JOURNAL OF BIOSCIENCE AND BIOENGINEERING

Vol. 98, No. 6, 497499. 2004

Theoretical Correlation between Viscosities at Dynamic

and Steady Flow States in
Aureobasidium pullulans Culture Fluids
HISAMOTO FURUSE1* AND KIYOSHI TODA2
Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences, The University of Tokyo, 1-1-1 Yayoi, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0032,
Japan1 and Department of Applied Chemistry and Biotechnology, Niigata Institute of Technology,
1719 Fujihashi, Kashiwazaki, Niigata 945-1195, Japan2
Received 19 May 2004/Accepted 22 September 2004

For the culture fluid and exopolysaccharide solution of the fungus Aureobasidium pullulans in a
previous study, the angular frequency dependence of dynamic viscosity is well superimposed on
the shear rate dependence of steady flow viscosity. For various polymeric fluids, the superimposition of the dependencies of steady flow viscosity and dynamic viscosity has also been realized. In
this study, it is derived that, by assuming the sinusoidal oscillating flow of a viscoelastic fluid,
complex viscosity is equivalent to viscosity in a steady flow measurement. A similar relation may
also hold for the dynamic viscosity of an ideal viscous fluid. Generally, the measurement of the
steady flow viscosity deprives a viscoelastic fluid of its elastic nature due to the disruption of the
network structure causing the viscoelasticity. For the culture fluid and exopolysaccharide solution
of A. pullulans, the correlation between the dynamic viscosity and the network structure was low.
The dynamic viscosity in this case is consistent with the steady flow viscosity in the superimposing
correlation.
[Key words: Aureobasidium pullulans culture fluid, complex viscosity, dynamic viscosity, steady flow viscosity,
viscosity correlation]

observed in various polymeric fluids is made in the argument that follows.

The steady flow viscosity is given by

For the culture fluid and exopolysaccharide solution of

the fungus Aureobasidium pullulans, while complex viscosity considerably shifted upwards from the steady flow viscosity, the angular frequency dependence of dynamic viscosity was well superimposed on the shear rate dependence
of steady flow viscosity (1). In the culture fluid, the influence of strain amplitude on the angular frequency dependence of the dynamic viscosity was small, although the strain
amplitude affected the network structure of the viscoelastic
fluid considerably. That is, the correlation between the dynamic viscosity and the network structure was comparatively low.
Hitherto, it has been experimentally found for various
polymeric fluids that in most cases dynamic viscosity (complex viscosity in some cases of measurement) against angular frequency and steady flow viscosity against shear rate
have a superimposing correlation (2, 3).
In the present paper, it is theoretically shown, for approximate sinusoidal oscillating flow in the nonlinear behavior of
a viscoelastic fluid, that the complex viscosity agrees with
the viscosity obtained by measuring the shear stress and
shear rate in a steady flow measurement. A similar argument can also be made in the case of an ideal viscous fluid,
in which the dynamic viscosity is correlated with the measured viscosity. A simple explanation for this correlation

th = ----(1)
g
where h, t, and g represent the steady flow viscosity, shear
stress, and shear rate, respectively.
The Qouette flow, which is used for the viscosity measurement, approximates the above laminar shearing flow.
On the other hand, the following relation defines the
complex dynamic viscosity:
h* = s*/(dg*/dq)

(2)

where s* and g* are the complex variables of stress and

strain, respectively, and q represents the elapsed time (4).
The sinusoidal flow of a viscoelastic fluid is expressed by
g* = g0eiwq
s* = s0ei(wq +d)

(3)
(4)

where g0 and s0 are the maximum amplitudes of strain and

stress, and w and d represent the angular frequency and
phase-shift angle, respectively.
By substituting g* and s* in Eqs. 3 and 4 into Eq. 2, h* is
expressed as
s0
s0
h* = ---------cos d
- sin d - i ----------g0 w
g0 w

* Corresponding author. e-mail: hi-to.furuse@nifty.ne.jp

phone/fax: +81-(0)467-52-6267
497

(5)

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J. BIOSCI. BIOENG.,

FURUSE AND TODA

This complex number has the form

h* = h - ih

(6)

where the first term at the right-hand side is called the dynamic viscosity.
By comparing Eqs. 5 and 6, the following expression is
obtained.
s0
h = ---------(7)
- sind
g0 w
s0
h = ---------(8)
- cosd
g0 w
The absolute magnitude of the complex dynamic viscosity, which is simply called complex viscosity, is given by
|h*| =

h + h

(9)

By using Eqs. 7 and 8, the complex viscosity is expressed

as

s0
|h*| = ---------(10)
g0 w
in which the expression at the right-hand side is consistent
with the dynamic viscosity of an ideal viscous fluid (at
d = p/2 in Eq. 5).
In the sinusoidal flow of a viscoelastic fluid, the shear
stress and shear rate are measured with a phase shift
(p/2 - d), under an external action creating the dynamic
state. They are proportional to the applied shear strain amplitude, the direction of which is periodically changed. Accordingly, the ratios of those measurement quantities to the
shear strain amplitude of the same phase, which are free
from the dynamic amplitude, define the shear stress (t)
and shear rate ( g ) in a steady flow measurement. The shear
stress in this case is composed of parts generated from shearing and oscillating states.
The ratios are, for the shear stress given by the real part of
Eq. 4,
s0 cos(wq + d)
s0
= -------g0 cos(wq + d)
g0
and, for the shear rate expressed as g = -wg0 sinwq,
t =

(11)

-wg0 sinwq
=w
(12)
g0 cos(wq + p/2)
The viscosity obtained by providing the values of the
shear stress and shear rate in a dynamic state is correlated
with the complex viscosity in the same state using the relation in Eq. 10 as
g =

t- = s0/g0 = |h*|
h = -----(13)
w
g
Thus, the steady flow viscosity h obtained by measuring
the shear stress (t) and shear rate ( g ) agrees with the complex viscosity |h*| in which t (= s0/g0) and g (= w) in a corresponding dynamic state are respectively equal to the t and
g measurements. Conversely, the complex viscosity |h*| obtained by measuring the shear stress s0/g0 (= t) and angular
frequency w (= g ) agrees with the steady flow viscosity h
obtained by using the t and g measurements as the shear
stress (t) and shear rate ( g ), respectively.

A treatment analogous to the above argument on the complex viscosity can be employed for the dynamic viscosity h
of an ideal viscous fluid, in which h takes the same form as
|h*| of a viscoelastic fluid (cf. Eqs. 5 and 10).
From the presented consideration, if measurements of the
steady flow viscosity and the complex viscosity result from
the same state of a viscoelastic fluid, a superimposing correlation should be realized between these viscosity factors.
However, since the measurement of the steady flow viscosity is always accompanied by the disruption of the network
structure due to the shear stress generated on the flow plane
even if the structure is created during the shearing flow, the
fluid looses its elastic nature. Consequently, the viscoelastic
fluid has a tendency to behave as an ideal viscous fluid. The
small normal stress effect appearing in the Qouette flow, in
the measurement of the viscoelasticity, is disregarded as the
effect on the shearing flow in the present study.
When the correlation between the dynamic viscosity and
the network structure is low, as in the polymeric fluids of
the microbial culture fluid in this study, the dynamic viscosity is in a state independent of the network structure. In this
case, the fluid can also be approximately regarded as an
ideal viscous fluid with the same viscosity as that given by
the first term at the right-hand side of Eq. 5. Hence, in this
case, the relation of h' against w in the dynamic state is superimposed on that of h against g in the steady flow state
(1).
In this viscoelastic measurement of the A. pullulans culture fluid, viscosities between dynamic and steady flow
states were somewhat different in a sample of low viscosity
and in a high shear and angular frequency region (Fig. 1 in
Ref. 1). The discrepancy in both viscosities was caused by
the difference between fluid structures concerned with dispersing polymers and particles, i.e., partially gelling polymers and microbes, under steadily shearing and dynamic oscillating states, particularly at the concentration used in this
study. In the shearing flow, the constituent of the fluid is
ground into the dispersing polymers and particles that produce the fluid viscosity. On the other hand, in the oscillating
state, there is at any time, on a small scale, the possibility
that a network structure consisting of the polymers including the particles is created. The creation of the network
causes a decrease in the dispersion of the polymers and particles, resulting in somewhat lower values of viscosity in the
oscillating state than in the steadily shearing state.
In the measurement of dynamic viscoelasticity, because
an effect analogous to the network disruption mentioned
above for the steady flow viscosity is also brought about,
the nonlinear behavior of a viscoelastic fluid ordinarily
emerges to a greater or lesser extent (for example, see Ref. 5).
Thus, we must take note that the measurement in the dynamic state generally gives an approximate viscoelasticity
value.
REFERENCES
1. Furuse, H., Amari, T., Miyawaki, O., Asakura, T., and
Toda, K.: Characteristic behavior of viscosity and viscoelasticity of Aureobasidium pullulans culture fluid. J. Biosci.
Bioeng., 93, 411415 (2002).

VOL. 98, 2004

2. Cox, W. P. and Merz, E. H.: Correlation of dynamic and

steady flow viscosities. J. Polym. Sci., 28, 619622 (1958).
3. Morris, E. R., Cutler, A. N., Ross-Murphy, S. B., Rees,
D. A., and Price, J.: Concentration and shear rate dependence of viscosity in random coil polysaccharide solutions.
Carbohydr. Polym., 1, 521 (1981).

NOTES

499

4. van Wazer, J. R., Lyons, J. W., Kim, K. Y., and Colwell,

R. F.: Viscosity and flow measurement, p. 329351. Interscience Publishers, John Wiley & Sons, New York, London
(1963).
5. Amari, T.: Non-linear viscoelastic properties of concentrated
suspensions. Prog. Org. Coat., 31, 1119 (1997).