MODUL IV

THE MEASUREMENTS OF VISCOSITY BY

OSTWALD VISCOMETER

Fluid Reservoir Experiment Report

Name : Hendra Dwimax

NIM : 12214001

Group : 01

Date of Experiment : 10 November 2015

Date of Submission : 17 November 2015

Lecturer : Zuher Syihab, S.T., P.hD.

Modul Assistant : Muhammad Syarifudin (12212016)

Indah Cita Cahyani (12212033)

THE LABORATORY OF ANALYSIS OF RESERVOIR FLUID

MAJOR OF PETROLEUM ENGINEERING

BANDUNG INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

2015
 I. TITLE
THE MEASUREMENTS OF VISCOSITY BY OSTWALD
VISCOMETER

II. PURPOSE
Knowing the usage of Ostwald Viscometer for:
1. Determine the Constant (C) of Ostwald Viscometer;
2. Determine the viscosity of the fluid which flow through the capillar pipe;
3. Determine the relation between viscosity and temperature.

III. TOOLS AND MATERIALS

1. Ostwald viscometer;
2. Stopwatch;
3. Picnometer;
4. Thermometer;
5. Constant Temperature Bath;
6. Measuring glass;
7. Analitical scale;
8. Rubber clamp;
9. Aquades;
10. Sample of crude oil;
11. Rubber ball

IV. BASIC THEORY

Viscosity is a properties of fluid in flow. This properties shows the resistance
of a layer of fluid to another layer near it. There are two types of viscosity, which are
dynamic viscosity and kinematic viscosity. Dynamic viscosity is a viscosity that
occurs when a fluid is moving. The SI unit for this viscosity is mPa.s. In field,
engineers commonly use cP (centipoise). The second type of viscosity is kinematic
viscosity. It is a resistance to flow of a fluid under the influence of gravity force and
pressure weight which proporsional to the density of the fluid. Mathematically,
kinematic viscosity is equal to dynamic viscosity of a fluid divided by the density of
 the fluid. Enginners usually use the cSt (centistoke) as the unit in field. The SI unit of
this kinematic viscosity is mm2/s.
Kinematic viscosity can be determined by this equation:

Where:
kinematic viscosity
diameter of the capillar pipe
length of the capillar pipe
height or the length of upper meniscus and lower meniscus vertically
volume of fluids
correction of kinetic Energy
flow time

This equation can be simplify by neglecting the correction of kinetic energy.

Thus, the equation become:

This equation can be used if the flow time measured is below 200 seconds. The
dynamic viscosity can be calculated by using this equation below.

where µ is dynamic viscosity and ρ is density of the fluid.

V. EXPERIMENT DATA
 Determining the Constant of Ostwald Viscometer
Tool : Ostwald viscometer size no. 100
= 30.080⁰C

 Determining the Density of the Fluid

Mass of empty picnometer = 14.2 gr
Mass (picnometer + water) = 24.4 cm3
Mass (picnometer + sample) = 22.3 gr
Density of Aquades = 1gr/cm3
  Determining the Viscosity of the Fluid

The flow time of sample according to the temperature are on this table.
T (⁰C) t (s)

35 105

45 92

55 81

VI. DATA PROCESSING

 Determining the Constant of Ostwald Viscometer

 Determining the Density of the Fluid

 Determining the Viscosity of the Fluid

Tool : Ostwald Viscometer size no. 100

Viscosity range = 3 to 15 cSt
1 D of tube
1 D of tube N, E, P
Bulb volume

Where:
volume of timing bulb
working capillary length
working capillary diameter

So:
 At

( )

( )( )

 At

( )

( )( )

 At
 ( )

( )( )

Kinematic viscosity Dynamic viscosity

T (⁰C)

35 1.3785 1.0946

45 1.2078 0.95899

55 1.0633 0.84427

Kinematic Viscosity vs Temperature Graph

1,6

1,4

1,2
Kinematic Viscosity (cSt)

0,8

0,6

0,4

0,2

0
35 45 55
Temperature (⁰C)
Kinematic Viscosity vs Temperature graph
 Dynamic Viscosity vs Temperature Graph
Dynamic Viscosity (cP) x 10-6 1,2

0,8

0,6

0,4

0,2

0
35 45 55
Temperature (⁰C)

Dynamic Viscosity vs Temperature graph

VII. ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

 Assumption
There are several assumption that was used for this experiment. Those
assumption are:
1. The density of aquades is 1 gr/cm3;
2. The experiment held at standard condition, which is at temperature of 25⁰C
and pressure of 760mmHg;
3. The temperature of aquades and sample of crude oil are constant during the
measurements;
4. The temperature of Ostwald Viscometer are the same with the temperature
shown by the Constant Temperature Bath;
5. The measurements of flow time is done accurately;
6. The density of the sample are the same at different temperature.

 Data Analysis
The data that we gain from this experiment can be considered as good data.
First, let’s take a look at the experiment of determining the constant of Ostwald
Viscometer. The temperature that we wanted to reach for the aquades to flow is
 30⁰C. In the end, from the constant temperature bath, the temperature of the
aquades is 30.080 ⁰C. The flow time of the aquades flowing through the capillar
pipe that we measured was 61 seconds. This measurement is good enough because
the flow of the water, or in this case we used aquades, are supposed to be fast. It is
because the viscosity of the water is low. The second experiment, which is
determining the density of sample of crude oil, is also ended with a good result.
The data that we gained is the volume of picnometer by calculating the mass of
picnometer filled with aquades minus the mass when it is empty and then divided
by the density of the aquades. Next, the density of crude oil can be calculated by
calculating the mass of picnometer filled with crude oil minus the mass of empty
picnometer and then divide the result by the volume.
The third experiment is determining the viscosity of the sample of crude oil.
The flow times of the sample of crude oil that we gained in this experiment are
below 200 seconds. It means that the viscosity of the sample crude oil we used for
this experiment is quiet low compare with the other crude oil. This happened
because we used the sample of crude oil that produced with EOR method using
CO2. This made the CO2 became dissolved in the oil and thus, the viscosity
decreased. Therefore, according to the theory, if the flow time is less than 200
seconds, we have to do the correction of kinetic energy. In the data processing, we
already put the correction of kinetic energy to solve this problem.
The flow times from this experiment are vary. It changed if the temperature
changed. Specifically, the flow time decrease if the temperature increase. This
temperature changing will also has an influence in the viscosity because the
viscosity denpends on the flow time. The discussion about the relation between the
temperature and the viscosity will be in Result Analysis.

 Result Analysis
The constant of the Ostwald Viscometer that we have calculated based on this
experiment is 0.01313 mm2/s2. This number is actually closed enough with the
constant that is written in the tool that we used, which is 0.015 mm2/s2. There is an
error or delta between the constant that we have calculated and the constant that is
written in the Ostwald Viscometer. It could happen because in the experiment, the
temperature was not precisely 30⁰C, the person who did the measurement could do
 some mistakes like mistake in looking at the upper line and lower line or starting
and finishing the stopwatch measurement.
The density that we have calculated is 0.794 gr/cm3. This density is lower than
the water’s density. Therefore, it must be in a range of a good result. We used this
density for all temperature of sample of crude oil in this experiment. But actually
we may not do that because the density of the sample are changing according to the
temperature. The increase of temperature will decrease the density of the sample
crude oil. This happens because the increase of temperature will increase the
vibration of the molecules. This makes the expansion in volume while the mass are
still the same. Thus, the density will decrease by increasing the temperature. In this
experiment, we make an assumption where the density is always the same in
different temperature.
From the data processing, we can see that the kinematic viscosity are different
for each temperature. In the Data Analysis above, we already analyze that the
increase in temperature will decrease the flow time. If we look closely, we can
infer that the increase of the temperature will also decrease the viscosity. The
reason why it happens is because the increse of temperature will also increase the
kinetic energy of the molecules of the crude oil. Then, the molecules will move
faster than before and vibrate more frequently. Finally, the molecules are easily
move and the viscosity, the resistance of fluids to flow, decreased.

VIII. CONCLUSION
1. The constant of Ostwald Viscometer size no. 100 is .
2. The kinematic and dynamic viscosity calculated from this experiment are
written on this table below.

Kinematic viscosity Dynamic viscosity

T (⁰C)

35 1.3785 1.0946

45 1.2078 0.95899

55 1.0633 0.84427
 3. The relation between viscosity and temperature is the increase in temperature
will decrease the viscosity.

IX. MESSAGE AND SUGGESTION

1. Message
At first, I was a little nervous to do this experiment because it’s the
first time we ever did this in english. It’s not because I was afraid to use
english (believe me. It’s fun!), but because I wasn’t get used to do some
scientific stuff in english and I don’t want to get ‘kicked’ in the last
experiment. Well, It’s actually not terrifying at all and the assistant were so
friendly that it helped us to understand the experiment.

2. Suggestion
This module has an expensive tools that we have to use. Perhaps, if the
assistant can remind the student then it would be better. My suggestion is also
we can extend the time of the experiment because the time are so tight that we
did all the experiments in hurry. Besides that, this module is already a great
module.

X. ANSWER THE QUESTION

Proof that the constant in kinetic energy is 1.66!

Answer:
Where:

so, m becomes:

[ ]

[ ]

[ ]

If we take the V in cm3, L and D are in cm but C in mm2/s2. Then: