FST 130 - FOOD ENGINEERING I

2ND Semester 2019-2020

Exercise No. 3: Rheological Properties of Fluid Foods

Rheology is the science of deformation and flow behavior of materials. In foods, rheology is used to determine
set of parameters that are correlated with the food quality. These parameters are used to predict the behavior of
fluid foods during processing and in determining the energy requirements to transport the fluid from one point
to another point in the processing plant.

The consistency of a Newtonian fluid like clear fruit juice, water, milk and oil can be described by evaluating its
viscosity. However, the viscosity of non-Newtonian fluids like mayonnaise, ketchup, concentrated fruit juices and
corn starch-water mix, changes with varying shear rates, thus additional parameters should be determined. This
requires the understanding of how viscosity is measured and how consistency coefficient and flow behavior
indexes of fluids are determined.

Viscometers are the instruments used to measure the flow properties of fluids. The viscosity of Newtonian fluid
can easily be measured since only the shear rate is used and hence viscometer for this purpose is simpler
compared to those used for non-Newtonian fluids. The design of viscometer includes mechanisms that can
measure the flow of fluid and the forces applied to maintain the flow. Its geometry should be simple to relate
flow and shear rate; and force and stress.

During measurements of viscosity, it is necessary to keep the temperature constant. The flow behavior index is
relatively constant with temperature, unless there are chemical changes in the fluid at certain temperatures. On
the other hand, viscosity and consistency index are highly dependent on temperature.
In this exercise, viscosity and apparent viscosity of liquid foods will be calculated using measurements obtained
from capillary tube and rotational viscometers.

Capillary tube viscometer

The measurement of viscosity is based on the pressure force that is sufficient to produce liquid flow and overcome
the shear force within the fluid at a given rate.

For Newtonian fluids, viscosity, μ, of the fluid is computed using Poiseuille’s equation:

𝝅∆𝑷𝑹𝟒
𝝁 =
𝟖𝑳𝑸
Average velocity of flow, 𝑢̅, is given by the equation:
∆𝑷𝑹𝟐
u̅ =
𝟖𝑳𝝁

Shear rate at the wall, du/dr, is given by the equation:

𝒅𝒖 𝟒𝐮̅̅
=
𝒅𝒓 𝑹

For non-Newtonian fluids, apparent viscosity, μapp is given by the equation

∆𝑷𝑹𝟐
𝝁𝑎𝑝𝑝 =
𝟖𝑳𝐮̅̅

𝝉 𝒅𝒖 𝒏−𝟏
𝝁𝒂𝒑𝒑 = = 𝑲| |
𝒅𝒖 𝒅𝒓
𝒅𝒓
Average velocity of flow is given by the equation:
∆𝑷 𝟏⁄𝒏 (𝒏+𝟏) 𝒏
𝐮̅̅ = ( ) 𝑹 𝒏 [ ]
𝟐𝑳𝒌 𝟑𝒏 + 𝟏
Shear rate is given by the Rabinowitsch-Mooney equation:
𝒅𝒖 𝟒𝐮̅̅ 𝟑 𝟏
= [ + ]
𝒅𝒓 𝑹 𝟒 𝟒𝒏
where: ΔP – pressure drop (Pa)
R – tube radius (m)
L – tube length (m)
Q – volumetric flow rate(m3/s)
n - flow behavior index
K – consistency index

Rotational Viscometer
In rotational viscometers, a spindle or sensing elements rotates in a fluid and measures the torque necessary to
overcome the viscous resistance. The degree to which the spring is wound is detected by a rotational transducer,
which is proportional to the viscosity of the fluid. The viscosity is calculated using the following equation:
Coaxial-cylinder viscometer
𝑻 𝟏 𝟏
𝝁= 𝟐
[ 𝟐 − ]
𝟖𝝅 𝑳𝑵𝒓 𝑹𝒊 𝑹𝒐𝟐

Single-cylinder viscometer
𝑻
𝝁=
𝟖𝝅𝟐 𝑳𝑵𝒓 𝑹𝒊 𝟐

where: T – torque (N-m)

N – rotational speed (rev/s)
L – length of cylinder (m)
Ri – inner cylinder radius (m)
Ro – outer cylinder radius (m)

Effect of Temperature on Viscosity

The simplest and most widely used for expressing temperature dependence of viscosity is the Arrhenius-type
equation:
𝑬𝒂
𝐥𝐧 𝝁 = 𝐥𝐧 𝝁𝑨 +
𝑹𝒈 𝑻𝑨

where : μ – viscosity
μA – viscosity at reference temperature (Pa-s)
Ea – activation energy (cal/mol or J/mol)
Rg – gas constant = 1.98717 cal/(mol-K)
TA – absolute temperature (K)
Answer the following problems. Apply regression analysis or spreadsheet (Microsoft Excel) where applicable to
process and interpret the given data.

1) (10 pts) A single-cylinder rotational viscometer with a 1.7 cm radius and 8-cm length is being used to
measure liquid viscosity. Given the following torque readings at different rotational speeds, compute
fort the viscosity of the liquid:

Nr, rpm T (x10-3 N-cm)

3 1.70
6 2.80
9 4.20
12 5.50
15 6.60

2) (20 pts) The following data were obtained when tomato catsup was passed through a tube having an
inside diameter of 1.428 cm and a length of 1.41 m.

Flow rate (cm3/s) Pressure drop (dynes/cm2)

108.7 52.88 x 104
69.15 45.64 x 104
54.34 36.71 x 104
43.16 31.82 x 104
12.12 22.15 x 104
9.90 18.27 x 104
44.55 34.26 x 104
55.71 39.41 x 104
106.39 48.39 x 104

a) Plot log pressure (vertical axis) versus log flow rate (horizontal axis) curve and estimate the flow
behavior index, n, from the slope.
b) Plot log shear stress versus log shear rate (horizontal axis) curve. Choose a point that is lying
exactly along the curve to compute for K.
c) Write the specific power law equation for this fluid.
d) Determine the apparent viscosity at 12.12 cm3/s. Indicate the shear rate at this flow rate.

3) (20 pts) The obtained viscosity of a non-Newtonian fluid food at 100/s shear rate at different
temperatures is shown in the table below.

Temperature (ᵒC) K (Pa-sn) n

5 5.40 0.68
10 4.12 0.68
15 3.56 0.71
20 2.48 0.68
25 2.10 0.71
30 0.85 0.73
35 0.56 0.74
40 0.33 0.68

a) Plot ln K (vertical axis) versus 1/T (horizontal axis) curve and estimate the flow activation energy (in
kJ/mole) from the slope of the curve.
b) Using the result in (a), determine the viscosity (K) and the apparent viscosity (μapp) of the liquid at 28ᵒC
with a flow behavior index of 0.73.