Scribd
Upload
64 views

Darcy's Law: Input Manometer Output Manometer

- In 1856, Henry Darcy studied water flow through sand filters and developed an experimental apparatus to investigate this. - Through his experiments, Darcy determined that the water flow rate is directly proportional to the cross-sectional area and hydraulic head difference, and inversely proportional to the length of the sand pack. - He expressed this relationship as an early form of Darcy's law, which states that the flow rate is proportional to permeability, cross-sectional area, and hydraulic head difference, divided by length and fluid viscosity. This law forms the basis for describing fluid flow through porous media.

Uploaded by

Dhiaa LaMi
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
64 views

Darcy's Law: Input Manometer Output Manometer

- In 1856, Henry Darcy studied water flow through sand filters and developed an experimental apparatus to investigate this. - Through his experiments, Darcy determined that the water flow rate is directly proportional to the cross-sectional area and hydraulic head difference, and inversely proportional to the length of the sand pack. - He expressed this relationship as an early form of Darcy's law, which states that the flow rate is proportional to permeability, cross-sectional area, and hydraulic head difference, divided by length and fluid viscosity. This law forms the basis for describing fluid flow through porous media.

Uploaded by

Dhiaa LaMi
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 6

Darcys Law

In 1856, Darcy investigated the flow of water through sand filters for water
purification purposes. His experimental apparatus is shown below:
Output manometer
Input manometer

Water

h1-h2

Water in

Sand Pack

Flow direction

h1

h2

Datum

2
Water out
at a rate q

Water

Water

Where q is the volume flow rate of water downward through the cylindrical sand
pack. The sand pack has a length L and a cross-sectional area A. h1 is the height
above a datum of water in a manometer located at the input face. h2 is the height
above a datum of water in a manometer located at the output face. The following
assumptions are implicit in Darcys experiment:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Single-phase flow (only water)


Homogeneous porous medium (sand)
Vertical flow.
Non-reactive fluid (water)
Single geometry.

From this experiment, Darcy concluded the following points:


The volume flow rate is directly proportional to the difference of water level in the
two manometers; i.e.:

q h1 h2
The volume flow rate is directly proportional to the cross-sectional area of the sand
pack; i.e.:
qA
The volume flow rate is inversely proportional to the length of the sand pack; i.e.:

1
L

Thus we write:

q=C

A
(h1 h2 )
L

Where:
A is the cross-sectional area of the sand pack
L is the length of the sand pack
h1 is the height above a datum of water in a manometer located at the input face
h2 is the height above a datum of water in a manometer located at the output face
C is the proportionality constant which depends on the rock and fluid properties. For
the fluid effect, C is directly proportional to the fluid specific weight; i.e.
C
and inversely proportional to the fluid viscosity; i.e.:

Thus:

For the rock effect, C is directly proportional to the square of grain size; i.e.:
C (grain size) = d 2
2

It is inversely proportional to tortuosity; i.e.:


C

1
1
=
tortuosity
2

and inversely proportional to the specific surface; i.e.:

1
1
=
specific surface S s

where Ss is given by:

Ss =

Interstitial surface area


bulk volume

Combine the above un-measurable rock properties into one property, call it
permeability, and denote it by K, we get:

q=K

A
(h h )
L 1 2

Since:
q = vA
Thus we can write:
v=

q
(h1 h2 )
=K
A

Now, let us consider the more realistic flow; i.e. the tilted flow for the same sand
pack:
Datum

P2, D2

P1, D1

w
Flo

io
ect
r
i
D

Note that the fluid flows from point 1 to point 2, which means that the pressure at
point 1 is higher than the pressure at point 2. Since:

h1 = D1

p1

h2 = D2

&

p2

Thus:

p
p
1
h1 h2 = D1 1 D2 2 = ( D1 D2 ) ( p1 p2 )

which can be written in a difference form as:

h1 h2 = D

Substituting (2) into (1) and rearranging yields:


v=K

D 1 p
D
K p

L L
L
L

The differential form of Darcys equation for single-phase flow is written as follows:
v=

D
K p

L
L

For multi-phase flow, we write Darcys equation as follows:


k p
D
v = K r
L
L

More conveniently, the compact differential form of Darcys equation is written as


follows:
k
r
v = K r (p D)

Where K is the absolute permeability tensor which must be determined
experimentally. It is written as follows:

k xx

K = k yx
k zx

k xy
k yy
k zy

k xz

k yz
k zz

Substitute (5) into (4), we obtain:

k xx
v x
kr

v y = k yx

v
k zx
z

k xy
k yy
k zy

p

k xz x
p
k yz
y
k zz p

z

D
x
D

y
D
z

Solve for velocity components yields:


k p
p
D
D
D
p
v x = r k xx

+ k xy
+ k xz
z
x
y
z
y
x
k p
p
D
D
D
p
v y = r k yx

+ k yy
+ k yz
z
x
y
z
y
x
k p
p
D
D
D
p
v z = r k zx
+ k zy

+ k zz
z
x
y
z
x
y

In most practical problems, it is necessary to assume that K is a diagonal tensor; i.e.:


k xx
K=0

0
k yy
0

0
0

k zz

and thus velocity components of equation (6) become:


k p
D
v x = k xx r

x
x

k p
D
v y = k yy r

y
y
k p
D
v z = k zz r

z
z

Unit Analysis
Since:

KA p
q L

K=
A p
L
2
When q in cc/sec, in cp, )L in cm, A in cm , and )p in atm, then K is in the units of
Darcy, where:
q=

(1 cm )(1 cp)(1 cm) = (1 cm ) (1 cp)


1 Darcy =
(s) (1 cm )(1 atm) (1 atm) (1 s)
3

Since

1 cp =

1
1 dyne s
poise =
100
100 cm 2

and

1 atm = 1,013,250

dyne
cm 2

thus we have:

1 cm 2 1 dyne s cm 2
1
1 Darcy = 1000 md =
=
cm 2
2
(100) cm (1,013,250) dyne s 101,325,000
or
1 md =

10 9
cm 2 = 986.923x10 14 cm 2
.
101325

Since:

q=

KA p
L

Thus:
bbl
day

(md )( ft 2 )( psi ) (md )( ft )( psi )


=
=
(cp)( ft )
(cp)
2

10 9
lb
1 1

bbl 144 2


. 2.54 x12 5.6146
ft
101325
1 1 lb day

47,880 86,400 ft 2

0.001127107

= 1127106.663x10 9

You might also like