Thermal Engineering Experiments

熱工實驗
Viscosity measurement via falling ball
method
Edlin Variste 方以良 4080H114

Date experiment was performed: May 6th, 2021

Date report was submitted: May 27th, 2021
 1. Objectives
The purpose of this experiment is to measure the viscosity of unknown fluid
with a falling ball viscometer. The principle of the viscometer is to determine
the falling time of a sphere with known density and diameter within a fluid
filled inside glass tube.
2. Theoretical background
o What principle is this experiment designed to illustrate?
The principle of the viscometer is to determine the falling time of a sphere
with known density and diameter within a fluid filled inside glass tube. The
viscosity of the fluid sample is related to the time taken by the sphere to pass
between two specified lines on the cylindrical tube.
o Describe the theory and any relevant equations/derivations.
Velocity of the sphere which is falling through the tube is dependent on the
viscosity of the fluid. When a sphere is placed in an infinite incompressible
Newtonian fluid, it initially accelerates due to gravity. After this brief transient
period, the sphere achieves a steady settling velocity (a constant terminal
velocity). For the velocity to be steady (no change in linear momentum),
Newton’s second law requires that the net forces acting on the sphere
(gravity (FG), buoyancy (FB), and fluid drag (FD) balance) equals to zero. All
these forces act vertically are defined as follows:
𝜋𝜋
Gravity: 𝐹𝐹𝐺𝐺 = − 𝜌𝜌𝑠𝑠 𝑑𝑑𝑠𝑠3 𝑔𝑔
6
𝜋𝜋
Buoyancy: 𝐹𝐹𝐵𝐵 = + 𝜌𝜌𝑓𝑓 𝑑𝑑𝑠𝑠3 𝑔𝑔
6
𝜋𝜋
Fluid Drag: 𝐹𝐹𝐷𝐷 = 𝜌𝜌𝑓𝑓 𝑉𝑉𝑠𝑠2 𝑑𝑑𝑠𝑠2 𝐶𝐶𝐷𝐷
8
Where ρs is the density of the solid sphere, ρf is the density of the fluid, ds is
the diameter of the solid sphere, g is the gravitational acceleration (9.8 m/s2),
Vs is the velocity of the sphere, and CD is the drag coefficient. The particle
accelerates to a steady velocity when the net force acting on sphere
becomes zero:
𝐹𝐹𝐺𝐺 − 𝐹𝐹𝐵𝐵 − 𝐹𝐹𝐷𝐷 = 0.
The drag force acts upwards and is expressed in terms of a dimensionless
drag coefficient. The drag coefficient is a function of the dimensionless
Reynolds number, Re. The Reynolds number can be interpreted as the ratio
of inertial forces to viscous forces. For a sphere settling in a viscous fluid the
Reynolds number is
𝜌𝜌𝑓𝑓 𝑉𝑉𝑠𝑠 𝑑𝑑𝑠𝑠
𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅 =
𝜇𝜇
Where μ is the viscosity of the fluid. If the drag coefficient as a function of
Reynolds number is known, the terminal velocity can be calculated. For the
Stokes regime, Re <1, the drag coefficient can be determined analytically. In
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this regime, 𝐶𝐶𝐷𝐷 = and the settling in viscous fluid the Reynolds number is
𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅

𝑔𝑔𝑑𝑑𝑠𝑠2 (𝜌𝜌𝑠𝑠 −𝜌𝜌𝑓𝑓 )

𝑉𝑉𝑝𝑝 =
18𝜇𝜇
The falling ball viscometer requires the measurement of a sphere’s terminal
velocity, usually by measuring the time required for sphere to fall a given
distance. In this experiment, we measure the position of a sphere as a
function of time and determine the steady state settling velocity. From this,
we can calculate the viscosity from below equation given. For Reynolds
number (Re<1), the equation of viscosity would be

2 𝑔𝑔𝑅𝑅𝑠𝑠2 (𝜌𝜌𝑠𝑠 −𝜌𝜌𝑓𝑓 )𝑡𝑡𝑠𝑠

𝜇𝜇 =
9 𝐿𝐿
Regardless of the Re, the settling velocity depends on the sphere diameter,
the sphere density, the fluid density and the gravitational constant.
 3. Experimental Apparatus
Figure 1 is a schematic of a falling ball viscometer. A sphere of known density
and diameter is dropped into a large reservoir of the unknown fluid. At steady
state, the viscous drag and buoyant force of the sphere is balanced by the
gravitational force. In this experiment, the speed at which a sphere falls
through a viscous fluid is measured by recording the sphere position as a
function of time. Position is measured with a vertical scale (ruler) and time is
measured with a stopwatch.
 4. Experimental Method and Procedure
Measure the diameter of the sphere. Measure it multiple times to gain an
accurate measurement and to determine the relative error in the
measurement. The viscosity can be determined by measuring the position of
the sphere as a function of time as it settles through the unknown fluid. For
each sphere
1. Place the sphere near the top of the fluid reservoir. Try to get the sphere
as close as possible to the air-fluid interface.
2. Release the sphere and start the stopwatch as soon as the sphere
reaches the top line marked on the glass tube and stop it as it reaches the
bottom marked line.
3. As the sphere settles, record its position as a function of time. (It may be
more efficient to have one person drop the sphere, one person run the
stopwatch, and the third to read the time off the stopwatch).
1. Density of the sphere 𝜌𝜌𝑠𝑠 = 7923.3 𝐾𝐾𝐾𝐾/𝑚𝑚3
2. Distance 𝐿𝐿 = 0.15 𝑚𝑚 𝑔𝑔 = 9.81 𝑚𝑚/𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠 2
3. Density of fluid 𝜌𝜌𝑓𝑓 = 1260 𝐾𝐾𝐾𝐾/𝑚𝑚3
 5. Results and Discussions
o Raw data should be arranged in tabular form. Some data
may be tabulated in the Appendix.

Table 1

Time Time Time Time Time Reynolds Theoretical Theoretical

1 2 3 4 ave number viscosity viscosity
(sec) (sec) (sec) (sec) (sec) Re (Pa.sec) ave
(Pa.sec)

Bigger
ball
1.68 7.99 0.562 0.977 0.83
Smaller
ball 1
7.65 7.65 0.067 0.741
smaller
ball 2
7.65 8.13 8.91 7.26 7.99 0.061 0.774

Table 2
Viscosity Error
Actual viscosity ave (Pa.sec) 0.95 0.00%

Theoretical viscosity (Pa.sec) 0.83 0.14%

o
o A completely worked-out sample calculation is
required for repetitive calculations.
 o Use MS Excel (or any other spreadsheet program) for
tabulation and plotting graphs.

Error

0.14%
0.12%
0.10%
0.08%
0.06%
0.04%
0.02%
0.00%
0.95 0.83
Actual viscosity ave (Pa.sec) Theoretical viscosity (Pa.sec)

6. Error analysis
We first explore the suitable range of viscosity for the ball drop technique,
using a 2 mm and 4.9 mm diameter steel ball, which can be conveniently
dropped in a thin glass capillary. Starting from the low end of viscosity by
filling a capillary with fluid, we soon discover that the bigger ball drops too
fast (<2 sec) to measure its speed reliably using a telephone stopwatch,
given variable human reaction time on the order of 1.68 sec. A simple
solution to slow down the ball drop speed is to let it fall in a tilt capillary. The
error in recording time can be reduced by orders of magnitude using a
camera with a computer interface, but the experimental condition under
which the ball falls faster than a few centimeters per second needs to be
prevented as it also violates the low Reynolds number criterion. The simplest
design of telephone recording of ball drop time proves to be adequate, since
other sources of error are often more significant than that caused by the time
recording method.
We proceed with experiments using a smaller ball. Table 1 lists typical results
from a set of measurements of the time traveling the smaller ball. That is for
retarding the ball travel.
 7. Problems, suggestions and conclusions
The ball drop viscosity measurement described in this report is conveniently
low-tech, but practically useful. It requires no computer interface, nor any
electric instrument other than a telephone. In addition to plotting averages in
ball drop speeds from multiple repeats with standard errors, students were
asked to calculate the theoretical viscosity and plot it versus the actual
viscosity. Preliminary findings from those lab sessions prompted the author
to repeat the experiment in a more systematic manner. These additional
results confirm the reliability of the technique to yield viscosity values in the
error range of 0.14-1%, dependent on how meticulous the experimenter is,
how many standard samples are measured for calibration, and how many
repeated measurements are made on a sample of interest. If performed with
care, as elaborated in this paper, the technique is reliable for practical
applications
8. Appendices

o Group members present:

 Edlin Variste 方以良 4080H114
 Nathanael Boncoeur 彭乃 升 4080H124
 Redas Mondray 鄧瑞得 4080H127
 Ruan Wiltshire 4080H129
o Date:
May 27th, 2021