An Experimental Investigation into the Effective Permeability of Porous Media whose Matrices are Composed of Obstacles of Different Sizes

Abstract

A comprehensive experimental investigation has been conducted to determine the effective permeability of fluid saturated porous media consisting of small and large spherical particles. Small and large particles were mixed uniformly at a certain mixture ratio so as to form a vertical porous column. Water was drawn from a reservoir to flow through the vertical tube filled with particles of different sizes. The resulting pressure drops between the inlet and outlet sections of the test column were measured at various flow rates to determine the effective permeability. The results were compared with the present theoretical model generalized on the basis of the analysis reported by Liu, Sano and Nakayama for fractured porous media. It has been confirmed that the present mathematical model agrees very well with the experimental data and thus can be used to estimate the permeability of porous media consisting of obstacles of different sizes.