Studies on the Inertial Effect in Fluid Transport Using a Simplified Porous Media Model

摘要

Flows in porous media are important in many fields of science and engineering. In this work, the inertial effect on fluid transport is investigated both experimentally and numerically by employing a simplified ordered porous medium model. Transition from linear to nonlinear behaviour is observed by using a friction factor-Forchheimer number correlation. The Darcy law permeability k and the Forchheimer inertial parameter β are evaluated based on the experimental data. After validation at macroscopic level, three-dimensional numerical simulations are further conducted to elucidate the fluid-solid interaction patterns and the localized microscopic flow features. It is found that the reduced flow-section caused by the dissipative recirculation zones around flow separation region play a significant role in the nonlinear behaviour of porous media flow. The velocity iso-surface shows that the high-velocity flow localized in a narrow tube dominates the bulk characteristics of the fluid transport.