A study on flow through porous media and allied problems

Abstract

The flow of viscous fluids over and through porous media has been the newlinesubject of intensive studies for researchers due to its numerous applications newlinein geological and industrial problems during recent years because of its newlinenatural occurrence and importance in many industrial and engineering newlineproblems. Engineering systems based on fluidized bed combustion, newlinesedimentation, oil reservoir recovery, are few examples of applications of newlineflow through porous media. In nature, such flows occur in cases of water newlineformation, instruction of sea water to the coastal area and dams, flows to newlinewells from water bearing formation, instruction of sea water to the coastal newlinearea and the flow of river water through the porous banks and thus land newlineerosion. A major application of flow through porous media is blood flow newlinethrough human arteries. newlineMost particles in the nature do not have a smooth homogeneous surface but newlinehave a rough surface or a surface covered with a porous shell. The newlineroughness of the surface can be modelled by a thin porous shell. newlineInvestigations of flow in concentrated dispersive systems, built up by porous newlineparticles or particles covered with a porous shell (into which any membranes newlinealso fall), is important for both natural and industrial processes. The formation newlineof porous shells on the solid particles is justified in the following ways: During newlinefiltration process, the structure of the membrane can change due to (i) newlinedissolution of particles, (ii) adsorption of polymers on the surfaces usually newlinereferred as poisoning. All the above results in the formation of porous shell newline(in the form of colloidal layers or gel layers) on the solid particle s surface and newlinethese are hard to remove. The most important examples of such processes newlineare underground flows of oil and water, filtration of water through soils and newlinerocks, filtration of various solutions through porous membranes or filters. newlineFlow in porous media can be successfully modelled using a cell model as newlinedescribed in the book of Happel and Brenner (1965).