Abstract
The purpose of this review paper is to present the results of laser anemometry and flow visualization studies of the flow of liquids in porous structures. Three dimensional velocity profiles and movies of dye streaklines will be shown. The porous media consisted of plexiglas spheres in a hexagonal packing and glass and plexiglas rods arranged in a complex, fixed three dimensional geometry. The liquids used were water, silicone oils, Sohio MDI-57 oil and mineral seal oil. The Reynolds number based on average pore size and average pore velocity ranged from 0.16 to 700.
The results indicate the existence of four flow regimes in a porous medium: 1. The Darcy or creeping flow regime where the flow is dominated by viscous forces and the exact nature of the velocity distribution is determined by local geometry. This type of flow occurs at Re lt 1. At the Re = 1, boundary layers begin to develop near the solid boundaries of the pores. 2. The inertial flow regime. This initiates at Re between 1 and 10 where the boundary layers become more pronounced and an “inertial core” appears. The developing of these “core” flows outside the boundary layers is the reason for the non-linear relationship between pressure drop and flow rate. As the Re increases, the “core” flows enlarge in size and their influence becomes more and more significant on the overall flow picture. This steady non-linear laminar flow regime persists to a Re ~ 150. 3. An unsteady laminar flow regime in the Reynolds number range of 150 to 300. At a Re ~ 150. the first evidence of unsteady flow is observed in the form of laminar wake oscillations in the pores. These oscillations take the form of traveling waves characterized by distinct periods, amplitudes and growth rates. In this flow regime, these oscillations exhibit preferred frequencies that seem to correspond to specific growth rates. Vortices form at Re ~ 250 and persist to Re ~ 300. 4. A highly unsteady and chaotic flow regime for Re > 300. qualitatively resembling turbulent flow.
Based on these results, an analytical model is presented that exhibits similar pressure drop behavior as porous media from the Darcy to the inertial flow regime. In addition, the implications of these fluid mechanics results for other transport phenomena are discussed.
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© 1984 Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Dordrecht
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Dybbs, A., Edwards, R.V. (1984). A New Look at Porous Media Fluid Mechanics — Darcy to Turbulent. In: Bear, J., Corapcioglu, M.Y. (eds) Fundamentals of Transport Phenomena in Porous Media. NATO ASI Series, vol 82. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-6175-3_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-6175-3_4
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