposed
methods compares favorably with that obtained with the conventional proce-
dure. A comparison with the yield stress independently determined by other
methods again confirms the usefulness of the vane technique as a simple but
accurate method for direct yield stress measurement.
INTRODUCTION
The yield stress of concentrated suspensions can be determined
or measured by a large number of techniques.l " " Unfortunately,
many of the existing methods are either tedious to perform or
limited in their applicability. Also, it is not uncommon to find
that, even for a given material, the yield stress values obtained
may vary with the experimental conditions employed." With in-
creasing interest in fluids with a yield stress in numerous indus-
trial applications.Y' ' it is not surprising that considerable effort
has been made to develop better and more reliable techniques for
yield stress rneasurement.l T ' : " Recently, in a critical review on
the subject;' we have demonstrated that the yield stress of floc-
culated bauxite residue slurries (red mud) could be directly as-
sessed using a simple vane method adapted from soil mechanics.
The yield stress measured with the vane was shown to be in good
1985 by The Society of Rheology, Inc. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Journal of Rheology, 29(3), 335-347 (1985) CCC 0148-60551851030335-13$04.00
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336 DZUY AND BOGER
, ) N (rpm)
-,--,--
--.-
z
"" 0 .'
f-------i---DT ----------
i , - - .:
Fig. 1.
~
,
i - -
,
I
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YIELD STRESS MEASUREMENT 337
to the yield stress (T) when the torque is at maximum (Tm)' With
these assumptions, a simple relationship between Ty , T m' and the
vane dimensions is obtained: 1,1l
Tm =
TrD (H
-2- ,D
3
+ 31)Ty (1)
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338 DZUY AND BOGER
to calculate the yield stress from the vane data and indirectly
examine the uniform shear stress assumption at the moment of
yielding. In the first analysis, an approximate distribution for the
end shear stress is assumed, whereas in the second method only
the contribution of the wall shear stress to the total stress is
considered. In both analyses the diameter of the cylindrical yield
surface is assumed equal to the vane diameter. The results ob-
tained are compared with the yield stress calculated using Eq. (1)
as well as with the yield stress independently assessed by conven-
tional techniques.
T = ( ; D H )Ts +
2 2(2'TT r/ 2
Te r 2dr ) , (2)
where Ts is the constant shear stress along the side of the sheared
cylinder, and T e is the end shear stress of unknown distribution. If
T e is assumed constant and equal to Ts> the solution for Eq. (2) is
Eq. (1) at the yielding moment, when T = T m, and Ts = Te = Ty-
Method I
As an approximation, Te may be arbitrarily assumed to vary
with radial position (r) according to a power relationship:"
Te(r) = (~')
D m a ~ r~ D (3)
Ts> 2'
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YIELD STRESS MEASUREMENT 339
T = TrD
3(H + _l_)T
2 D m + 3 s,
Tm = 2"
3
TrD D + [H m
1
+ 3] Ty' (4)
Method II
The second proposed analysis makes use of the general torque
balance in Eq. (2) at yielding:
Tr 2 ) (Vl2
(2 D Ty H + 4Tr Jo
2
Tm = Ter d r. (6)
Thus, for vanes of the same diameter but different lengths, the
second term in Eq. (6) should be constant, and an experimental
plot of T m versus H would be linear for a given suspension. From
the slope of this line, the yield stress can be readily calculated,
regardless of the nature of the end shear distribution.
EXPERIMENTAL
Rheological Studies
The suspensions used were red mud which is a residue in the
processing of bauxite to extract alumina. Typical physical, chemi-
cal and rheological properties of red mud suspensions have been
described previously.l,10,15 The red mud, provided by Alcoa of
Australia Limited, was tested over a range of solids concentration
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340 DZUY AND BOGER
400
% wt Solids
67.6~
~
t:
a; 200
<Il
..:::
~
100
Fig. 2. Shear stress-shear rate data for the red mud suspensions used.
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YIELD STRESS MEASUREMENT 341
103 i i i I i i i I
N
'E
.)
z
~ 10
2 --/~
"">= True yield s t r e :- / s
I Inferred) ~
- ..
/ .. ..o ..
58 60 62 64 66 68
% wt Solids
Fig. 3. Comparison of the yield stress values determined using different
rheological methods: (0) direct extrapolation, extrapolation using (e) Bingham
model, (0) Herschel and Bulkley, (~) Casson.
Vane Method
Description of the vane apparatus employed and the method of
operation have been given in an earlier paper.' It was established
that the vane should be operated at rotational speeds below 10
rpm to avoid the influence of viscous resistance and instrument
inertia on the measured maximum torque. The standard vane
speed employed throughout the present work was 0.1 rpm. Based
on a detailed study!" of the possible effects of vane dimensions
and system boundaries, the following criteria have been estab-
lished for satisfactory measurements with the vane method: HID
< 3.5, DTID > 2.0, ZllD > 1.0, and Z21D > 0.5. (See Figure 1 for
definition of the symbols.)
The typical vane test curves are shown in Figure 4 for two red
mud samples at 67.6% and 68.2% solids. These curves, presented
in terms of torque (T) versus angle of rotation (8), were generated
with a single vane (D = 26.15 mm, HID = 1.92). Three distinct
regions of behavior may be observed from the shape of the T-8
curves. At angles of rotation less than about 10 degrees, T is
linearly proportional to 8. In this region, the red mud behaves as
an elastic solid with the degree of elasticity being described by
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14:55:30
342 DZUY AND BOGER
20 r----r---..,..----,,....--.,.......-......-----r--~
- 15
fi'
z
M
b
~ 10
a;
::>
tr
is
I- 5
Fig. 4. Typical vane test curves (vane dimensions: D = 26.15 mm, HID =
1.92; vane speed: 0.1 rpm).
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YIELD STRESS MEASUREMENT 343
600
200 r--...,---r--,......--,
'"o
-.'"
E
:/
f- 100 / 60.1
'" 200
~~
o 2.0 3.0 0 1.0 2.0 3.0
HID HID
Fig. 5. Plots of 2Tml-rrD3 versus HID to test Equation (5).
the lines, are summarized in Table I. Also shown in this table are
the yield stress values calculated using the second proposed
method which requires an experimental plot ofTm versus H based
on Eq. (6). The results presented in Figure 6 for all samples tested
using vanes of the same D but different H also validates the
second approach which does not rely on any specific assumptions
for the end shear stress distribution.
The results obtained from both methods are compared with the
TABLE I
Comparison of the Yield Stress Values Calculated from Vane Data
Using Three Methods
Method I Method II Conventional Method
Solids Ty m Tv T y (mean) Std. Dev.
wt% (Nm- 2) (-) (N~-2) (Nm- 2j (Nm- 2)
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14:55:30
344 DZUY AND BOGER
20 8
% wt Solids 65.8
15 68.2 6
~ 64.8
z
M
10 -: 4
63.5
~
~ 67.6 61.6
E
f- 601
5 2 59.0
57.8
20 30 40 50 0 20 40 60 80
H(mml H(mml
Fig. 6. Plots of T m versus H to test Eq. (6) (vane diameter = 25.23 mrn),
yield stress values calculated using Eq. (1). The latter are pre-
sented in Table I as average values obtained with more than
three vanes. The small standard deviations also shown in the
table demonstrate no significant effects of absolute vane dimen-
sions on the calculated yield stress.
An analysis of the tabulated data indicates for any given sus-
pension, that the yield stress calculated using Eq. (1) is essen-
tially the same as the yield stress obtained from each of the two
methods employed. Also, the empirical parameter m, which de-
notes an arbitrary but possible mode of distribution for T e [Eq.
(3)], varies little about zero for all but three samples tested. How-
ever, the extreme values of + 0.414, + 0.332 and - 0.610 recorded
for the 60.1%, 61.6% and 64.8% samples respectively, do not con-
stitute a consistent trend in a total of ten observations. It should
be noted from Eq. (4) that a zero-value for m suggests a uniform
distribution of the stress on the two end surfaces and the side of
the yield cylinder. Thus if the present results are an indication,
the usual assumption of a uniform stress distribution everywhere
on the sheared surface may be considered reasonable, at least at
the moment of yielding and in so far as yield stress calculation is
concerned. These results, however, are not sufficient to reach a
firm conclusion about the exact shear stress distribution at any
other stages, i.e., prior to and after yielding.
Of the three methods employed, method II appears to be the
correct way for calculating the yield stress from vane data since
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YIELD STRESS MEASUREMENT 345
103 I i i , I iii I I i I
Vane method
- - Rheological method
(from Fig. 31
'E
z
~ 10
2
-a
0;
;,::
101 1 , , , , , ,! ,! !
58 60 62 64 66 68
% wt Solids
Fig. 7, Comparison of the yield stress measured with the vane method and the
rheological yield stress (from Figure 3).
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346 DZUY AND BOGER
CONCLUSIONS
By means of two simple analyses, it is shown for a yield stress
material sheared by a four-bladed vane, that the assumption of a
uniform stress distribution along a cylindrical yield surface is
reasonable for yield stress calculation. The yield stress values
calculated using the proposed procedures agree well with the re-
sults obtained with the conventional method widely employed by
soil mechanic workers. The latter method which requires mea-
surement with only one vane is recommended for practical pur-
poses. A comparison between the vane results and the yield stress
independently determined supports the previous findings that the
simple vane method is capable of measuring accurately and di-
rectly the true yield stress of concentrated suspensions.
The authors are grateful to Alcoa of Australia Ltd. for their support of this work
and for the continuing support from the Australian Research Grants Scheme for
research in non-Newtonian fluid mechanics.
References
1. Q. D. Nguyen and D. V. Boger, J. Rheol., 27(4), 321 (1983).
2. J. J. Vocadlo and M. E. Charles, Can. J. Chern. Eng.. 49, 576 (19711.
3. M. Keentok, Rheol. Acta, 21, 325 (1982).
4. E. R. Lang and C. K. Rha, J. Text. Studies, 12,47 (1981).
5. E. Condolios and E. E. Chapus, Chern. Eng., 93, 131, 145 (1963).
6. T. P. Elson, J. Solomon, and A. W. Nienow, J. Non-Newtonian Fluid Mech.,
11, 1 (1982).
7. E. B. Bagley and D. D. Christianson. Starch/Starke, 35(3), 81 (19831.
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YIELD STRESS MEASUREMENT 347
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