Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT)

Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering Department (ABED)

BSc. Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering (ABE - BPE Option)

Fourth Year, Semester I, 2024/2025 Academic Year

EBE 2405: PROPERTIES OF BIOLOGICAL MATERIALS

Lecturer: Dr. Eng. Erick Ronoh – ABED, JKUAT

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 Engineering Properties of Biological Materials
Importance:
• Engineering selection and design of food processes and equipment requires
knowledge of the properties of food materials.
• These properties are of great importance in the simulation and design of food
processes and in the computer-aided process engineering.
• Their influence is even greater in problems of conceptual design, in which a
wrong estimation of a property can lead to an infeasible design plan.
• Not only the knowledge of properties aids in engineering design and control but
also gives information about the product quality, its acceptability by the
consumer of different groups and its behaviour post production, during storage,
during consumption and post consumption.

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Properties – Categories:
1) Physical properties – shape, size, volume, surface area, thousand grain weights,
density, and porosity
2) Frictional properties – angle of repose and coefficient of friction
3) Aero and hydro-dynamic properties – terminal velocity and drag coefficient
4) Thermal properties – specific heat capacity, thermal conductivity, and thermal
diffusivity, boiling point rise, freezing point depression
5) Optical properties – light transmittance and reflectance
6) Dielectric properties – dielectric constant and dielectric loss factor
7) Acoustic properties – reaction to sound waves
8) Electrical properties – electrical conductance, resistance, impedance
9) Mechanical properties – rheological properties (deformation and flow: viscosity,
elasticity; textural properties (strength, compressibility and deformability)
10) Chemical properties – chemical compositions and moisture content
11) Sensory properties - appearance, odour, flavour, taste, texture
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Size, Shape, Volume, and Related Physical Attributes
• Physical attributes of foods consist of:
a) Size
b) Shape (Roundness, Sphericity)
c) Surface area
d) Volume
e) Density
f) Porosity
• Size and shape are important physical attributes of foods that are used in
screening, grading, and quality control of foods.
• They are also important in fluid flow and heat and mass transfer calculations.

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Size
• Size is an important physical attribute of foods used in screening solids to separate
foreign materials, grading of fruits and vegetables, and evaluating the food quality.

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• It is easy to specify size for regular particles, but for irregular particles the term
size must be arbitrarily specified.
• Particle size of particulate foods can be determined by sieve analysis, passage
through an electrically charged orifice, and settling rate methods.
• Size can be determined using the projected area method. In this method, three
characteristic dimensions are defined:
a) Major diameter, which is the longest dimension of the maximum projected
area
b) Intermediate diameter, which is the minimum diameter of the maximum
projected area or the maximum diameter of the minimum projected area
c) Minor diameter, which is the shortest dimension of the minimum
projected area

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Shape
• It is important in heat and mass
transfer calculations, screening
solids to separate foreign materials,
grading of fruits and vegetables,
and evaluating the quality of food
materials.
• It is usually expressed in terms of
its roundness, sphericity and aspect
ratio
• Roundness: Roundness is a
measure of the sharpness of the
corners of a solid.

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 below (m2)

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• Sphericity: It is the ratio of volume of solid to the volume of a sphere that has a
diameter equal to the major diameter of the object so that it can circumscribe
the solid sample

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• In a triaxial ellipsoid, all three perpendicular sections are ellipses. If the major,
intermediate, and minor diameters are 2a, 2b, and 2c, respectively, volume of the
triaxial ellipsoid can be determined as:

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• Sphericity is also defined as the ratio of surface area of a sphere having the same
volume as the object to the actual surface area of the object (McCabe et al.,
1993):

• Another definition of sphericity is the ratio of the diameter of the largest

inscribed circle (di) to the diameter of the smallest circumscribed circle (dc)
(Mohsenin, 1970):

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 Sphericity values for granular materials

• Aspect ratio (Ra) is another term used to express the shape of a material. It is
calculated using the length (a) and the width (b) of the sample as (Maduako and
Faborode, 1990):

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Example: Calculate the sphericity of a cylindrical object of diameter 1.0 cm
and height 1.7 cm.
Solution: The volume can be computed by:

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• Certain parameters are important for the design of conveyors for particulate foods,
such as:
Radius of curvature
Roundness
Angle of repose

• Radius of curvature is important to determine how easily the object will roll. The
more sharply rounded the surface of contact, the greater will be the stresses
developed:

where, D is spacing between the pin (m) and S is sagittal height (m).

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 A device for measuring
the radius of curvature

 The device consists of a metal base that has a dial indicator and holes into which pins are placed.
Two pins are placed within these holes according to the size of the object. When the two pins make
contact with the surface, the tip of the dial indicator is pushed upwards. Then, the dial indicator
reads the sagittal height (S). The radius of curvature is calculated from the measured distances
using this simple device and the following formula, where D is spacing between the pins (m) and S
is sagittal height (m).

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• Minimum and maximum radii of curvature for larger objects such as apples are
calculated using the larger and smaller dial indicator readings, respectively.
• For smaller objects of relatively uniform shape, the radius of curvature can be
calculated using the major diameter and either the minor or intermediate
diameter.

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Surface Area
• Surface area of a solid object is a measure of the total area that the surface of the
object occupies.
• The surface area of certain parts of agricultural materials plays an important role
in various technological processes.
• The surface area of a leaf is characteristic of its capacity for photosynthesis and of
its growth rate, and plays a role in determining plant-soil-water relations, in the
application of plant-protecting chemicals, and, in the case of certain plants (e.g.,
the tobacco) characterizes the quantity and quality of the crop.
• The surface area of crops and fruits is also of importance in certain tests, for
example, in the respiration measurements, in determinations of reflectance and
colour, in heat-transfer phenomena, etc.
• Methods: contact method onto light-sensitive paper, air-flow planimeter, direct
measurement (by calculation).

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Volume
• Volume is defined as the amount of three-dimensional space occupied by an
object.
• It is an important quality attribute in the food industry. It appeals to the eye, and
is related to other quality parameters
• Volume of solids can be determined by using the following methods:
i. Volume can be calculated from the characteristic dimensions in the case of
objects with regular shape.
ii. Volumes of solids can be determined experimentally by liquid, gas, or solid
displacement methods.
iii. Volume can be measured by the image processing method. An image
processing method has been recently developed to measure volume of
ellipsoidal agricultural products such as eggs, lemons, limes, and peaches
(Sabliov et al., 2002).

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 Gas comparison pycnometer
Pycnometer (specific gravity bottle)

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Expression of Volume
 Solid volume (Vs) is the volume of the solid material (including water) excluding
any interior pores that are filled with air. It can be determined by the gas
displacement method in which the gas is capable of penetrating all open pores up
to the diameter of the gas molecule.
 Apparent volume (Vapp) is the volume of a substance including all pores within
the material (internal pores). Apparent volume of regular geometries can be
calculated using the characteristic dimensions. Apparent volume of irregularly
shaped samples may be determined by solid or liquid displacement methods.
 Bulk volume (Vbulk) is the volume of a material when packed or stacked in bulk. It
includes all the pores enclosed within the material (internal pores) and also the
void volume outside the boundary of individual particles when stacked in bulk
(external pores).

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Measurement of Specific Gravity of Seeds/Grains – Pcynometer Method
Steps:
• Determine the exact capacity of the pycnometer by weighing it when empty and likewise when
filled with distilled water at 20oC.
• Specific gravity of the batch of toluene is determined by comparing the weight of toluene
which the bottle holds with the weight of the distilled water at the same temperature.
• Ten grams of the solid specimen are placed in the pycnometer with sufficient toluene to cover
the sample.
• Gradually exhaust the air from the bottle by a vacuum pump to promote the escape of the air
trapped under the surface hairs and in the creases of the seeds or kernels.
• When air bubbles cease to be given off after several cycles of vacuuming and releasing the
vacuum, fill the bottle with toluene and allow the temperature to reach 20oC.
• Weigh the bottle and calculate specific gravity of the seeds as follows:
Specific gravity of toluene × Weight of the grain
Specific gravity of grain or seed =
Weight of the toluene displaced by the grain
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Density
a) True Density – True density (ρT) is the density of a pure substance or a
composite material calculated from its components’ densities considering
conservation of mass and volume.
b) Material Density – Material density (ρm) is the density measured when a
material has been thoroughly broken into pieces small enough to guarantee
that no closed pores remain.
c) Particle Density – Particle density (ρp) is the density of a particle, which
includes the volume of all closed pores but not the externally connected pores.
In this case, the particle is not modified structurally, as in the case of material
density.
d) Apparent Density – Apparent density (ρa) is the density of a substance
including all pores remaining in the material.
e) Bulk Density – Bulk density (ρB) is the density of a material when packed or
stacked in bulk. The bulk density of packed materials depends on the geometry,
size, and surface properties of individual particles.

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Calculation of True Density
• If the densities and volume or mass fractions of constituents are known, true
density can be determined from:

• where,

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Example
Calculate the true density of spinach at 20C having the composition given below.

Solution
True density (T) of spinach can be computed as:

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Porosity
• Porosity indicates the volume fraction of void space or air in a material and is
defined as:
𝐴𝑖𝑟 𝑜𝑟 𝑣𝑜𝑖𝑑 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒
Porosity (ɛ) =
𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒

• Different forms of porosity are used in food process calculations and food
products characterization (Rahman, 1995).
1) Open pore Porosity (εop) - is the volume fraction of pores connected to the
exterior boundary of a material and is represented by ɛop.
2) Closed pore porosity (εcp) - is the volume fraction of pores closed inside the
material and not connected to the exterior boundary of the material.
3) Apparent Porosity (εap) - Apparent porosity is the volume fraction of total air or
void space in the material boundary and is defined as (εa = εop + εcp).

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4) Bulk Porosity - Bulk porosity (εB) is the volume fraction of voids outside the
boundary of individual materials when packed or stacked as bulk.

5) Total Porosity (εT) - is the total volume fraction of air or void space (i.e., inside
and outside of the materials) when material is packed or stacked as bulk and is
given as:
εT = εa + εB = εop + εcp + εB

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Measurement of Porosity
a) Direct method: Porosity is determined from the difference of bulk volume of a
piece of porous material and its volume after destruction of all voids by means
of compression. This method can be applied if the material is very soft and no
attractive or repulsive force is present between the particles of solid.
b) Optical method: Porosity is determined from the microscopic view of a section
of the porous medium. It is suitable if the porosity is uniform throughout the
sample, that is, the sectional porosity represents the porosity of whole sample.
c) Density method: Porosity is calculated from the measured densities. Porosity
due to the enclosed air space within the particles is named apparent porosity
(εapp) and defined as the ratio of total enclosed air space or voids volume to the
total volume. It can also be named internal porosity. Apparent porosity is
calculated from the measured solid (ρs) and apparent density (ρapp) data as:

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d) Gas pycnometer method: Porosity can be measured directly by measuring the
volume fraction of air using the air comparison pycnometer.

e) Using porosimeters: Porosity and pore size distribution can be determined

using porosimeters, which are the instruments based on the principle of either
liquid intrusion into pores or liquid extrusion from the pores.
Pressure is applied to force the liquids, such as water, oil, or mercury, into
pores since liquids cannot flow spontaneously into pores.
For extrusion porosimetry, wetting liquids are used to fill the pores in the
porous materials.

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 Image of bread sample Extracted pores of bread using image processing software

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Example
The porosity of dried apples was measured using an air comparison pycnometer with
two identical chambers. The dried apple sample was placed in chamber 2. Valves 2 and 3
were closed and air was supplied to chamber 1. Valve 1 was closed and pressure P1 was
read as 0.508 atm. Then, valve 2 was opened and the new equilibrium pressure, P2, was
read as 0.309 atm. Calculate the porosity of the dried apple.

Solution
From the gas pycnometer method, the porosity of the dried apple can be calculated as:

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Example
Cherry has a moisture content of 77.5% (wb). The apparent and bulk densities are 615
kg/m3 and 511 kg/m3 at 25oC, respectively. Assuming cherry contains only carbohydrate
and water, calculate the total porosity of cherries when stacked as bulk. The densities of
carbohydrate and water are 1586 kg/m3 and 997 kg/m3, respectively.
Solution
• Apparent porosity, which is the ratio of total enclosed air space or void volume to the
total volume, can be calculated using the following equation:
εapp = 1 – (ρapp/ρs)
• Solid density can be calculated using the true density;
ρT = 1 / ∑( Xim/ρi)
= 1 / [(0.775/997) + (0.225/1586)] = 1087.9 kg/m3
• Apparent porosity, εapp = 1 – (615/1087.9) = 0.43
• Bulk porosity is: εbulk = 1 - (ρbulk/ρapp) = 1 – (511/615) = 0.17
• Total porosity is: εTOT = εapp + εbulk = 0.43 + 0.17 = 0.60
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Angle of Repose for Food Particulates
• It is a property used in particulate foods such as seeds, grains, and fruits. When
granular solids are piled on a flat surface, the sides of the pile are at a definite
reproducible angle with the horizontal → angle of repose of the material.
• The angle of repose is important for the design of processing, storage, and
conveying systems of particulate materials.

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• When the grains are smooth and rounded, the angle of repose is low. For very
fine and sticky materials the angle of repose is high. For determination of this
property, a box with open sides at the top and bottom is placed on a surface.
• Angle of repose is determined by filling the box with a sample and lifting up the
box gradually, allowing the sample to accumulate and form a conical heap on the
surface.
• Then, the angle of repose is calculated from the ratio of the height to the base
radius of the heap formed.

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• There are two angles of repose:
i. Static angle of repose: It is the angle of friction taken up by granular
material to just slide upon itself.
ii. Dynamic angle of repose: It comes in picture when bulk of the grain is in
motion like discharge of grain from bins and hoppers. The dynamic angle of
repose is more important than the static.

• The angle of repose , 𝛟, is obtained from the geometry of the cone as given
below.

where, Ha is the height of the cone, Hb is height of the platform and Db is the
diameter of the platform, respectively.

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 Applications of Physical Properties

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Preservation by Drying/Dehydration
• Drying brings about substantial reduction in weight and volume minimising
packing, storage and transportation costs and enable storability of the product
under ambient temperatures, features especially important for developing
countries.
• In order to assure products of high quality at a reasonable cost, dehydration must
occur fairly rapidly.
• Four main factors affect the rate and total drying time:
a) the properties of the products, especially particle size and geometry;
b) the geometrical arrangement of the products in relation to heat transfer medium
(drying air);
c) the physical properties of drying medium/ environment;
d) the characteristics of the drying equipment.

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• Surface area – generally the fruit and vegetables to be dehydrated are cut into
small pieces or thin layers to speed heat and mass transfer.
• Subdivision speeds drying for two reasons:
i. Large surface areas provide more surface in contact with the heating medium (air)
and more surface from which moisture can escape;
ii. Smaller particles or thinner layers reduce the distance heat must travel to the
centre of the food and reduce the distance through which moisture in the centre
of the food must travel to reach the surface and escape.

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Storage Silos / Hoppers
• Angle of internal friction is
important in estimating the lateral
pressure in storage silos.
• Angle of internal friction values are
also used in designing of storage
bins and hoppers for gravity
discharge.
• The coefficients of friction between
grains are required as a design
parameter for design of shallow and
deep bins.
• A bridge forms when wall friction
holds up the ends of the arch.
• To overcome bridging, the wall
friction must be reduced or
prevented from occurring.

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 Rheological Properties
• Rheology is a study of deformation and flow of materials under applied forces
(especially interesting in agricultural and biological materials).
• Importance of rheology: quality control during food manufacture and
processing, long food can be stored
• Examples: viscosity and elasticity (Peanut butter in the jar, ketchup)

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 Classification of Rheology

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 Slope of shear stress versus shear rate for different categories of fluids
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Deformation of material

(a) Tensile and compressive normal stress

(b) Shear stress

 Stresses and strain can be described as

dilatational or deviatoric.
i. Dilatation stress or strain causes change
in volume.
ii. Deviatoric stress or strain causes change
in shape but negligible changes in
volume

where, V0 = initial volumes; Vf = final volume.

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Deformation of material

where, E is Young’s Modulus or Modulus elasticity, σ is normal stress, ɛ is normal strain,  is Poisson's ratio,
ΔD/D is change in width per unit width and ΔL/L is change in length per unit length.
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 Time dependent rheological properties
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Thixotropic/ Rheopectic Behaviour
• Fluids that exhibit decreasing shear stress and apparent viscosity with respect to time
at a fixed shear rate are called thixotropic fluids (shear thinning with time). This
phenomenon is due to the breakdown in the structure of the material as shearing
continues. Gelatin, egg white, and shortening are examples of this type of fluid.
• Thixotropic behavior may be reversible, partially reversible, or irreversible when the
applied shear is removed (fluid is allowed to be at rest). Irreversible thixotropy is called
rheomalaxis or rheodestruction.
• In rheopectic fluids (shear thickening with time), shear stress and apparent viscosity
increase with time, that is, the structure builds up as shearing continues. Bentonite–
clay suspensions show this type of flow behaviour. It is rarely observed in food
systems. Starch–milk–sugar pastes showed a time dependent flow behavior (Abu-
Jdayil and Mohameed, 2004). If the pasting process was done at 85⁰C and 95⁰C,
starch–milk–sugar pastes exhibited a thixotropic behaviour, while pastes processed at
75⁰C behaved like a rheopectic fluid.

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Rheology of Liquid Foods
• Newton’s law of viscosity
• Consider a fluid between two large parallel plates of area A, separated by a very
small distance Y. The system is initially at rest but at time t = 0, the lower plate is
set in motion in the z-direction at a constant velocity V by applying a force F in
the z-direction while the upper plate is kept stationary.
• At t = 0, the velocity is zero everywhere except at the lower plate, which has a
velocity V

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• Experimental results show that the force required to maintain the motion of the
lower plate per unit area is proportional to the velocity gradient, and the
proportionality constant, μ, is the viscosity of the fluid.

• where yz = shear stress (N/m2 ), μ = viscosity (Pa.s), yz = shear rate (l/s)

• Viscosity is defined as the resistance of a fluid to flow. The unit of dynamic

viscosity is (Pa .s) in the SI system and poise (g/cm. s) in the CGS system. Viscosity
varies with temperature.

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Example
Two parallel plates are 0.1 m apart. The bottom plate is stationary while the upper one is
moving with a velocity V. The fluid between the plates is water, which has a viscosity of 1 cp.
a) Compute the momentum flux required to maintain the top plate at a velocity of 0.30 m/s.
b) If the fluid between the plates is replaced with another fluid of viscosity 100 cp, and the
momentum flux remains constant (similar to the one under (a) above), calculate the new
velocity of the plate.

Solution
a) Viscosity of water (w) = 1 cp = 1×10-3 Pa.s
Newton’s Law of Viscosity is used to determine shear stress
𝑑𝑣𝑧 0 − 0.3 m/s
yz = - 𝑑𝑦
= -1×10-3 Pa.s
0.1 − 0 m
= 0.003 Pa

b) Viscosity of the new fluid () = 100 cp = 0.1 Pa.s

0 − V m/s
0.003 = -0.1 Pa.s  V = 0.003 m/s
0.1 −0 m

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08/09/2024 EBE 2405 - Dr. Eng. E. K. Ronoh 50
 Parameters measured
using a rheometer
 Viscoelasticity
 Yield stress
 Thixotropy
 Extensional viscosity
 Creep compliance
 Stress relaxation
behaviour
 Die swell
 Melt fracture

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Creep
• This is the continuous deformation of a material under the effect of a constant stress.
• Creep takes place in three stages as depicted in the following figure:

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Recovery
• After a steady (creep) load is removed from
a material the elastic deformation is
recovered fully.
• However, creep deformation is inversely
proportional to the time of the applied force.
• Creep deformation does not vanish
completely during recovery of the material;
however what remains is termed as residual
deformation.
• Residual deformation differs with different
materials but may be influenced by a rise in
temperature.
• This phenomenon is important in pelleting
and wafering.
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Rheological Models
• In the development of rheological models, an elastic material is represented by a
spring (the stress is dependent on the strain but independent of time) while a viscous
material is represented by a dashpot (the stress is dependent on both strain and time
of the stress).
• Since biological materials are composed of both liquid and solid in the same matrix,
the two representations, i.e. the spring and the dashpot are combined.
• These combinations are referred to as rheological models. The simplest models are
the series (Maxwell Model) and parallel (Kelvin Model) combinations of the spring
and dashpot.
• The spring defines Hooke’s law of elasticity, while the dashpot defines Newton’s law
of viscosity. Let subscript s be for the spring while subscript v be for the dashpot:

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Kelvin Model
• The free end of the spring and the dashpot move together under the effect of the
applied force. Hence the force absorbed by the dashpot has a constant value while the
force on the spring increases from zero in a linear manner. the dashpot shifts the linear
characteristics of the spring as a function of the deformation rate.
Maxwell Model
• All the stress is initially taken up by the spring, hence the initial tangent of the curve.
After the spring is displaced, the dashpot element begins to move as well with an
increasing rate thus taking an increasing force and vice versa.

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 Maxwell Model

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 Kelvin Model

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 Maxwell Model
Limitation: The Maxwell model is unsuitable for general description of linearly
viscoelastic materials especially in sudden stress.

Remedy: Most materials show increasing deformation similar to stress

relaxation hence there is need to use an infinite number of Maxwell models,
thus getting the Generalized Maxwell Model.

 Kelvin Model
Limitation: The Kelvin model does not have general validity.

Remedy: The three elements models are normally used, e.g., 4 element
Burger’s model consisting of a Kelvin and a Maxwell model in series.

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Measurement of Viscosity
a) Capillary flow viscometers: generally in the form of a U-tube. They are very simple,
inexpensive, and suitable for low-viscosity fluids.
b) Orifice type viscometers: the time for a standard volume of fluid to flow through an orifice is
measured. They are used for Newtonian or near-Newtonian fluids when extreme accuracy is
not required.
c) Rotational viscometers: the sample is sheared between the two parts of the measuring device
by means of rotation. In agitation, the shear rate is proportional to the rotational speed. It is
possible to measure the shear stress as the shear rate is changed. In addition, a sample can be
sheared for as long as desired. Therefore, rotational viscometers are the best for
characterization of non-Newtonian and time-dependent behaviour.
d) Vibrational viscometers: they operate by measuring the damping of an oscillating resonator
immersed in the test fluid, which vibrates like a tuning fork. An electromagnetic drive controls
the vibration of the sensor plates, and the energy involved in the resonance can be determined
by measuring the energy used to maintain the vibration at a constant amplitude, as the
damping imposed by the fluid is directly proportional to its viscosity.

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e) Oscillating viscometers: they use a single probe (a sphere, rod or plate) vibrating in contact
with the test fluid. A vibrating surface in contact with the test fluid imposes shear stress due to
the surface movement, so the viscosity can be determined by measuring the power necessary
to maintain a constant amplitude of oscillation.
f) Falling ball viscometers: involve a vertical tube where a ball is allowed to fall under the
influence of gravity. It operates on the principle of measuring the time for a ball to fall through
a liquid under the influence of gravity. When the ball falls through the fluid, it is subjected to
gravitational force, drag force, and buoyancy force.
• Net force (FNet) = Gravitational force (FG) – Bouyancy force (FB) – Drag force (FD)

• where, Db = diameter of the ball (m), ρb = density of the ball (kg/m3), ρf = density of the fluid
(kg/m3), CD = drag coefficient and v = velocity of the ball (m/s)

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• When equilibrium is attained, the upward and downward forces are balanced and
the ball moves at a constant velocity. That is, the falling ball reaches a terminal
velocity (vt) when the acceleration due to the force of gravity is exactly
compensated by the friction of the fluid on the ball.

• The drag coefficient is:

• Then, the viscosity () is calculated as:

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Example
To determine the viscosity of sunflower oil, a falling ball viscometer was used.
Viscometer has a tube length of 10 cm and its ball has a diameter of 0.68 mm. Oil and
the ball have densities of 921 kg/m3 and 2420 kg/m3, respectively. If it takes 44.5 s for
the ball to fall from the top of the tube, calculate the viscosity of the oil.

Solution

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Capillary Flow Viscometer
 The diameter of a capillary viscometer should be small enough to
provide laminar flow.
 Capillary viscometers are calibrated with Newtonian oils of known
viscosities since the flow rate depends on the capillary radius,
which is difficult to measure.
 Assuming that the flow is laminar, fluid is incompressible, velocity
of the fluid at the wall is zero (no-slip condition), and end effects
are negligible, making a macroscopic force balance for a fluid
flowing through a horizontal cylindrical tube of length (L) and inner
radius (r), the following equation is obtained:

 where ΔP is the pressure drop causing flow and τ is the shear stress
resisting flow. This equation can be solved for shear stress:

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 For a Newtonian fluid, both shear stress and shear rate vary linearly from zero at the
centre (r = 0) of the capillary to a maximum at the wall (r = R).
 For a Newtonian fluid, this results in the parabolic velocity profile. Then, the shear
stress on the fluid at the wall (τw) is related to the pressure drop along the length of the
tube:

 The flow in capillary viscometers is described by the Hagen Poiseuille equation:

 Then, shear rate at the wall (Ϋw) for a Newtonian fluid is given by:

 where Q is the volumetric flow rate. Newton’s law of viscosity can be written in terms
of pressure gradient and volumetric flow rate as:

 and viscosity of the fluid can be determined from the pressure drop and volumetric
flow rate or velocity data.
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Case Study: Effects of Physical and Mechanical Properties on Carrot
Processing
• Lack of sufficient knowledge about the physical and mechanical properties of
agricultural products can result in higher waste of them.
• In minimizing mechanical damage, these properties are considered as the basic
data in designing the machinery and equipment used during the harvesting and in
the postharvest operations.
• In the study of mechanical properties of carrots, the maximum forces required for
bruising, bending, and shearing of the carrot fruit were 71.90, 48.60, and 41.14 N,
respectively (Jahanbakhshi et al., 2018).
• The results obtained about the physical and mechanical properties can be very
useful in reducing carrot waste and mechanizing harvest and postharvest
operations by providing us with information that helps us design machinery
needed to transfer, sort, separate, wash, package, store, and process carrots.

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 Bruise test Break test

Shear test

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Case Study: Mechanical Damage to Pinto Bean Seeds as Affected by
Moisture Content, Impact Velocity and Seed Orientation

Impact damage assessment device

(a) Side (b) End

Source: Shahbazi et al. (2011)

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 Assignment 1 Shear rate [s-1] Shear stress [Pa]
0.059 30.4
Rheological data for commercial milk 0.135 35.7
chocolate at 40oC is shown in the table. 0.205 41.8
Using Casson model, determine the 0.397 50.4
consistency coefficient and the yield stress. 0.849 60.3
1.623 71.4
2.412 80.9
3.896 99.9
Casson model: 6.405 123.8
𝜏 = 𝐾 𝛾 + 𝜏𝑜 7.911 133.3
11.52 164.2
where, τ is the shear stress, K is the consistency 13.09 178.5
coefficient of Casson fluid, γ is the shear rate and τo 15.9 201.1
is the yield stress.
17.91 221.3
19.94 235.6
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