Modified Darcy’s law to Predict Low Reynolds Flow Through Porous Media

The mathematical study of flow in porous media is typically based on the 1856 empirical result of Henri Darcy. This result, known as Darcy’s law, states that the velocity of a single-phase flow through a porous medium is proportional to the hydraulic gradient. The publication of Darcy’s work has been referred to as “the birth of groundwater hydrology as a quantitative science” (Freeze and Cherry, 1979). Although Darcy’s original equation was found to be valid for slow, steady, one-dimensional, single-phase flow through a homogeneous and isotropic sand, it has been applied in the succeeding 140 years to complex transient flows that involve multiple phases in heterogeneous media. To attain this generality, a modification has been made to the original formula, such that the constant of proportionality between flow and hydraulic gradient is allowed to be a spatially varying function of the system properties. The extended version of Darcy’s law is expressed in the following form: qα=-Kα . Jα (2.1) where qα is the volumetric flow rate per unit area vector of the α-phase fluid, Kα is the hydraulic conductivity tensor of the α-phase and is a function of the viscosity and saturation of the α-phase and of the solid matrix, and Jα is the vector hydraulic gradient that drives the flow. The quantities Jα and Kα account for pressure and gravitational effects as well as the interactions that occur between adjacent phases. Although this generalization is occasionally criticized for its shortcomings, equation (2.1) is considered today to be a fundamental principle in analysis of porous media flows (e.g., McWhorter and Sunada, 1977). If, indeed, Darcy’s experimental result is the birth of quantitative hydrology, a need still remains to build quantitative analysis of porous media flow on a strong theoretical foundation. The problem of unsaturated flow of water has been attacked using experimental and theoretical tools since the early part of this century. Sposito (1986) attributes the beginnings of the study of soil water flow as a subdiscipline of physics to the fundamental work of Buckingham (1907), which uses a saturation-dependent hydraulic conductivity and a capillary potential for the hydraulic gradient.

Download Full-text

On the Transition From Creeping to Inertial Flow in Arrays of Cylinders

Volume 9: Mechanics of Solids, Structures and Fluids ◽

10.1115/imece2010-37689 ◽

2010 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

K. Yazdchi ◽

S. Srivastava ◽

S. Luding

Keyword(s):

Porous Media ◽

Darcy’S Law ◽

Computational Study ◽

Darcy's Law ◽

Natural Processes ◽

Inertial Flow ◽

Flow Through ◽

High Reynolds ◽

An Array Of Cylinders ◽

Element Method

Many important natural processes involving flow through porous media are characterized by large filtration velocity. Therefore, it is important to know when the transition from viscous to the inertial flow regime actually occurs in order to obtain accurate models for these processes. In this paper, a detailed computational study of laminar and inertial, incompressible, Newtonian fluid flow across an array of cylinders is presented. Due to the non-linear contribution of inertia to the transport of momentum at the pore scale, we observe a typical departure from Darcy’s law at sufficiently high Reynolds number (Re). Our numerical results show that the weak inertia correction to Darcy’s law is not a square or a cubic term in velocity, as it is in the Forchheimer equation. Best fitted functions for the macroscopic properties of porous media in terms of microstructure and porosity are derived and comparisons are made to the Ergun and Forchheimer relations to examine their relevance in the given porosity and Re range. The results from this study can be used for verification and validation of more advanced models for particle fluid interaction and for the coupling of the discrete element method (DEM) with finite element method (FEM).

Download Full-text

Estimating the Coefficient of Inertial Resistance in Fluid Flow Through Porous Media

Society of Petroleum Engineers Journal ◽

10.2118/4706-pa ◽

1974 ◽

Vol 14 (05) ◽

pp. 445-450 ◽

Cited By ~ 157

Author(s):

J. Geertsma

Keyword(s):

Fluid Flow ◽

Flow Resistance ◽

Single Phase ◽

Darcy’S Law ◽

Darcy's Law ◽

High Flow ◽

Flow Through Porous Media ◽

Flow Rates ◽

Flow Through ◽

Phase Fluid

Abstract The object of this paper is to introduce an empirical, time-honored relationship between inertia coefficient - frequently misnamed "turbulence factor" - permeability, and porosity, based on a combination of experimental data, dimensional analysis, and other physical considerations. The formula can be used effectively for, among other things, the preliminary evaluation of the number of wells in a new gas field and the spacing between them. Introduction It has long been recognized that Darcy's law for single-phase fluid flow through porous media,Equation 1 in which ?=superficial velocity µ=fluid viscosity k=formation permeability p=pressure head, is approximately correct only in a specific flow regime where the velocity ? is low. Single-phase fluid flow in reservoir rocks is often characterized by conditions in favor of this linearized flow law, but important exceptions do occur. They are in particular related to the surroundings of wells producing at high flow rates such as gas wells. For the prediction or analysis of the production behavior of such wells it is necessary to apply a more general nonlinear flow law. The appropriate formula was given in 1901 by Forchheimer1; it readsEquation 2 in which ?=density a=coefficient of viscous flow resistance 1/k ß=coefficient of inertial flow resistance. This equation indicates that in single-phase fluid flow through a porous medium two forces counteract the external force simultaneously - namely, viscous and inertial forces - the latter continuously gaining importance as the velocity ? increases. For low flow rates the viscous term dominates, whereas for high flow rates the inertia term does. The upper limit of practical applicability of Darcy's law can best be specified by some "critical value" orf the dimensionless ratio.Equation 3 which has a close resemblance to the Reynolds number. Observe that ß/a has the dimension of a length. Inertia and Turbulence As the Reynolds number is commonly used as an indicator for either laminar or turbulent flow conditions, the coefficient ß is often referred to as the turbulence coefficient. However, the phenomenon we are interested in has nothing to do with turbulence. The flow regime of concern is usually fully laminar. The observed departure from Darcy's law is the result of convective accelerations and decelerations of the fluid particles on their way through the pore space. Within the flow range normally experienced in oil and gas reservoirs, including the well's surroundings, energy losses caused by actual turbulence can be safely ignored.

Download Full-text