Experimental Investigation on Non-Linear Flow in Porous Media Through Converging Boundaries

Abstract

Water movement through the soil layers is complex in nature. But its contribution to the well-being of the human kind as a whole is significant. The subject of seepage flow is one, which appears initially simple, after in depth and detailed study, however, the character of flow of a fluid particle through the tortuous passages of a granular medium assumes an almost incomprehensible complicacy. Most of the practical cases, in addition to size, shape, and angularity of the porous media, convergence of the flow may be expected to play an important role in influencing the flow behavior. The present work envisages carrying out analysis of the data systematically based on the drag on the individual particle, regime wise. In order to meet the objectives of the present investigation, a radial flow permeameters with different angles are fabricated and crushed rock and marbles are used as porous media. Water and diesel are used as the fluid media to develop curves relating friction factor and Reynolds number for different radial flow lines with different ratios of radii of the test section of the permeameter. Analysis is carried out in two phases. In the first phase ‘volume diameter’ is used as characteristic length to compute coefficient of resistance and Reynolds number as defined by Kovacs. In the second phase of analysis ‘Hydraulic radius’ is used as characteristic length while defining coefficient of resistance and Reynolds number.

Index Terms: Permeameter, Reynold’s number, radial flow, porous media, volume diameter, hydraulic radius, characteristic length,