MODULE IV

VISCOSITY MEASUREMENT WITH OSTWALD VISCOMETER

NAME : Wira Dharma Kencana Putra

STUDENT ID : 12213048

GROUP : 2nd shift of Tuesday (group 5)

EXPERIMENT DATE : 4th November 2014

EXPERIMENT DUE DATE : 18th November 2014

LECTURER : Zuher Syihab, ST, Ph.D.

MODULE ASSISTANT : Lambang Tejo Handoko (12211020)

Agung Setiaji (12211053)

Rian Edi Cahyanto (12211057)

LABORATORY OF RESERVOIR FLUID ANALYSIS

MAJOR OF PETROLEUM ENGINEERING

BANDUNG INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

2014
 TABLE OF CONTENTS ....................................................................................................... 1
LIST OF IMAGE .................................................................................................................... 2
LIST OF TABLE .................................................................................................................... 2

I. EXPERIMENT’S PURPOSES ...................................................................................... 3

II. APPARATUS AND MATERIALS ............................................................................... 3
III. PRINCIPLE OF THE EXPERIMENT AND FUNDAMENTAL THEORY ................ 3
A. PRINCIPLE OF THE EXPERIMENT .............................................................. 3
B. FUNDAMENTAL THEORY ............................................................................ 3
IV. DATA PROCESSING ................................................................................................... 5
V. ANALYSIS .................................................................................................................... 7
A. ASSUMPTION .................................................................................................. 7
B. EXPERIMENT’S PROGRESS AND PROBLEM ........................................... 7
C. APPARATUS ANALYSIS .............................................................................. 8
D. RESULTS ANALYSIS ..................................................................................... 8
VI. CONCLUSIONS............................................................................................................ 9
VII. NOTES AND IMPRESSION ........................................................................................ 9
VIII. BIBLIOGRAPHY .......................................................................................................... 8

1
LIST OF IMAGE

I. Table 4.1 ........................................................................................................................ 6

II. Table 5.1 ........................................................................................................................ 7

LIST OF TABLE

I. Table 6.1 ........................................................................................................................ 9

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 I. EXPERIMENT’S PURPOSES
Knowing the usage of Ostwald Viscometer to :
A. Determine Ostwald Viscometer’s constant;
B. Determine fluid’s viscosity which flow through capillary;
C. Determine the relationship between viscosity and temperature.

II. APPARATUS AND MATERIALS

A. Ostwald Viscometer
B. Stopwatch
C. Picnometer
D. Thermometer
E. Bath thermometer
F. Water bed
G. Stirrer
H. Measuring glass
I. Analytic balance
J. Standard and clem
K. Aquades
L. Sample of Crude oil
M. Rubber ball
N. Heater

III. PRINCIPLE OF THE EXPERIMENT AND FUNDAMENTAL THEORY

A. PRINCIPLE OF THE EXPERIMENT
Measure the flowtime of fluid in capillary from top line to bottom line for
determining the viscosity of fluid.

B. FUNDAMENTAL THEORY
Oil and Gas Industry is all about fluid flow and the flow itself closely related
to viscosity. Viscosity is physical property which describes the resistance of
fluid to flow. The reciprocal property is fluidity which describe easiness of
fluid to flow.

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In general, there are 4 kinds of viscosity :
1. Dynamic viscosity
Dynamic viscosity is also known as shear viscosity. It describes fluid’s
flow for ideally viscous fluids (constant shear rate is applied). It is
obtained by reformulating Newton’s law.
𝜏
𝜏 = 𝜂 . 𝛾̇ , so 𝜂 = 𝛾̇

The SI unit is mPa.s (milipascal-second) which named after Blaise

Pascal or another commonly used unit is cP (centipoise) which named
after Jean Poiseuille. One centipoise is equal to 1 mPa.s.
Dynamic viscosity is usually used in research or life science.

2. Kinematic viscosity
Kinematic viscosity describes fluid’s flow under the influence of
earth’s gravity. The gravitational influence is then carried by the
quantity of mass which is related to density of the fluid.
𝜂 𝑚
𝜐= 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑐ℎ 𝜌 =
𝜌 𝑉
The SI unit is mm2/s or another commonly used unit is cSt
(centistokes) which named after George G. Stokes. One centistokes is
equal to 1 mm2/s.
Kinematic viscosity mostly used to specify petrochemical fluids.

3. Relative viscosity
Relative viscosity is ratio between fluid’s viscosity with viscosity of
pure solvent.
𝜂
𝜂𝑟 = 𝜂𝑠

Relative viscosity is dimensionless. It is an important parameter in

polymer testings and quality control.
4. Apparent viscosity
Apparent viscosity is influenced by shear rate at a certain time. Shear
rate itself changes as the time pass by. The calculation and unit is the
same as dynamic viscosity.

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IV. DATA PROCESSING
mpicnometer = 20.16 g Vpicnometer = 25 mL

At 35 oC At 40 oC
twater = 248 s twater = 207 s
tsample = 888 s tsample = 781 s
mpicno+sample = 42.82 g mpicno+sample = 42.69 g
so,
msample = 22.66 g msample = 22.53 g
ρsample = 0.9064 g/mL ρsample = 0.9012 g/mL

Water kinematic viscosity can be obtained from literature

At T = 35 oC, 𝜈 = 0.7298 cSt
At T = 40 oC, 𝜈 = 0.6581 cSt

𝜈
Ostwald Viscometer’s Constant 𝐶= 𝑡

𝐶35𝑜 = 0.0029 𝑐𝑆𝑡/𝑠

𝐶40𝑜 = 0.0032 𝑐𝑆𝑡/𝑠

Sample’s Kinematic Viscosity 𝜈=𝐶. 𝑡

𝜈350 = 2.5752 cSt
𝜈40𝑜 = 2.4992 cSt
Sample’s Dynamic Viscosity 𝜇 = 𝜈 .𝜌
𝜇35𝑜 = 2.3342 𝑐𝑃
𝜇40𝑜 = 2.2523 𝑐𝑃

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 𝜌 vs T
0,907

0,906

0,905

0,904
(a)
0,903

0,902

0,901

0,9
34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41

𝜇 vs T
2,34
2,33
2,32
2,31
2,3
(b) 2,29
2,28
2,27
2,26
2,25
2,24
34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41

𝜈 vs T
2,58
2,57
2,56
2,55
2,54
(c) 2,53
2,52
2,51
2,5
2,49
34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41

Image 4.1. Graph of (a) sample’s density (b) sample’s dynamic viscosity
(c) sample’s kinematic viscosity vs temperature

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V. ANALYSIS
A. ASSUMPTION
1. Viscometer is assumed to be completely clean.
2. Kinetic energy is neglected.
3. There is no change in temperature of water and sample while
measuring the flowtime.
4. The driving force is only caused by gravity and hidrostatic pressure.
5. The flow is laminar flow.
6. There is no human error.
7. The volume change of picnometer by temperature is neglectable.
8. Picnometer is totally filled by sample.
9. The pouring sample out of picnometer doesn’t stick on picnometer’s
surface.
10. There is no oil from our hand (fingerprint) left on picnometer’s
surface.
11. The heating is equally spread.
12. Temperature of sample is the same as water.

B. EXPERIMENT’S PROGRESS AND PROBLEM

There is no problem in measurement of water
flowtime and density calculation with picnometer, but
in measurement of sample flowtime, there is a little
problem. It seems that there is a little water left in the
viscometer and it stuck the capillary so that the
sample didn’t flow at all.

Image 5.1. Water stuck in Ostwald viscometer

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C. APPARATUS ANALYSIS
In this experiment, we use Ostwald viscometer. Ostwald viscometer have
advantages and disadvantages :
1. Advantages :
a. easy measurement and calculation
b. Able to measure a few sample at the same time in the same
condition
c. Using heating stabilizer and electric stirrer
d. Measure high API crude oil better than Redwood Viscometer
2. Disadvantages
a. Unable to calculate Viscosity Index
b. There is no temperature and pressure correction (so that there is
additional assumption
c. Ostwald viscometer’s constant is dependant to temperature
d. Colorless fluid flow is difficult to observe
e. Experiment need to be repeated when fluid flow is more that
200s in order to neglect kinetic energy of sample

D. RESULTS ANALYSIS
Look at image 4.1. , each graph shows the relationship of property towards
temperature. We can see that increasing temperature caused the density to
decrease. Theoritically, it is logical, increasing temperature caused the sample
to have more kinetic energy so that each particle push each other that results in
volume expansion with constant mass, so the density will decrease.
Then, we can see that increasing temperature caused the sample’s dynamic
viscosity to decrease. It is also because kinetic energy addition by temperature.
Each particle is more “fluid” to move or flow ,so the sample’s dynamic
viscosity is decreased.
We can also see that the increasing temperature also caused the sample’s
kinematic viscosity to decrease. Theoritically, it is logical because the
difference between dynamic and kinematic viscosity is only the effect of
gravity so kinematic and dynamic viscosity should have similar trend towards
temperature.

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 VI. CONCLUSIONS
A. Ostwald Vi scometer’s constant at 35 oC is 0.0029 𝑐𝑆𝑡/𝑠 and 0.0032 𝑐𝑆𝑡/𝑠
at 40 oC
B. Fluid’s viscosity which flow through capillary are
Water Sample
35 oC 40 oC 35 oC 40 oC
Dynamic 0.7298 0.6581 2.3342 2.2523
viscosity (cP)
Kinematic 0.7298 0.6581 2.5752 2.4992
viscosity (cSt)
Table 6.1. viscosity results
C. Increasing temperature caused viscosity to decrease

VII. NOTES AND IMPRESSION

The experiment is not difficult but it took a long time to do. We failed to measure the
flowtime of sample because of the problem that I’ve stated, so the data processing
result may not be accurate and not recommended to be used as refference.
The assistant is so scary when apparatus test. They can create an atmosphere of horror
and intense so that you are nervous. Thanks to bang Lambang Tejo Handoko, bang
Rian Edi Cahyanto and bang Agung Setiaji for guiding us in this experiment. It’s been
a fun time for me to actually learn a new thing (cleaning Ostwald viscometer).

VIII. BIBLIOGRAPHY
McCain, William D., Jr., The Properties of Petroleum Fluids, 2nd Edition, Pennwell
Publishing Co., Tulsa, 1990