Chapter 1

GOVERNING EQUATIONS FOR

LAMINAR FLOWS THROUGH
POROUS MEDIA
A new look at V'lSCOUS dissipation
D. B . Ingham
Department of Applied M ath em atics
University of Leeds, Leeds, LS29JT, UK

1. Introduction
We mean by a porous medium a material consisting of a solid matrix
wit h an int erconnect ed void an d the solid matrix can be either rigid
(the usu al configurat ion) or it undergoes sm all deformation . The in-
terconnectedness of the void (pores) allows t he flow of one, or more,
fluids through t he material. In the simp lest situation, i.e. 'single-phase
flow' , t he void is sat ur ate d by a singl e fluid, whereas in 'two-phase flow'
two fluids share the void space. Ex amples of natural porous media are
sandstone, wood, limestone, et c.
Transport phenomena in porous med ia cont inues to be an ar ea of
intensive research activity an d this is primary due to t he fact t hat it
plays an important role in a large var iety of engineering an d technical
applications which span from the transport processes in bio mechanical
systems , such as blood flow in t he pulmonary alveolar sheet , to the large
scale circulation of br ine in a geot her mal reservoir. T he acceleration in
t he progress in science and in t he environment in the design , efficiency
and reliability of heat transfer equipment in power eng ineering, chem-
ical, oil and gas ind ust ries are directly assoc iated with t he effective use
of modern tools of heat transfer analysis and measurement , predictive
correlation equat ions, and th e sharing of t he practical experience on the
operation of all ty pes of t hermal equ ipment. This has caused a rapid
expansion of resear ch in diversified areas of heat t ransfer, including also

D.B. Ingham et al. (eds.), Emerging Technologies and Techniques in Porous Media, I-II.
© 2004 Kluwer Academic Publishers.
2 EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES AND TECHNIQUES

porous media, and this has produced a large amount of theoretical and
experimental work.
The large number of recent publications of papers, review articles and
books on the fluid flow and heat transfer through porous media clearly
demonstrates the importance of this topic. Recent books by Ingham
and Pop [11,12], Nield and Bejan [25] and Pop and Ingham [26] present
comprehensive accounts of the information presently available on these
flows and, in particular, they stress the importance of many extensions
to Darcy's law which are required in various practical applications.
The main aim of this chapter is to present the basic equations for
laminar flows through porous media and to give information as to where
the appropriate references may be found .

2. Governing equations
The governing macroscopic equations for the fluid and heat flow are
obtained by averaging over volumes containing numerous pores. There
are two ways to do the averaging: spatial and statistical. In the spatial
approach, a macroscopic variable is defined on as appropriate mean over
a sufficiently large representative elementary volume (REV) and this
gives rise to an equation representing that variable at the centroid of
that REV . It is assumed that the length scale of the REV is much longer
than the pore scale but much smaller than the length scale of the flow
domain under investigation. In the statistical approach, the averaging is
over an ensemble of possible pore structures which are macroscopically
equivalent. If we are interested in space-averaged quantities, and not
with their fluctuation, then the results obtained by the two approaches
are the same.
An important characteristic of the porous media is its porosity, i.e.
the fraction of the total volume of the medium that is occupied by the
void space, cp. It should be noted that here we assume that all pores are
connected. For natural media, cp is usually less than 0.6 but can take
values between about 0.02 for coal to 0.9 for fiber glass. Thus if v is the
average fluid velocity then we obtain the intrinsic average velocity V,
i.e.
v = cpV. (1.1)
This is called the Dupuit-Forchheimer relationship.

2.1 Continuity equation

The continuity of mass equation becomes

(1.2)
BASIC EQUATIONS FOR LAMINA R FLOWS 3

where P is t he fluid density. If t he flow is stead y and t he fluid den sity is

constant t he n t he continu ity equat ion is given by

\7 . v = o. (1.3)

2.2 Momentum e quat io n

Henri Darcy [8] investigated t he hydrology of the fou nt ai ns in Dijon and
his experiments on slow steady-st ate un idirecti onal flows in a uni for m
med ium revealed a proportionality between t he flow rate and t he ap-
plied press ure di fferen ce. In t hree dimen sions his em pirical momentum
equation can be exp ressed as follows:

v = 1l- 1k . \7p , (1.4)

where p is the pressure, Il is the coefficient of viscosity of the fluid , k is

t he qu an t ity of pr op ort ionality and it is a second-o rder tensor called t he
permeability and is independent of t he nature of t he fluid but it dep ends
on t he geometry of the medium. W hen t he med ium is isotropic then k
is a scalar qu an ti ty k and t he equa tion (1.4) reduces to
Il
\7p = - -k v . (1.5)

The values of k var y widely and are typically 10- 9 _10- 12 m 2 for sand ,
10- 7 -10- 9 m 2 for gravel and 10- 13 _10- 20 m 2 for clay.
A useful estimate of k is given by t he Ca rrn an- Kozeny relationship,
derived for a packed bed of unifor m particles, namely

(1.6)

where D p is t he di ameter of t he parti cle.

When t her mal effects are taken into acco unt , an d t he buoyancy forces
are comparable with inertial and viscous forces, then t he Boussinesq
approx imation can be used , i.e.

P = Po [1 - fJ (T - To)], (1.7)

where P is t he density of t he fluid , T is t he temperatur e of t he fluid , the

suffix 0 refers to charact er ist ic values of qu an ti ties and fJ is t he thermal
expansion coefficient of the fluid . Thus equation (1.5) can be generalized
to
Il
\7p = -kv + pg , (1.8)

where 9 is the acceleration due to gravity.

4 EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES AND TECHNIQUES

The Darcy equation (1.5) is only valid when th e velocity v is suffi-

ciently small and it found to be valid when the particle Reynolds number
Rep is less than about 10, where Rep = pU D p/ f-l and U is a typical fluid
speed. Thus when the fluid speed is sufficiently lar ge th en it has been
postulated by Jos eph et at. [13] that the Dar cy law be modified to

(1.9)

where Cj is a dimensionless form-drag const ant . Ward [34] postulated

that th e value of Cj was a univers al constant with a valu e of about 0.55
but later it was found that Cj does var y with the nature of the porous
medium and it can be as small as 0.1 for foam met al fibers.
An alternative to the Darcy equat ion is the Brinkman [4,5] equat ions,
nam ely
/1,
\lp = -kv + f-l * \l 2 v , (
1.10)

where we now have two viscous terms. The first term is the usual Dar cy
expression and the second term is the analogous Newtonian viscosity
te rm with f-l* representing some effect ive viscosity. In t he work of Brink-
man, he set f-l* = f-l but in general this is not valid .
Therefore, in general, we have the Brinkman- Forchheimer-Boussinesq
approximation for th e momentum equation, nam ely

f-l
\lp=--v+f-l *\l 2v- cj k- 1/ 2 plvlv+pg-p [ -
1 av 1
- +-(v ·\lv)] ,
k ~ at ~2
(1.11)
where the inertial terms result from a formal averaging pro cedure.
The following are examples of other effects t hat may be included in
equation (1.11).
(i) Non- N ewtonian flu ids
Here the Darcy te rm is replaced by (f-l'/k' ) vn- 1v and the Brinkman

a a}
term by

~: V { J~a . n-1 (Ll2)

for an Ostwald-de Waele fluid and the Forchheimer term be left

unchanged because it is not dep endent on the viscosity. Here n is
the non-N ewtonian power law index, f-l' reflects the consiste ncy of
the fluid , k' is a modified permeability and a is the deformation
tensor. For mor e det ails see Shenoy [28-30].
(ii) Rotation
Here t he inertial terms in equation (1.11) have now to be replaced
B A SIC E QUA T IONS FOR LA MINAR FLOWS 5

by

1 OV 1 2 ]
P [- ~ + ""2 (v . 'Vv ) + -w x v +w x (w x r ) , (1.13)
sp d t cp cp

where r is t he positi on vector relative to t he rotating frame whe re

a ng ular velocity is w. T he impor t an ce of t he Co riolis term in com-
parison to t he Darcy term is of t he order E - 1 , wher e t he Ekman -
Darcy number E is given by

E = cpE k . (1.14)
Da

Her e Ek = fJJ2wp£ 2 and Da = K / £2 , wh er e Da is the Darcy num-

ber (which is usuall y very small) , and L is a characteristic lengt h.
Thus in most practi cal sit uat ions E is lar ge and t herefore the Cori-
olis t erm is not , in general, ver y impor t an t. However , t he re are
several sit uations when t his term has to be t aken into acco unt, see
Vad asz [31, 32] and Nield [22].
(iii) Magnetic fie ld
Here a body force te rm

(v x B ) x B
a -'----'--- - (1.15)
cp

has to b e adde d to t he equation (1.11) , where a is t he electrica l

cond uctivity of t he fluid a nd B is the applied magn eti c induction.
The ratio of t he magneti c drag to t he Darcy d rag is a B 2 K / jl CP, a
par am eter called the C hand rasekhar- Darcy number , and in most
practi cal cases this number is very small, a nd t he re fore t he effect
of t he magneti c field is small. For more details, see Raptis and
P erdikis [27] and Nield [22].
(iv) Turbul ence
This is a controversial topi c and for a good review t he read er should
cons ult Lage [1 8] a nd Masu oka and Taka tsu [20].

2.3 Energy e quat ion

Here we cons ide r t he first law of t he t he rmo dynam ics in a porou s medium
a nd to start wit h we ass ume t he mat eri al is isotropi c, and radi ative
effects, visco us dissipa t ion a nd t he work don e by pr essure changes are
negligible. Further we assume that t he heat cond uction in t he solid and
fluid phases takes places in parallel and t he re is no net heat t ransfe r
from one phase to t he other. T hus taking averages over R E V we obtain
6 EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES A ND TECHNIQUES

the following:
solid ph ase:

(1 - rp) (pC) s f)~s = (1 - rp) V' . (ks'JTs) + (1 - rp) q~', (1.16)

fluid ph ase:

(1.17)

where the subscripts sand f refer to the solid and fluid phases, resp ect-
ively, c is t he sp ecific heat of the solid , cp is t he sp ecific heat at constant
pr essure of the fluid , k is the thermal conductivity and q'" is the heat
producti on per unit volume. It should b e noted that in wri ting equat ion
(1.17) , use has been mad e of the Dupuit -Forchheimer relationship (1.1).
If the solid- fluid medium is in local thermal equilibrium then T s =
T f = T and if we add equa t ions (1.16) and (1.17) we obtain t he following:

(pc)m ~~ + (pc)f v . 'J T = 'J (km'J T )+ qlll, (1.18)

where
(PC) rn = (1 - rp) (pc)s + sp (pcp)f '
k m = (1 - rp) k s + rpkf' (1.19)
qrn - (1 _ ip ) qsIII + rpqfIII '
III -

which are the overall heat cap acity per un it volume, overall thermal
conductivity and overall heat production per unit volume of the medium,
resp ect ively.
In general k rn is a complex fun ction of the geomet ry of t he med ium .
If t he heat conduction in t he solid and the fluid ph ases occur in parallel
then the overall cond uct ivity is the weighted arit hmetic mean of the
conductivit ies k; and k f ' i.e.

(1.20)

but if the heat cond uct ion t akes place in series then the over all conduct -
ivity, kH , is the weighted harmonic mean of ks and kf ' i.e.
1 l - rp rp
- = - - + -. (1.21)
kH i, kf
It should be noted that kH ~ kA and in general we may assume that
the over all conductivity k m lies between these valu es, i.e.

(1.22)
BASIC EQUA TIO NS FOR LAMINAR FLOWS 7

A practical ap proximation to km is given by

k; - 'Pkj . (1.23)

For more details, see Nield [2 1] .

The following are exam ples of other effects that may be included in
equ ation (1.18).
(i) Pressure chang es
Here the work done by the pressur e changes is not negligible and
t hen the t erm - j3T (ap/ at + v . Y' p) needs to be added to t he left-
hand side of equation (1.18).
(ii) Heat transfer between the solid and fluid (i.e. t he flow is no longer
in thermal equilibrium)
Here equations (1.16) and (1.17) must be replaced by

(1 - m; III
tp)(pc) s at = (1 - tp) Y' . (k sY'7,) + (1 - tp) qs + h (Tf - T s ) ,
(1.24)
tp (pcp)f a~f + (pcp)f v · Y'Tf = tpY' ' (kfY'Tf) + tpq'j' + h tT, - Tf) ,
(1.25)
where h is a heat t ransfer coeffi cient which , in gen eral, is very dif-
ficult to estimate, see Dories [3], Wang and Bejan [33] an d Kladias
and Prasad [15-1 7].
(iii) Radiation
Most porous media are opaque to radiation and from them the effect
of radiation is felt only in thin sur face layers. For more details,
see Kaviany [14] and Howle [10], an d for boundary layer flows see
Chandrasekhara and Nagaraju [6, 7], Hossain and Pop [9], Mansour
[19] and Yih [35] .
(iv) Viscous dissipation
This is, in general, negligib le, but in cases when it is not there may
be thermal runaway, see Al Hadhrami et al. [1]' and then viscous
dissipation must b e taken into account by adding a term to the
right-hand side of equation (1.18) . If the flow is governed by the
Darcy law this term is given by

J-L{ v ' v for an isot ropic medium. (1.26)

In t he case when the Forch heimer term is added to t he Dar cy term

t hen Nield [23, 24] suggests that the following term be added to the
right-hand sid e of equation (1.18):

J-Lf v . v + cfP Ivl v . v . (1.27)

k k
8 EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES AND TECHNIQUES

If the Brinkman model is employed then Nield [24] suggests that t he

following term be added to the right-hand side of equation (1.18):
J.Ljv . V
- -
- n2
/IV • V v, (1.28)
k t'"

where p, is the effect ive viscosity, whereas Al Hadhram i et at. [2] suggest
that t he following term , in Cartesian coordinat es (X, Y, Z) , be add ed to
the right-hand side of equation (1.18):

J.L: v . v
8U)2+ 2 (8V)
+ P, {2 (8X 8Y
2+ 2 (8W)
8Z 2+
8V) 2+ (8U
(88YU+ 8X 8Z + 8W)2
8X + (8V
8Z + 8W)2}
8Y ,
(1.29)
where v has components (U, V, W) .
It should be not ed that expression (1.28) does not have the correc t
limiting behaviour as k -+ 00 (p, -+ J.L j ), as does the Brinkman equat ion.
However , both expressions (1.28) and (1.29) do have t he correct limit ing
behaviour as k -+ 0, i.e. in the Darcy model. Thus t he dissipation term
presented by Al Hadhrami et al. [2] does possess the correct asymptot ic
behaviour as k -+ 00 (clear fluid) and as k -+ 00 (Darcy model) whereas
the dissipation term proposed by Nield [23,24] does not. Further, the
dissip ation term (1.29) proposed by Al Hadhrami et at. [2] is always
positive, a condition that one would expect to occur physically and which
may not be t he situation when using the Nield [23,24] viscous dissipation
term (1.28).
2.4 Concentration equation
If c is the concentration of some substance in the fluid flow, then av-
eraging over the REV and using the Dupuit-Forchheimer relationship
v = <pV then t he equat ion govern ing t he concent ration is given by
8c
In -
r 8t + V . 'V c = 'V . (D m 'V c) , (1.30)

where D m = <pD is the mass diffusivity of the porous media and D is

the mass diffusivity of the fluid.
If the mass of the substance whose concent rat ion is c is being gener-
ated at a rat e m per unit volume of the medium then the term m must
be added to the right-hand side of equa tion (1.30).
In many commonly occurring circumstances, the transport of heat and
mass are not directly coupled. However, in double-diffusive syste ms the
BASIC EQ UATIONS FOR LAMINAR FLOWS 9

coupling takes place because t he density p of the fluid mixture dep ends
on both the te mpe rat ure T and the concent rat ion c (and som etimes on
the pressure p). For small changes in temperature then the modifi ed
Boussinesq approximat ion gives

P = Po [1 - f3 (T - To) - f3c (c - co)] (1.31)

and f3c is the volumetric concentrat ion expansion coefficient .

In some cases there is direct coupling between t he heat transfer and
the concent ration . T his occurs when the cross diffusion (Sor et and
Dufour effects) is not negligible. The Soret effect is when mass flux
is produced by a temperature grad ient and the Du four effect when heat
flux is pr oduced by a concent ration grad ient .
When t here are no heat and mass sources in t he system t hen t he
energy and concentration equ ations become

er + v . "v T= "v· (D"

(-pc)-j -a
-(pc)m D" )
T V T + Tc v c , (1.32)
t
aC
'P at + v . Vc = v . (DcVc + DcTVT) , (1.33)

where DT (= km/(pc)j) ' D; (= D m) , DTc and DcT are the thermal

diffusivity, mass diffusivity, Dufour coefficient and Soret coefficient, re-
spectively, of t he porous medium.
Other effect s that may be included in t he concentration equati on are
chemical reactions, multiph ase flow and un saturat ed porous media.

3. Concluding remarks
In t his chapte r we have int roduced some of the basic concepts and equa-
ti ons in porous med ia . Some of t hese topics will be further discussed in
the following chapte rs. Finally, of course these govern ing equa t ions may
only be solved if the appropriate boundary cond itions are enforced.

Acknowledgements
Some of the work presented in this chapter has been supported by the
Royal Society and NATO and t he aut hor would like to express his grat -
itude for t his support .

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