Describe the influence of shear rate on the viscosity of a non-Newtonian crude oil.

Non-Newtonian crude oils exhibit a viscosity that changes with the applied shear rate. Shear rate is a measure of how quickly one layer of fluid is moving relative to an adjacent layer. Unlike Newtonian fluids (such as water or light oils) which have a constant viscosity regardless of shear rate, non-Newtonian crude oils display either shear-thinning (pseudoplastic) or shear-thickening (dilatant) behavior. Most crude oils exhibiting non-Newtonian behavior are shear-thinning. This means that as the shear rate increases, the viscosity of the cru....