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.