Flow through anisotropic networks

Abstract

This paper presents an analysis of Hagen-Poiseulle flow through plane random anisotropic networks of interconnected channels. Macroscopic permeability tensor of the network is expressed in terms of statistico-geometrical characteristics like the degree of anisotropy in channel orientations, average co-ordination number of the network and first two moments of channel length distribution. Analytical results are illustrated and verified using numerical analysis of flow in a simulated random network. The emphasis of the paper is on the effects of anisotropy on distributions of flow rates in channels. It is shown that, due to anisotropy the maximum flow rate generally occurs in channels that are not aligned along the direction of the macroscopic pressure gradient.