The Viscosity of Liquid R134a: C. M. B. P. Oliveira 1 and W. A. W A K e H A M 1
The Viscosity of Liquid R134a: C. M. B. P. Oliveira 1 and W. A. W A K e H A M 1
The Viscosity of Liquid R134a: C. M. B. P. Oliveira 1 and W. A. W A K e H A M 1
1, 1993
The paper reports new measurements of the viscosity of liquid R134a over
the temperature range 235 to 343 K and pressures up to 50MPa. The
measurements have been carried out in a vibrating-wire viscometer calibrated
with respect to the viscosity of several liquid hydrocarbons. It is estimated that
the uncertainty in the viscosity data reported is +0.6%. The data therefore have
a lower uncertainty than that of earlier measurements of the viscosity of this
environmentally acceptable regrigerant. The viscosity data have been repre-
sented as a function of density by means of a formulation based upon the rigid,
hard-sphere theory of dense fluids with a maximum deviation of _+0.3%. This
representation allows the present body of experimental data to be extended to
regions of thermodynamic state not covered by the measurements.
1. I N T R O D U C T I O N
33
840/'14/1-3 0195-928X/93/0100-0033$07.00/0 9 1993 Plenum Publishing Corporation
34 Oliveira and Wakeham
2. E X P E R I M E N T A L
The vibrating-wire viseometer employed for the present measurements
was exactly that described earlier E3]. It comprises a 100-#m-diameter
straight tungsten wire, suspended from the top plate of a pressure vessel,
and carrying a tensioning weight on its lower end. The wire is set into
transverse vibration electromagnetically and the subsequent motion of the
wire within the test fluid observed by electromagnetic induction. The decay
of the transverse vibrations, which conform to a damped sinusoidal
oscillation, is related to the viscosity and the density of the test fluid by the
working equation
k = - 1 + 2 Im(A) (2)
k ' = 2 Re(A) + 2A Im(A) (3)
where
2Ko(s)]
A = (i-- Ao) 1 + s K ~ J (4)
and
s = E(i- A) f2] m (5)
f2 = p ~ R 2 / r l (6)
3. RESULTS
The viscosity data for R134a are contained in Table I for
measurements near the saturation line and in Table II for those isotherms
for which measurements were performed as a function of pressure. The
tables list the temperature, pressure, density, and viscosity for the fluid. In
view of the fact that it may be possible to recalibrate the viscometer in the
future if more accurate viscosity data for the reference fluids become
available, the raw experimental data for calibration and the measurements
on R134a have been retained. However, they are omitted from the
tabulations in the interests of brevity.
Not all of the measurements near the saturation vapor pressure were
performed exactly at saturation. Thus, in order to provide values exactly at
the saturation conditions given by Saltoh et al. I-8], the data have been
corrected to the saturation density for each temperature by the application
of a small (1.0%) correction. The correction has been deduced from the
representation of the viscosity as a function of density discussed later. The
magnitude of this correction is sufficiently small that the additional
uncertainty introduced by its application is no more than 0.1%. The data
at the saturation density given by Saltoh et al. 1-8] are included in Table I.
The temperature dependence of the viscosity of R134a along the
saturation line has been represented by the equation
where
ao = - 39.05765, al = 3.616708 • 10 4 K
a2 = - 1.372566 • 10 7 K 2, a 3 = 2.409684 • 10 9 K 3 (8)
a4 = -1.61014 • 1011 K 4
30
20
4.
"i ~0
0 0
0
o O0 ~) 0
o
o
§
§
§
I -10
+
v §
+
-20 §
+
i i
3O
23O 270 310 350
T, K
Table IiI. Coefficients of the Correlating Eq. (9) for the Viscosity of R134a
Temperature Pressure
T P'
(K) (MPa) bo bl b2
0.50
o
+A
z~
A +U
O + +
O 9 o
,II-
0.00 n~v A
A
A
u
I + +
I i
-0.50
0 20 40 60
P, M P a
divergence of results for the viscosity of R134a that exist in the literature.
While the present data support the results of Ripple [ 2 ] and of Kumagai
and Takahashi [9], there are still discrepancies at elevated temperatures
greater than can be explained by the claimed uncertainties.
with the coefficients listed in Table III. Figure 2 contains the deviations of
the data for the various isotherms from this representation. The deviation
does not exceed +0.4%, the standard deviation being 0.2%. There are no
published data for comparison.
40 Oliveira and Wakeham
25
20
'=. 15
10
V/V o
Index
i ci
0 0.65031
1 2.41753
2 -0.70771
3 0.153854
may be weakly temperature dependent, reflecting the fact that the true
forces between the molecules in the fluid have a repulsive component which
is not infinitely steep. Accordingly, it is first appropriate to examine
whether, for R134a, the experimental data support the fact that rl* is a
function only of (V/Vo.) For this purpose we have evaluated t/* from our
experimental data and adopted an arbitrary reference value for Vo at a
temperature of 293.35 K. Then, by selecting appropriate values for Vo at
other temperatures, we have constructed the single curve of t/* against
0.40
0.20
O
A V?
+ Oo +I+
0 0,00 +R+~ n
A A 0 7
0
a
-0.20
i
0.40 ' =
1.60 1.80 2.00 2.20 2.40
V/Vo
293.35 44.46
303.14 44.26
313.15 44.00
323.15 43.89
333.15 43.74
(V/Vo.), which is shown in Fig. 3. This single function has been represented
by the equation
3
ln~*= Y ciEVo/(V- v0)] i (11)
i=O
The coefficients ci are listed in Table IV. Figure 4 contains plots of the
deviations of the experimental data from this common representation and
0.40
0.20
oo
0
d +-,+%
++ V
,0i 0.00 +~,~ +~- 7
%
4)
-0.20
0.40 i J =
1.60 1.80 2.00 2.20 2.40
V/V,,
Fig. 5. Deviations, [100(t/exp- qcalc)/?/calc], of the pre-
sent viscosity data for R134a from the representation of
them by means of the correlation of Assael et al. [12]
for n-alkanes: ( + ) 293.35K; ( A ) 303.15K; (O)
313.15 K; ( V ) 323.15 K; (~') 333.15 K; ( i ) 343.15 K.
Viscosity of Liquid R134a 43
it can be seen that they do not exceed 0.3 %, which provides substantial
evidence for the result that t/* depends only upon (V/Vo).
A second point of interest is to what extent the data for R134a con-
form to the representation of ~/* for the normal alkanes given by Assael
et al. [12]. We have therefore sought to secure the optimum representation
of the present experimental data for R134a by means of the function t/*
given by Assael et al. [12]. In this process we have allowed both Vo(T)
and R, to be determined in the fitting. The resulting deviations are shown
in Fig. 5 and the values of Vo listed in Table V; the optimum value of R,
was R, = 1.022175. It can be seen from Fig. 5 that the representation of the
experimental data for R134a by an equation based on results for nonpolar
systems is essentially the same as when the fluid is treated in isolation. This
is a remarkable result that is well within the combined uncertainty of the
viscosity and the density.
5. CONCLUSIONS
The viscosity of R134a has been measured along the saturation line
and over a range of pressures in the temperature range 235 to 343 K. The
results along the saturation line confirm the most recent measurements by
other workers but have a lower uncertainty. The results at higher pressures
have been used to demonstrate that methods of representing the viscosity
of this liquid refrigerant based upon the rigid-sphere model are as success-
ful as they have proved for liquid hydrocarbons. This makes it possible to
extend the range of data beyond that covered by direct measurement.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors are grateful to ICI Chemicals and Polymers Ltd. for
the supply of high-purity samples of R134a and subsequent analysis of
samples used in the equipment. In particular, they wish to thank
Mr. R. Wheelhouse for his advice on several aspects of their work.
REFERENCES
1. K. Stephan and R. Krauss, Int. J. Thermophys. (in press).
2. D. Ripple, Personal communication (1992).
3. M. J. Assael, C. P. Oliveira, M. Papadaki, and W.A. Wakeham, Int. J. Thermophys.
13:593 (1992).
4. T. Retsina, S. M. Richardson, and W.A. Wakeham, Appl. Sci. Res. 43:325 (1987).
5. C. M. B. P. Oliveira and W. A. Wakeham, Int. J. Thermophys. 13:805 (1992).
6. F. A. Gon~alves, K. Hamano, J. V. Sengers, and J. Kestin, Int. J. Thermophys. 8:641
(1987).
44 Oliveira and Wakeham