Presentation on designing an

experiment to calculate
permeability of porous medium
Presented by:

Akansha Srivastava
Mohita Jaiswal
Arpit Garg
Sharique

Permeability
Permeability is the measure of the soils

ability to permit water to flow through its

pores or voids
Due to the existence of the inter-connected

voids, soils are permeable. The permeable

soils will allow water flow from points of high
energy to points of low energy.

Darcy law
Darcy's Law is a generalized relationship for

flow in porous media. It shows that the

volumetric flow rate is a function of the flow
area , viscosity, fluid pressure and length of
bed.
It may be stated in several different forms
depending on the flow conditions.
It has been found valid for any Newtonian
fluid.

Darcys law equation

Q= -KA(dP/dH)/
Q = volumetric flow rate (m3/s).
A = flow area perpendicular to L
(m2 ).
K = permeability(m2).
H = flow path length (m).
P= hydraulic head (m).

Continued

Assumptions
The fundamental premises for Darcys
law to work are:
the flow is laminar, no turbulent flows.
fully developed flow.
the flow is in steady state.
the fluid should be Newtonian .
medium is isotropic

Experimental setup
Materials used
50 ml syringe
Bottle
Sand
Water
Scale
Beaker

Experimental Procedure
Insert a half sliced bottle into the open end of

syringe.
Add 35.2 cm3 of sand into the setup
Then slowly open tap to add water and
maintain a constant pressure head over the
sand column.
After steady state is attained measure flow
rate at different time intervals.

Experimental setup

OBSERVATION
TABLE
Serial no.
Time
interval
(min)

Level Of
Flow rate
Water (cm) (cm3/s)

1.

1.9

29.5

2.

2.0

31.1

3.

1.8

28.026

4.

1.9

29.5

Calculations
Temperature(ambient)=313 kelvin
viscosity of water=0.000653 Pas
density of water= 0.9925 g/cm3
Q(average) =29.5*10^-6 (m3/s )
A =2.22*10^-3 (m2 )
H =5*10^-2(m )
P= 1470 Pascal

Graph of time(x-axis)versus
volumetric flowrate(y-axis)
Y-Values
140
120
100
80

Y-Values

60
40
20
0
0.5

1.5

2.5

3.5

4.5

Effect of various parameters on

permeability
s.no.

Temp(kel Density(
vin)
kg/m3)

viscosity
(Pa.sec)

Pressure
drop(Pa)

Permeab
ility(darc
y)

1.

278

1000

0.001520

1470

0.53

2.

293

998.49

0.001

1467

0.354

3.

313

992.25

0.000653

1458

0.23

4.

333

983.13

0.000467

1445

0.168

Graph of permeability(y-axis) vs
temperature(x-axis)
Y-Values
0.6
0.5
0.4
Axis Title 0.3
0.2

Y-Values

0.1
0
270 280 290 300 310 320 330 340
Axis Title

Result
K= -QH/(AP) Darcy
Permeability Calculated = 0.236 Darcy.

Sources of error
Error in scale measurements.
Anomaly in time measurements.
Sand column may not be completely packed.
Tortuous path followed by fluid in sand

column.
Material is not homogeneous.

Thank you