Experimental investigation of inertial flow processes in porous media

SummaryThe hydraulic behavior of inertial flows in porous media is experimentally investigated. A vertical metal column was constructed, of dimensions 0.5 m in diameter and 2.30 m in height. Eight different porous media were used in the experiments. Head loss was measured. A total of 454 experimental data were collected. The experimental data indicate that, for a wide spectrum of velocities, both the Forchheimer and Izbash equations offer excellent descriptions of the flow processes. For moderate values of the Reynolds number, a discontinuity in the velocity–hydraulic gradient curve was detected, a behavior also predicted by former numerical studies. The analysis of the hydraulic behavior of bidisperse media indicate the influence of wall effects taking place at the interface between small and large grains. The data are used to validate semi-empirical relations, and give also some insight on the flow processes taking place at the pore-scale for the case of non-Darcian flows.