An Introduction to Dimensionless Parameters in the Study of Viscous Fluid Flows

David Guerra, Kevin Corley, Paolo Giacometti, Eric Holland, Michael Humphreys et al. Citation: Phys. Teach. 49, 175 (2011); doi: 10.1119/1.3555507 View online: http://dx.doi.org/10.1119/1.3555507 View Table of Contents: http://tpt.aapt.org/resource/1/PHTEAH/v49/i3 Published by the American Association of Physics Teachers

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An Introduction to Dimensionless Parameters in the Study of Viscous Fluid Flows

David Guerra, Kevin Corley, Paolo Giacometti, Eric Holland, Michael Humphreys, and Michael Nicotera,

Saint Anselm College, Manchester, NH

t has been suggested that there is a need to deepen the understanding of fluid dynamics in the introductory physics course and to offer interesting experiments to do so.1 To address this need we have developed a laboratory experiment and the supporting analysis to demonstrate the role of viscosity and the interestingly mysterious use of dimensionless parameters in fluid dynamics.2 Since viscosity indicates the frictional dependence between the layers of a flowing fluid, a thoughtful student may ask why or when viscosity can be neglected. The laboratory experiment presented here uses common fluids to provide a concrete answer to this question and an easily understandable example of the role of dimensionless parameters in fluid dynamics.

dratic fit function, included with the data gathering software, is used to fit a curve to the section of data enclosed in brackets. The measured drain time is found by following the curve fit to a point where it crosses the location on the graph that is equal to the original height of the water in the bottle. In the original laboratory exercise,3 water was used as the fluid and its relatively low viscosity allowed the use of Bernoullis law and the continuity equation to analyze the system. With these expressions, an expression for the time (td) it takes water to drain out of a hole drilled in a bottle cap screwed onto the inverted bottle was developed. The expression for the drain time (td),
2H D4 * 1 , 4 (1) g d depends on the parameters of the experiment, such as the height of the liquid H, the diameter of the bottle D, the diameter of the hole in the cap d, and the local acceleration due to gravity g as demonstrated in Fig. 3. This expression was derived with no consideration of viscosity.3 An example of the data is presented in Fig. 2. The original height of the water in the bottle was 20 cm; therefore, the distance on the vertical axis from the starting point of 0.18 cm to the blue dashed line at 0.38 cm is the 20-cm span. The point at which the best-fit curve, in black, intersects the blue-dashed td =

Experiment
The experimental arrangement utilized in this laboratory exercise, shown in Fig. 1, was previously presented in this journal.3 As previously described, a motion sensor is set up above an inverted 2-L plastic bottle with the bottom cut off. Bottle caps with holes of different diameters are screwed on the bottle so that the size of the exit hole can easily be adjusted. As the fluid in the bottle drains into a bucket positioned below the bottle, the motion sensor detects the position of the top of the fluid and graphs a position-versus-time graph of the waters motion. An example of the data taken with the device, with water as the fluid, is displayed in Fig. 2 (red curve). The qua-

Fig. 2. Plot of the position of the top of the water draining out of an inverted bottle with a cap hole size of d = 0.89 cm, an initial height of water of 20 cm, and a bottle diameter D = 11 cm. Fig. 1. The experimental set-up consists of an inverted soda bottle with a set of bottle caps with different sized holes and a motion sensor to monitor the water level.
DOI: 10.1119/1.3555507 THE PHYSICS TEACHER Vol. 49, MARCH 2011

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Table I. Viscosities and densities of the fluids used in the laboratory exercise.

Water

Corn oil

Pancake syrup + H2O 0.099 1230

Maple syrup 0.175 1300

Viscosity (Pa*s) Density (kg/m3)

0.001 998

0.075 903

v1 z H

Table II. The failures (F) and successes (P) of matching the computed and measured drain-time for the fluids used in the lab with different cap-hole diameters are presented. The additional label of (close) indicates some indecision in the judgment of successful matching of the data to the predicted drain-time.

Cap hole d (cm) 0.1 0.146 0.2 0.278 0.355 0.45 0.87 1.61

Water

Corn oil

Pancake syrup + H 2O F F F(close) P P P P P

Maple syrup F F F F(close) P P P P

v2

Fig. 3. Diagram of the experimental setup.

P P P P P P P P

F F P(close) P P P P P

line indicates the drain time, when the orange dashed line is followed down to the horizontal time axis. With slight adjustments to the portion of the curve chosen for the curve fit, the computed drain time matches well with the measured drain time at the level of precision proper for an introductory lab. In the case displayed in Fig. 2, the computed and experimental drain times are 30.86 s and 30.75 s, respectively. This is less than a 1% difference. In the laboratory exercise presented in this paper, we use the ability to match the predicted and experimental drain time as a measure of the significance of the viscosity of the fluid since viscosity is omitted from Bernoulli-based derivations.4 The first step in the new exercise is to measure viscosities and densities of the fluids to be used in this experiment. Thus, the viscosities and densities of maple syrup, corn oil, and a mixture of pancake syrup and water are listed in Table I. The densities were measured by finding the mass of a known volume of the fluid. We found that the most consistent and simple method to measure the viscosities of these fluids is with an Ostwald viscometer. Following a standard procedure5 based on Poiseulles equation,6 we obtained the viscosities of the common fluids used in the lab. The measured values fall within ranges of viscosities given in charts found on the Internet;7 thus, viscosity values from reliable sources could be used if no method for measuring viscosity is readily available. In addition, there are several papers that discuss other methods to measure8 and demonstrate9 viscosity that can be used. In the position-versus-time graph of the draining water 176
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presented in Fig. 2, it is clear that viscosity is insignificant since an analysis that ignores viscous effects correctly predicts the drain time of the system. If liquids with higher viscosity and/or bottle caps with smaller holes are used, it eventually becomes impossible to match the drain time computed with Eq. (1) and the measured drain time. Even with the margin of freedom in adjusting the part of the data curve in which the curve fit is set, the match must still fail for a negative result to be recorded. For example, the predicted drain time with Eq. (1) for a cap hole size of d = 0.2 cm, an initial height of fluid of 16 cm, and a bottle diameter D = 11 cm is 546.62 s = 9.11 min. As demonstrated in Fig. 4, with the computed drain time of 9.11 min, indicated by the orange dashed line, and the location of the original height of 16 cm, indicated by the dashed blue line, it is clear that no adjustment of the line fit segment will produce a match of the computed and measured drain times. This failure to match the drain times in the experiment indicates that viscosity is too large to ignore, and conservative Bernoulli-based derivations of the drain time are not appropriate. This result provides an answer to the question, when is viscosity too large to ignore? It is interesting to note that it is not simply a value of viscosity at which it becomes significant, but that a combination of factors, which includes the viscosity and density of the fluid and the size of the exit hole, determines when viscosity is significant. Upon studying the list of the failures and successes of matching the computed versus measured drain time for the fluids used in the lab with different cap hole diameters (d) in Table II, it is clear that as the viscosity increases the size of the exit hole at which viscosity is significant increases. For water, which has a relatively small viscosity compared to the other liquids used, we were able to match the computed and measured drain times for cap hole sizes down to the smallest we could drill. For the other, more viscous fluids, failure to match the drain times occurred at different size caps that did not seem to follow the scaling indicated by the viscosity alone. Notice that both the corn oil and the pancake syrup-water

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the resulting value has no dimensions. So if the density of water is entered in kg/m3, the velocity of the water flowing through the pipe in m/s, the length of pipe in m, and the viscosity of the water in Pa*s = kg/(m*s), the combination of units in the Reynolds yields a number with no units. Through experiment, values of the Reynolds number less than 2000 (Re < 2000) predict that the flow of a fluid will be laminar, and for values of the Reynolds number over 3000 (Re > 3000) the flow will be turbulent. Thus, a transition region exists for Reynolds numbers between 2000 and 3000 (2000 < Re < 3000) in which both types of fluid flow may be present.10 In fluid dynamics,5 the Reynolds number is the ratio of the inertial, Finertial = ma = L3(v2/L) = L2(v2),
Fig. 4. Plot of the position of the top of the pancake syrup + water mixture draining out of an inverted bottle with a cap hole size of d = 0.2 cm, an initial height of syrup of 16 cm, and a bottle diameter D = 11 cm.

(3)

and the viscous force, Fviscous = Lv, (4)

mixture definitively fail at the same cap size even though their viscosities are different. Also notice that the viscosity of the maple syrup is more than twice as large as the viscosity of the corn oil, but it definitively fails at a cap with a radius that is only approximately 37% larger. This comparison in itself is an interesting demonstration, but when a dimensionless parameter is developed for this experiment, a deeper understanding can be attained.

where L is a length, so L3 is a volume, v is the velocity of the fluid, and the dimensions of the acceleration are set to v2/L from the kinematic expression v2 = vi2 + 2ad.11 Thus, the Reynolds number (Re) can be understood as the ratio of these forces, Re = Finertial/Fviscous = (vL)/. (5)

Dimensionless parameter
A common procedure in fluid analysis is to use dimensionless parameters10 to quantitatively describe a complex system. A great benefit of using dimensionless parameters is that they give the student a powerful and easy means of characterizing complex systems. Here we use the ratio of two well-known dimensionless parameters from fluid dynamics to produce another dimensionless parameter that provides insight into the flow of fluids through our laboratory arrangement. Upon studying the experimental arrangement presented in Fig. 1, it seems reasonable to assume that the two significant forces controlling the drain time of the liquid are gravity pulling down on the fluid and viscosity opposing the flow of the fluid out of the hole in the bottle cap. With this information, a dimensionless parameter can be generated with conceptual understanding of the system and some background information about some well-established dimensionless parameters in fluid dynamics. We start the development of the dimensionless parameter for our lab with arguably the most famous dimensionless parameter in fluid dynamics, the Reynolds number (Re).10 This parameter is a combination of density (), velocity (v), length (L), and viscosity (), such that Re = (vL)/, (2)

The other dimensionless parameter used in this paper is the Froude number, Fr, which is the ratio of inertial to gravitational forces, Fg = mg = L3g, (6) in a fluid.11 This ratio can be reduced to Fr = Finertial/Fgravitational = [L2(v2)]/L3g = v2/(gL) = v/(gL), which is commonly given as: Fr = Finertial/Fgravitational = v/(gL). (8) (7)

In presenting these dimensionless parameters to students, the Reynolds and Froude numbers can be given in the form presented in Eqs. (5) and (8) with their respective applications. This emphasis on the ratio of forces leads directly to the next step. Taking a simple ratio of these known dimensionless parameters produces another dimensionless parameter, N, N = Fr/Re = (Finertial/Fgravitational) /(Finertial/Fviscous) = (Fviscous /Fgravitational), that is the ratio of the viscous to gravitational forces on a (9)

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Table III. A list of the failures (F) and successes (P) of matching the computed vs measured drain times for the fluid used in the laboratory exercise with different cap-hole diameters and the value of the dimensionless parameter N.

Cap hole d (cm)

Water

Corn oil

Pancake syrup + H2O

Maple syrup

N
0.1 0.146 0.2 0.278 0.355 0.45 0.87 1.61 0.0102 0.0058 0.0036 0.0022 0.0015 0.011 0.0004 0.00016

P/F
P P P P P P P P 0.46 0.29 0.17 0.12

N
0.805

P/F
F F P(close) P P P P P 0.46 0.29 0.18 0.12

N
0.813

P/F
F F F(close) P P P P P 1.35 0.77 0.48 0.29 0.20 0.14

P/F
F F F F(close) P P P P

0.084 0.031 0.012

0.085 0.032 0.013

0.053 0.021

fluid, which are the forces we believe control the flow of fluid in our system. Substituting in the expression for Fr and Re, the expression of N in terms of the parameters of the experiment is N = Fr/Re = v/(gL)/ (vL)/ = /(rL3/2g1/2). (10)

students could try several different fluids to prove that the N value at which viscosity can no longer be considered insignificant depends not only on the viscosity, but the parameters of the experimental arrangement. Either way, this exercise illustrates the predictive powers of dimensionless parameters in fluid dynamics in a simple laboratory arrangement.

Another way to develop this same dimensionless parameter for this system is with the Buckingham theory, which is outlined in the appendix of this paper. This provides a mathematically more rigorous technique for finding a dimensionless parameter.

Appendix: Buckingham Theory

Another way to find the dimensionless parameter for this experiment is the Buckingham theory.11 The basic idea of this mathematical system is to find the combination of variables that generates a dimensionless parameter. The key is choosing one base quantity; in the case presented below, viscosity () is chosen since it is the focus of the study presented in this paper. The other three quantities chosen were density () the diameter of the exit holes (d), and the acceleration due to gravity (g). This choice of quantities, which will be raised to the powers , , and and combined in a way such that the result of the product of viscosity, density, diameter, and acceleration due to gravity result in a unit-less quantity, is represented in the Buckingham theory as the product of these quantities set equal to the product of the parameters of length (L), time (T), and mass (M) all raised to the zero (0) power: ( * *d *gg)= L0T0M0. (A.1)

Conclusion
Based on our assertion of the controlling forces, N should be a predictor for the significance of viscosity in the flow of fluid through the system in the exercise. It is this relationship between a dimensionless parameter and the behavior of a liquid that is mysteriously interesting. As can be seen for corn oil, maple syrup, and the watered down pancake syrup in Table III, the three fluids agree on N values of approximately 0.46 when the viscosity of the fluid flowing through the specific hole size is definitely significant and cannot be neglected. The transition from insignificant viscosity to significant viscosity occurs at N values of approximately 0.29. For N values less than 0.25, it is clear that viscosity is insignificant. This bracketing behavior of the dimensionless parameter is not surprising since it was developed in part from the Reynolds number, which also exhibits a transition section between laminar and turbulent flow. There are several options for implementing the laboratory exercises presented in this paper. For a given fluid the students could first calculate at what cap size the data will no longer fit a drain time predicted by a Bernoulli-based calculation. They would then run several trials, starting with larger cap hole sizes going down to smaller cap hole sizes, to find the experimental N at which the data can no longer be fit to a curve that intersections the theoretical drain time. For a longer lab,

The first step in the procedure is to substitute for each of the chosen quantities , , d, and g the combination of the parameters of length (L), time (T), and mass (M), which represent the units of the quantity. For example, since density is mass per volume, the quantity (M/L3) is substituted in the place of r in Eq. (A.1): (M/LT)(M/L3) (L) (L/T ) = L0T0M0. (A.2)

The next step is to write equations that represent the exponents of the parameters of length, time, and mass for Eq.

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(A.2). For example, in the first term of Eq. (A.2), mass is raised to the 1 and in the second term it is raised to , and it appears in no other terms on the left-hand side and has a power of zero on the right-hand side of the equation for the exponents, or M is M: 1+ = 0. (A.3)

The equations for the other to two parameters are found in a similar manner, with care taken to include the sign of the exponents in the summation. T: 1 + 2 = 0 L: 1 +3 + + = 0. (A.4) (A.5)

5 A. Halpern, Experimental Physical Chemistry: A Laboratory Textbook, 2nd ed. (Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ, 1997), pp. 295305. 6 Ref. 4, pp. 350-351. 7. www.research-equipment.com/viscosity%20chart.html. 8. R. Digilov and M. Reiner, Weight-controlled capillary viscometer, Am. J. Phys. 73, 10201022 (Nov. 2005); L. Courbin et al., Design of a low cost Zimm-Crothers viscometer: From theory to experiment, Am. J. Phys. 73, 851855 (Sept. 2005). 9. J. Libii, Demonstration of viscous damping in the undergraduate laboratory, Am. J. Phys. 68, 195198 (Feb. 2000). 10. R. Serway, Physics for Scientists and Engineers, 3rd ed. (Saunders College Publishing, Philadelphia, 1992), pp. 421413. 11. A. Alexandrou, Principles of Fluid Mechanics (Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ 2001), Chap. 6, pp. 214232.
David V. Guerra is a professor of physics at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, NH. Along with his work involving students in the development of laboratory exercises, he conducts research in laser development and applications of lasers, such as lidar (laser radar). Department of Physics, Saint Anselm College, 100 Saint Anselm Drive, Manchester, NH 03102; dguerra@anselm.edu Kevin Corley graduated from Reading Memorial High School in 2003 and received his BA in applied physics from Saint Anselm College in 2007. Kevin has been working at Covidien in Mansfield, MA, since 2007 as a research engineer in Advanced Wound Care Research and Development. Paolo Giacometti graduated from Saint Anselm College in 2009 with a BA in applied physics and a certificate in computational physical science. He is currently at Dartmouth College pursuing his PhD in mechanical engineering. Eric Holland graduated from Saint Anselm College in 2009 with a BA in applied physics. He is now a graduate student at Yale University pursuing a PhD in physics. Mike Humphreys is a mathematics and physics teacher at Xavier High School in Middletown, CT. He received his BA in applied physics from Saint Anselm College in 2008. Along with teaching at Xavier, Mike is the coach of the JV hockey team, as well as JV lacrosse and moderates the Engineering Club. Michael Nicotera graduated from Revere High School in 2003 and received his BA in applied physics from Saint Anselm College in 2007. Michael is currently a field engineer for William A. Berry & Son, Inc., a construction management company based in Danvers, MA.

These three equations are solved for the three unknowns of , , and in the following steps. From Eq. (A.3): = 1. From Eq. (A.4): = 1/2. With and known, Eq. (A.5) can be solved to give : = 3/2, which results in the same dimensionless parameter: N = -1d-3/2g-1/2 = /(rL3/2 g1/2). Acknowledgments We would like to thank Mrs. Kathy Shartzer for her insight into and help with the laboratory equipment and Professor Jeffrey Schnick for his careful review of the manuscript. References
1. V. Jokinen et al.,Apparatus for an easy demonstration of the basic phenomena in fluid flow, Am. J. Phys. 64, 12071209 (Sept. 1996). 2. See V. Thomsen, Estimating Reynolds number in the kitchen sink, Phys. Teach. 31, 410 (Oct. 1993) for an interesting experiment. 3. D. Guerra, A. Plainstaid, and M. Smith, A Bernoullis law lab in a bottle, Phys. Teach. 43, 456459 (Oct. 2005). 4. D. Giancoli, Physics for Scientists and Engineers with Modern Physics, 3rd ed. (Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ, 2000), pp. 345347.

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