King Saud University

Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering Department

PGE 480: Production Engineering Laboratory

Experiment ( 2 ): kinematic viscosity Measurement

Submitted to
Dr. Mohammed Ali.

Name: Ahmed Haitham Mohammed

ID: 435107843
Date:19/02/2018
 Objective:

Measurement of fluids kinematic viscosity by capillary viscometer.

 Introduction:
Viscosity is an important fluid property when analyzing liquid behavior and fluid motion near
solid boundaries. Viscosity is the measure of a fluid's resistance to flow. This resistance is caused
from the forces of attraction between the fluid molecules. Viscosity of a fluid is a measure of its
resistance to gradual deformation by shear stress or tensile stress. The shear resistance in a fluid
is caused by inter molecular friction exerted when layers of fluid attempt to slide by one another.
Viscosity is a property arising from collisions between neighboring particles in a fluid that are
moving at different velocities. There are two related measures of fluid viscosity:

1. Dynamic (or absolute) viscosity.

2. Kinematic viscosity.

Dynamic viscosity
is a measure of internal resistance. Dynamic (absolute) viscosity is the tangential force per unit
area required to move one horizontal plane with respect to another plane at an unit velocity when
maintaining an unit distance apart in the fluid. The shearing stress between the layers of a non-
turbulent fluid moving in straight parallel lines can be defined for a Newtonian fluid as:

Figure 1: Deformation of a liquid under the action of a tangential force

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The dynamic viscosity can be expressed:
dc
τ=μ
dy

Where
τ: Shearing stress (N/m2)
μ= dynamic viscosity (N s/m2)
dc= unit velocity (m/s)
dy: unit distance between layers (m)

Kinematic viscosity is the ratio of absolute (or dynamic) viscosity to density a quantity in
which no force is involved. Kinematic viscosity can be obtained by dividing the absolute
viscosity of a fluid with the fluid mass density.
μ
υ=
ρ
Where
ν = kinematic viscosity (m2/s)
μ = absolute or dynamic viscosity (N s/m2)
ρ = density (kg/m3)
1 centistoke = 10-6 m2/s = 1 mm2/s

Depending on their viscosity behavior as a function of shear rate, stress, deformation history, etc,
fluids are characterized as:
1. Newtonian, or
2. Non-Newtonian.

Newtonian Fluids is the fluids which obey Newton's law of viscosity.

Non-Newtonian Fluids which do not follow Newton's law. They are also known as
rheological fluids and their study is called Rheology.

Figure 2: Fluids States. [1]

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The principal factors affecting viscosity are:
1. Oil composition.
2. Temperature.
3. Dissolved gas.
4. Pressure.

Oil composition is described by API gravity only. Viscosity increases with decrease in crude oil
API gravity and decreases with increasing temperature and increases with decreased temperature.
The effect of solution gas is to reduce viscosity. Above saturation pressure, viscosity increases
almost linearly with pressure.

Viscosity is an important factor in the oil industry, in production for example if the oil that is
going to be produced has high viscosity, the production system will be low since the oil is
resisting to flow. Porous media is affected by the fluid viscosity, as the fluid viscosity increases
the flow rate decreases. One of the reasons why we do Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR), is
because of the fluid viscosity, and depends on the viscosity of the fluid and other factors, we
choose the proper fluid to inject (CO2, water, steam … etc.).

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Experimental Apparatus
1: Venting tube
2: Suction tube
3: Filling tube
4: Storage bulb
6: Leveling bulb
7: Capillary
8: Measuring sphere
9: Pre-run sphere
10: Min-Max filling marks
M1 and M2: Measurement
marks

Figure 3: Ubbelohde (Capillary) Viscometer. [5]

Figure 4: Pipette Filler. [6] Figure 5: Stopwatch. [7]

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Experimental Procedures

1. Viscometer is filled with water from the filling tube until water-level reaches between the
filling marks.
2. Pipette Filler is deflated and put on the suction tube.
3. Water is pumped up in the suction tube by pressing on “B”, in the Pipette filler, and
closing venting tube by finger until water-level reaches the top of the pre-run sphere.
4. Pipette filler is removed and suction tube top is closed by finger, instantly.
5. Finger is removed and at the moment water bypasses first measurement mark, the start
button in the stopwatch is clicked.
6. When water reaches the second measurement mark, the stop button in the stopwatch is
clicked.
7. Time is taken and then used to calculate the viscometer constant.
8. Water is removed and the viscometer is cleaned by acetone and air.
9. Crude oil is added like what is done in step 1.
10. Steps from 2 to 7 are repeated with crude oil, and then its viscosity is calculated.

Results

Temperature @lab = 24 deg C.

Water:

Time, t=10.5 sec

ν = C*t; where: v is viscosity, C is viscometer constant, t is time in seconds.

For water: ν @ 24 deg C →0.9131 centistokes.

C = ν/t = 0.9131/10.5 = 0.0869 centistokes/sec.

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Oil:

Time, t=128.7 sec

ν = C*t = 0.0869 * 128.7 = 11.18 centistokes.

Discussion
In the experiment, after got the results there is different between the result’s groups. This could
be due to many reasons:

1- Temperature: when the temperature increase the density of the oil decrease and cause
float slight low, so the temperature must be at 60°F.
2- Babbles: when fill the capillary viscometer with sample and start suction the tube 3 using
filling tube must make sure that there are no babbles inside the capillary viscosity
because can reduce the density of the sample.[3]
3- The viscometer is not truly vertical. As the angle from the vertical axis increases, time
will be less than it is when the viscometer is at true vertical sit, causing in an increase in
the kinematic viscosity of the same fluid. This problem can be avoided by using a stand
designed to keep the viscometer at a constant vertical direction.
4- Different designed of the capillary viscometer can give different result, cause every
capillary viscometer have different accurate and correction constant.

Conclusion

In this experiment, learn how to measure the kinematic viscosity of the crude oil and
measure the kinematic viscosity using capillary viscometer. Learn what does the
kinematic viscosity different values mean and the errors source that can make the
measurements not accurate.

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References

1. http://www.slideshare.net/
2. http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/dynamic-absolute-kinematic-
viscosity-d_412.html
3. http://petrowiki.org/Oil_viscosity
4. http://www.rheosense.com/applications/viscosity/newtonian-non-
newtonian
5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubbelohde_viscometer
6. https://www.sciencecompany.com/Pipette-Filler-Bulb-Three-Valve-
P15994.aspx
7. https://pixabay.com/en/stopwatch-timer-clock-symbol-icon-2624277/

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