Study of the effects of stress sensitivity on the permeability and porosity of fractal porous media

• Predictive models for permeability and porosity of porous media considering stress sensitivity are developed.
• The fractal theory and mechanics of materials are used in these models.
• The predictions of permeability and porosity show good agreement with those obtained by the available experimental data.
• The proposed models can be used to characterize the flow in porous media under stress accurately.

Flow in porous media under stress is very important in various scientific and engineering fields. It has been shown that stress plays an important role in effect of permeability and porosity of porous media. In this work, novel predictive models for permeability and porosity of porous media considering stress sensitivity are developed based on the fractal theory and mechanics of materials. Every parameter in the proposed models has clear physical meaning. The proposed models are evaluated using previously published data for permeability and porosity measured in various natural materials. The predictions of permeability and porosity show good agreement with those obtained by the available experimental data and illustrate that the proposed models can be used to characterize the flow in porous media under stress accurately.