Predicting Pressure-Viscosity Behavior from Ambient Viscosity and Compressibility: Challenges and Opportunities

The potential for using an empirical expression to predict the piezoviscous response of a fluid from its pressure-volume behavior is explored. This approach is particularly promising since the variation of volume with pressure can be obtained relatively easily using atomistic simulations that are based on the molecular structure of the fluid. The accuracy of predictions made using the proposed method is evaluated, and its limitations are discussed in terms of sources of error and potential means of minimizing that error going forward.