A microfluidic vibrating wire viscometer for operation at high pressure and high temperature.

This article discusses a microfluidic vibrating wire viscometer with an internal volume of a few microliters. Accuracy of order ±10% for viscosities ranging from 0.1 to 100 cP is demonstrated for temperatures (10 °C-175 °C) and pressures (10-24,000 psi) suitable for oilfield use by prior calibration in air and toluene. Comparison between multiple data sets indicates that a large fraction of the discrepancy between literature values is systematic, indicating that future refinements may be possible with better interpretation. Confinement effects are evaluated and are not found to play a significant role, which is surprising since the ratio (6.6) of the fluid channel width to the wire diameter is very low.