Theoretical and Experimental Study of Falling- Cylinder Rheometer

Abstract

The present study attempted deriving and solving the falling- cylinder governing equations for power law model non-Newtonian fluids. Based on this theoretical study, a novel falling- cylinder rheometer (FCR) was designed and constructed to measure the Theological properties of non-Newtonian fluids. Different falling cylinders with predesigned densities were used to determine the apparent viscosity of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) solutions in water with various concentrations. The results indicate that all PVA solutions obey the power law model with the power law index as well as the consistency index changing linearly with concentration. Increasing concentration of the solution decreases power law index, while enhances consistency index and apparent viscosity.