A Penetroviscosimeter for Newtonian and Visco-Plastic Fluids

Abstract

The penetration test has been widely used by engineers to characterize the behavior of materials such as soils, fresh concrete, or concentrated suspensions. These approaches provide related measurements to rheological properties by means of empirical parameters. The present paper, based on Bikerman's works,(1) describes an analytical method for a penetration test, for Newtonian or Binghamian fluids.Characteristics of the flow between the bowl and the plunger are determined using an end effect correction method. In the case of Newtonian fluids, the theoretical developments are validated by experiments on a standard material. The material density is also determined using the same measurements.For the Bingham behavior, the total set of equations is presented. The limiting cases of low and infinite velocity are studied and applied to a very concentrated suspension. The viscosity and the yield stress are compared to the results of capillary and vane shear experiments. The same order of magnitude is found. However, we show here that these properties are only equivalent ones for this material, due to the slip motion observed at the penetrometer walls.