A novel way to measure the rheology of liquids
Speaker
Abdulrahman Jasim Al-Behadili
Institute
University of Canterbury
Time & Place
Fri, 23 Feb 2018 09:15:00 NZDT in Engineering Core Meeting Room 2 (Room 128)
Abstract
This thesis explores the possibility of identifying the rheology of Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluid by monitoring how the free surface velocity is affected by a perturbation in the flow. A dam-break problem is considered, which is performed by the release of a gate initially separating two fluid pools of different depth. The flow velocity is measured by seeding the free surface with buoyant particles and using Particle Tracking Velocimetry. In parallel, a mathematical model based on the lubrication approximation for fluids with power law and then with Ellis rheology is developed. The models are validated against a Navier-Stokes solver. Minimizing the difference between the free surface velocity fields obtained numerically and those measured experimentally enables the identification of rheological parameters. The methodology is tested on silicone oil, aqueous glycerol and molasses fluids.