Report for Experiment 11: Fluid Flow

Austin Van Niel

Partners: Madeline Bradford and Kathleen Shusdock
TA: Pengyu Oliver Zheng
Experiment Completed: 3/29/17
 Introduction:
Even though fluids do not have a defined shape, they still follow Newtonian physics and obey
Newtons laws. The net force, in this case a difference in pressure, acts upon a fluid it will react by
moving. The flow rate of this fluid can be determined by the ratio of the change in velocity versus the
time it took during that change. For this experiment the difference in pressure will be kept small so that
there will be little to no turbulence in the capillary tube and therefore the laminar flow can be examined
using Poiseuilles equation. In Investigation 1 the flow rate will be measured versus the pressure
difference for a capillary tube of 1.25mm in diameter. The difference in height from the top of the water
source to the tip of the capillary tube will be used to determine the change in pressure. In Investigation 2
the dependence of fluid flow on capillary diameter will be quantified by looking at the fluid flow rate
with the same difference of pressure but this time changing the diameter of the capillary tube. Since this
will not be a linear relationship the natural log will need to be taken in order to plot it linearly to get the
slope and determine the exponent for Poiseuilles equation for laminar flow.

Investigation 1:
This investigation examined the flow rate of water versus the pressure difference for a capillary
tube measuring 1.25mm (0.2mm) in diameter. The capillary was mounted horizontally and a water
reservoir was connected with a tube and clamped at a higher elevation to the capillary. The height was
measured from the top of the water to the end of the capillary tube. The water level in the reservoir was
maintained for each of the trials and during each of the trials so that the height difference and therefore
the pressure difference would be consistent throughout the trials. The amount of fluid that had passed
through the capillary during the trial would be collected in a 100mL graduated cylinder.
After the system was purged to remove any air from the system surrounding the quick disconnect
for attaching the capillary to the reservoir the height was adjusted so that the difference was
approximately 11cm. The time that it took for 50mL to pass through the capillary and into the graduated
cylinder was measured. This was done for 2 trials so that the average could be taken. This process was
repeated for differences in height of 14cm, 17cm, and 20cm.

Diameter h1 h2 p p 50 cc time t (sec) avg t tavg

(m) (cm) (cm) (cm) (m) (sec) (sec) (sec)

0.00125 34.5 57 22.5 0.001 63.82 0.005

0.00125 34.5 57 22.5 0.001 63.14 0.005 63.48 0.34

0.00125 31 56.5 25.5 0.001 55.72 0.005

0.00125 31 56.5 25.5 0.001 56.11 0.005 55.915 0.195

0.00125 31 59.5 28.5 0.001 49.68 0.005

0.00125 31 59.5 28.5 0.001 50.23 0.005 49.955 0.275

0.00125 31 62.5 31.5 0.001 46.67 0.005

0.00125 31 62.5 31.5 0.001 47.19 0.005 46.93 0.26

Table 1: Height and pressure differences to the reservoir, time for 50cc to flow through the capillary,
average time, and their errors for the 1.25mm capillary tube.

The diameter and its error (0.2mm) were given by the capillary tube manufacturer. The heights
(h1 and h2) were measured using a meter stick and the uncertainty in measurement is the same as the
error in pressure (p) since it is directly propagated as 0.001m. The time to 50cc flow was taken using a
timer where the error was given to be 0.005 seconds. The average time (avg t) of each trial was taken and
the average function in Excel was used to find this value. To calculate the error in average time ( tavg)
Eq. (1) was used where sigma is the standard deviation for which the standard deviation function in Excel
was used and N is the number of trials within the dataset.

Eq. (1): t=

Diameter V V avg t t Q avg Q p p

(m)
0.00125 0.05 0.0005 63.48 0.34 0.00078765 8.93512E-06 22.5 0.001

0.00125 0.05 0.0005 55.915 0.195 0.000894214 9.47033E-06 25.5 0.001

0.00125 0.05 0.0005 49.955 0.275 0.001000901 1.14254E-05 28.5 0.001

0.00125 0.05 0.0005 46.93 0.26 0.001065417 1.218E-05 31.5 0.001

Table 2: Change in volume, average time for that volume to flow, average flow rate, and change in
pressure, and their errors for the 1.25mm capillary tube.

The diameter and its error (0.2mm) were given by the capillary tube manufacturer. The change
in volume (V) was part of the experimental design and its uncertainty ( V) was taken to be half of the
smallest increment of measure. The average time was simply taken from Table 1 as well as its error. The
average flow rate (Q avg) was calculated using Eq. (2), where t is the average time elapsed during the
trial. The error in flow rate (Q) was calculated using Eq. (3). The change in pressure and error in
pressure were taken from Table 1.

V
Eq. (2): Q=
t

Eq. (3): Q=

Figure 1: Plot of average flow rate vs change in pressure using data from Table 2. A trendline was added
and the equation of which is displayed using Excel, a point was added to ensure that the experimental data
 went through the origin as would be expected since if there is no pressure there can be no flow rate. Error
bars are included but are difficult to see at this scale.

This data needed to be plotted in order to determine whether or not the data showed a linear
relationship between Q and p which would be expected since the equation for laminar flow
demonstrates that it should be. The y-intercept of 5.0 x 10-6 is within the average error of flow rate which
was 1.025 x 10-5 indicating that this data is properly fitting for the relationship between the two values.
This was furthered by a correlation constant of R 2= 0.999, further solidifying that this is indeed a linear
relationship between Q and p. From this it can be posited that Poiseuilles Law has a very high efficacy,
as his law states that as the pressure increases, the flow rate will increase in a positive and linear manner.

Investigation 2:
This investigation examines the dependence of fluid flow on the diameter of the capillary. The
same experimental setup will be used as Investigation 1 but the diameter of the capillary will be changed
in each subsequent trial. According to Poiseuilles Law, the flow rate is directly proportional to d n where d
is the diameter of the capillary and n is the viscosity constant which for water is 4. This means that if you
double the diameter of the capillary you will get 16 times the flow. 4 different sizes was explored with a
height difference of 31.5cm and starting with the last set of data taken from the previous investigation,
then the 1.5mm capillary, and finally the 1.0mm capillary. For the 0.5mm capillary the difference in
height was changed to 50cm and the time to reach 10cc in volume was measured. To compare the data a
proportion was used to assimilate and the assimilated value was reported.

Diameter (m) d (m) t (sec) t p p (cm) Q (L/sec) Q (L/sec)

(sec) (cm)

0.00125 0.0002 46.93 0.26 31.5 0.001 0.001065417 1.218E-05

0.0015 0.0002 23.9 0.05 31.5 0.001 0.00209205 2.13734E-05

0.0015 0.0002 24.2 0.05 31.5 0.001 0.002066116 2.10975E-05

0.0015 0.0002 23.7 0.05 31.5 0.001 0.002109705 2.15614E-05

0.001 0.0002 56.3 0.05 31.5 0.001 0.000888099 8.91595E-06

0.001 0.0002 58.6 0.05 31.5 0.001 0.000853242 8.56343E-06

0.001 0.0002 57.1 0.05 31.5 0.001 0.000875657 8.79007E-06

0.0005 0.0001 289.7 0.05 50 0.001 3.45185E-05 1.72593E-06

0.0005 0.0001 282.6 0.05 50 0.001 3.53857E-05 1.7693E-06

0.0005 0.0001 285.3 0.05 50 0.001 3.50508E-05 1.75255E-06

Table 3: Time, difference in pressure, flow rate, and their errors for the different sized capillary tubes. The
data for the 0.0005m capillary tube was assimilated with a proportion for display in subsequent tables and
graphs.
 The diameters and their respective errors were given by the manufacturer for each different size.
The times were recorded with a timer and the errors were given by Eq. (1). The difference in pressure
(p) was taken to be the difference in height from the top of the water level in the reservoir which was
kept constant during each of the trials with the exception of the 0.0005m diameter capillary. The error of
which was taken to be the uncertainty of the meter stick that was used to measure the height difference.
The flow rate (Q) was found using Eq. (2) and its error using Eq. (3).

avg t (sec) Q (L/min) lnQ (L/min) lnQ lnd (m) lnd (m)
(L/min)

46.930 0.001065 - 1.218E-05 - 0.16

417 6.84438940 6.68461172
3 8

23.933 0.002089 - 2.15614E- - 0.13

136 6.17100446 05 6.50229017
1 1

57.333 0.000872 - 8.79007E- - 0.2

093 7.04461446 06 6.90775527
2 9

285.866 3.49813E- - 1.75255E- - 0.2

05 10.2606956 06 7.60090246
9
Table 4: The average time, flow rate, natural log of the flow rate, natural log of the diameter, and their
errors for the data in Table 3.
Since the relationship of the flow rate to the diameter of the capillary is an exponential function
the natural log was taken in order to make this function linear so that the value for n can be determined by
taking the slope. The error of lnQ was found using Eq. (4) and the error in lnd was found using Eq. (5).
These data were then put on a graph, Figure 2.

Q
Eq. (4): lnQ=
Q

d
Eq. (5): lnd =
d
Figure 2: Plot of the natural log of flow rate versus the natural log of capillary diameter. A trendline was
added using the trendline function in Excel and the equation of the trendline was displayed on the plot.
Error bars have been included.

This data needed to be plotted so that the slope could be determined. If Poiseuilles Law was
correct we would expect to see that the slope would be equal to 4 which is the viscosity constant for
water. The slope of 3.74 was found and the error of which is 0.308, this value was found using the
straight line fit calculator from the IPL website. This means that the value of the slope is within the error
of the anticipated value of 4. This demonstrates the the flow rate is indeed directly proportional to d n. This
is furthered by the correlation constant which showed R2= 0.969 indicating that there is a strong linear
relationship between these data. This was reported using the trendline function on Excel.

Conclusion:
Investigation 1 examined the relationship between the flow rate and the pressure and found them
to have a linear relationship with a 0.999 linear correlation constant such that Q is directly proportional to
p when the data passed through the origin with an error of 2.529 found using the calculator on the IPL
website.. Investigation 2 looked at the dependence of flow rate on diameter. Since Poiseuilles Law states
that Q is directly proportional to dn it would be expected that there be a logarithmic relationship but in
order to prove that the value of n, or the viscosity constant, was 4 which is the value for water, a linear
relationship needed to be formed. This relationship was found with a 0.969 linear correlation constant and
a slope of 3.739 0.308 which the expected value is within the error. These data together indicate the
Poiseuilles Law have flow rate directly proportional to the diameter and to the difference in pressure.
Any sources of error may have been due to the slight turbulent current near the quick connect since the
lining of the tube becomes disrupted by the seal

Questions:
1. Since the inch diameter hose has a larger diameter it is going to have a higher flow
rate. If you double the diameter you will get 16 times the flow rate so for a difference of of an
inch like in this case the ratio would be 10 times. So the inch hose has a flow rate 10 times
smaller than the hose with the inch internal diameter.
2. If the viscosity constant for a fluid doubles then the flow rate will be cut in half. The
density of the fluid will affect the viscosity constant which will inversely affect the flow rate such
that the flow rate is equal to the density multiplied by the volume over time. Increasing the
density will directly decrease the flow rate.
3. The ratio of Rtube/Rcap is 3:8. From this we can conclude that the resistance in the
capillary is greater than the resistance in the tube. Meaning that as you increase the diameter of
the tube something is flowing through, the resistance goes down
4. The ratio of ptube/pcap is also 3:8 or 0.375
5. When it is horizontal the force of gravity is not acting on the flow rate in which would
cause it to increase. It is only acting to create the difference in pressure