Viscous Fluids
Students are introduced to the similarities and differences in the behaviors of elastic solids and viscous fluids. Several types of fluid behaviors are described—Bingham plastic, Newtonian, shear thinning and shear thickening—along with their respective shear stress vs. rate of shearing strain diagrams. In addition, fluid material properties such as viscosity are introduced, along with the methods that engineers use to determine those physical properties.
Fluids are all around us and their behaviors are important for many engineering applications.Copyright 2004 Microsoft Corporation, One Microsoft Way, Redmond, WA 98052-6399 USA. All rights reserved.
Engineers often design devices that transport fluids, use fluids for lubrication, or operate in environments that contain fluids, such as engines, printers and pacemakers. Thus, it is important for engineers to understand how fluids behave under various conditions. Understanding fluid behavior can help engineers to select the best fluid to operate in a device or to design devices that are able to efficiently and harmlessly operate in environments that contain fluids.
After this lesson, students should be able to:
- Describe the similarities and differences between elastic solids and viscous fluids.
- Explain four different types of fluid behavior: Newtonian, shear thinning, shear thickening, and Bingham plastic.
- Demonstrate an understanding of how engineers measure and calculate fluid material properties such as viscosity.
- Communicate scientific information about why the molecular-level structure is important in the functioning of designed materials.