Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 57 (2014) 425–433

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Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science

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Experimental flow in various porous media and reconciliation

of Forchheimer and Ergun relations
Nihad Dukhan a,⇑, Özer Bağcı b, Mustafa Özdemir b
a
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Detroit Mercy, Detroit, MI 48334, USA
b
Makina Fakültesi, Istanbul Technical University, Gümüsßsuyu, 34437 Istanbul, Turkey

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Flow characteristics and pressure drop in traditional porous media, e.g., packed beds of spheres, and in
Received 1 April 2014 modern man-made fibrous media, e.g., metal foam, are critical in many naturally-occurring and engi-
Received in revised form 14 May 2014 neered applications. Pressure drop parameters such as permeability and form/inertial drag coefficients
Accepted 6 June 2014
reported in the literature are very divergent for both classes of porous media. The choice of an appropri-
Available online 14 June 2014
ate characteristic length; and the selection of a way for correlating pressure drop data have also varied
among researchers. In the current study a large set of experimental data for pressure drop of water flow
Keywords:
in three different porous media was collected. The porous media were packed spheres of 1 mm, packed
Porous media
Flow regimes
spheres of 3 mm and aluminum foam having 20 pores per inch. The porosity of both sets of packed
Friction factor spheres was practically the same at about 35%, while the porosity of the foam was 87.6%. The internal
Permeability structure of the two classes (packed spheres and foam) of porous media investigated here are markedly
Characteristic length different. The range of flow velocity covered Darcy, Forchheimer and turbulent flow regimes. It is shown
Ergun that the same porous medium exhibited different values of permeability in different flow regimes. The
Forchheimer widely-used equations of Ergun and Forchheimer for the post-Darcy regimes were revisited. An apparent
difference between the two famous equations was presented and explained. The two equations were rec-
onciled using the hydraulic radius theory, and the fact that the same porous medium exhibits different
values of its permeability in different flow regimes. The multipliers of the viscous term and the iner-
tial/form drag term in the post-Darcy regimes were shown to be connected. The square root of the per-
meability determined in the Darcy regime is shown to be appropriate length scale for defining and
correlating the friction factor and the Reynolds number.
Ó 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction influences convection heat transfer, chemical reaction rates and

filtration effectiveness, as well as the required pumping power in
Porous media exist naturally, e.g., sand and rocks and can be these applications. Fluid flow in traditional porous media has been
constructed, e.g., packed spheres and metal, graphite and ceramic the subject of numerous studies, e.g., [3–6]; and has been covered
foams. Human-made porous media are highly exploited in engi- in books, e.g. [7–9].
neering applications. Open-cell metal foams, for example, can be Open-cell foam differs from traditional porous media: (1) it has
manufactured from several metals and alloys [1], and can have very high porosity (for metal foam greater than 90%), and (2) it has
high permeability, porosity and thermal conductivity as well as a web-like open structure. The foam thus has high permeability-in
large surface area per unit volume. The internal structure of metal the order of 108 m2 compared to 1010 m2 for packed spheres, as
foam is composed of cells made up by connected ligaments; such an example. The study of Beavers and Sparrow [10] is one of the
structure causes vigorous mixing of through flowing fluid. All these earliest works dedicated in part to investigating pressure drop of
attributes make these foams attractive for heat transfer enhance- water in three nickel foams. They employed Reynolds number
ment [2], as well as for reactors and filters. and friction factors based on permeability to plot their data, and
Understanding various flow regimes and the associated identified a departure from Darcy regime at Reynolds number of
pressure drop behavior in porous media is critical as it directly order unity. All of their data was clearly in the post-Darcy regime.
Montillet et al. [11] determined the specific surface area and tortu-
osity of three nickel foam having 45, 60 and 100 pores per inch
⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 313 993 3285.
(ppi). The ppi is obtained by counting the number of open windows
E-mail address: [email protected] (N. Dukhan).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.expthermflusci.2014.06.011
0894-1777/Ó 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
426 N. Dukhan et al. / Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 57 (2014) 425–433

Nomenclature

a constant, Eq. (20) L length of porous medium (m)

b constant, Eq. (20) p static pressure (kPa) pffiffiffi
A constant, Ergun equation Re Reynolds number based on Darcy permeability ¼ qul K
B constant, Ergun equation u average velocity (m/s)
c1 coefficient, Eq. (15)
c2 coefficient, Eq. (23) Greek
dpar particle diameter (m), Ergun equation pffiffiffi d uncertainty
f permeability-based friction factor ¼ ðDp=LÞ
qu2
K
D change
F Forchheimer coefficient (dimensionless), Forchheimer e porosity
equation j Carman–Kozeny constant
K permeability measured in Darcy regime (m2) r surface area of the solid particle per unit volume (m1)
KF permeability measured in Forchheimer regime (m2) l viscosity (Pa s)
Kt permeability measured in turbulent regime (m2) q density (kg/m3)

in a length of one inch of the foam. Here ‘windows’ means open spheres and metal foam. The data were collected in the same
areas surrounded by connected ligaments (polyhedra). So a foam experimental set-up and covers Darcy and post-Darcy regimes.
cell has many windows. There was a noticeable change in flow Permeability and drag coefficient are determined in each flow
regimes at Reynolds number (based on an equivalent pore diame- regime. The widely-used equations for pressure drop in porous
ter) between 5 and 10. media, Forchheimer and Ergun equations are revisited; and a
Edouard et al. [12] reviewed the literature on pressure drop in way of reconciling them using the hydraulic radius theory of Koz-
metal foam, and reported severe divergence of available correla- eny–Carman is proposed. To the best knowledge of the authors,
tions in terms of predicting pressure drop, permeability and such reconciliation has not been clearly presented in the literature.
form/inertia coefficient. Mancin et al. [13] investigated air pressure
drop in six samples of aluminum foam for the purpose of obtaining 2. Experiment
a widely-applicable correlation. From inspection of their pressure
drop data, it was apparent that all the data lied in a post-Darcy A schematic of the experimental setup is shown in Fig. 1. A test
regime with no apparent transition. section can be changed to house three porous media. Two packed-
In general, published data on flow in traditional porous media, spheres porous media were formed by filling a stainless steel (AISI
[5,6]; and in foam [2,14–18] contain significant disagreements on 304) pipe having an inner diameter of 51.4 mm and a length of
the permeability and the form drag coefficient, for media with sim- 304 mm. The packing was for mono-size stainless steel balls of
ilar internal structures. In the case of foam, these discrepancies are 1 mm or 3 mm in diameter (actual average diameters were
attributed to few possible causes: (1) foam sample size in flow 1.14 mm and 3.03 mm), one at a time. Two wire meshes (0.6 mm
direction used by various researchers [19], and (2) foam sample open widows) were installed at both ends of the test chamber in
size perpendicular to flow direction, [20,21]. For both foam and tra- order to keep the balls in place. The pipe was vigorously shaken
ditional porous media, the following two reasons for discrepancies after it was filled in order to ensure that the spheres were uni-
may be add: (1) overlooking flow regimes encountered in a given formly packed with no excessive voids. The porosities were 35.0%
experimental data set, along with the fact that the same porous and 35.5% for the 1- and 3-mm spheres, respectively. The third
medium exhibits different values of permeability and form drag porous medium was made from aluminum alloy (6061-T6) pipe
coefficient in different flow regimes, as has been shown by Boom- having an inner diameter of 50.80 mm and a length of 305 mm.
sma and Poulikakos [17] using water flow and by Dukhan and Commercial aluminum foam (6101-T6 alloy), manufactured by
Minjeur [22] using airflow in aluminum foam, and (2) issues with ERG Materials and Aerospace, having 20 ppi and a porosity of
adopted correlations for treating pressure-drop data. The current 87.6% was brazed to the inside surface of the tube.
study will shed some light on the last two issues. At both sides of the test section, 51.4-mm-diameter 200-
In the post-Darcy regimes where inertial effects are significant, mm-long Polyethylene tubes that housed pressure taps were
two equations are invariably used to describe pressure drop as a
function of average velocity; Forchheimer and Ergun equation.
Other seemingly different correlations may be traced back or
manipulated to fit the basic forms of these two equations.
Forchheimer postulated his empirical equation using analogy
with pipe flow, [23]. The equation was also arrived at using analyt-
ical derivation, [23–27].
The construction of Ergun equation was based on modeling the
space between packed beds of spheres as parallel capillaries, with
multipliers as correction factors to account for the geometrical dif-
ference between flow paths in packed spheres and parallel capillar-
ies, [28]. Ergun equation can be obtained by superimposing the
Blake–Kozeny equation for ‘laminar’ flow, and the Bruke–Plummer
equation for ‘turbulent’ flow, [29]. de Plessis [30] analytically
derived a momentum transport equation for fully-developed flow
Fig. 1. Schematic of experimental setup: 1. Platform, 2. Constant-height supply
in porous media that was similar to Ergun equation. tank, 3. Control valves, 4. Pump, 5. Steel pipe, 6. Polyethylene tube, 7. Test section/
The current work presents new set of experimental data for porous medium, 8. Carrier demodulator, 9. Multimeter, 10. Air purger, 11. Collecting
water flow in two different classes of porous media: packed tank, 12. Mass scale.
 N. Dukhan et al. / Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 57 (2014) 425–433 427

attached. The outlets of the Polyethylene tubes were connected to diameter of the tube containing the porous media were 0.33%
stainless steel pipes 32 mm in diameter and 110 cm in length. A and 0.04%, respectively. Three different mass scales were used over
hose and a valve were used for connecting the outlet of one of the range of flow rates encountered in the experiment. The preci-
these steel pipes to 50-liter tank for collecting water over a known sion in the low, medium and large scales were 0.01%, 0.02% and
length of time for measuring flow rates. 0.008%, respectively.
An elevated (3.5 m) plastic tank (diameter 41 cm, height 44 cm) As for pressure drop measurements, the two sensors DP15 and
with a network of hoses and valves, that guaranteed a constant DP45 had an accuracy of ±0.25% and ±0.5% of full scale, respec-
water height (33.2 cm) in the tank at all times, supplied water to tively. Sensor DP45 with diaphragm 3–24 which could measure
the test section. Filtered water was supplied to the tank. up to 2200 Pa was used to obtain data for low flow rates. The
The experimental rig was able to produce and hold very low uncertainty in the pressure drop sensors was reported by the man-
water speeds (starting at 7.6  105 m/s). For high flow rates, a ufacture and included effects of linearity, hysteresis and repeat-
2-hp pump (Standard Model No. TS268) was used, which produced ability. The following average estimates were obtained: for Darcy
average velocities of up to about 0.62 m/s. region, the uncertainty in the pressure drop had a minimum of
The pressure drop was measured using two Validyne pressure- 0.49% and a maximum of 1.56%. For all other flow regimes the
differential sensors, model DP15 and DP45 for high and low range, uncertainty in the measured pressure drop had a minimum of
respectively. Each sensors could accommodate diaphragms having 0.13% and a maximum of 1.01%.As an example of propagated error
different thicknesses- each suitable for a certain pressure- in derived quantities, the uncertainty in the reduced pressure Dp/
difference range. For example, diaphragm having codes 6–16, Lu had a contribution from uncertainties in Dp, L and u, and is
6–22, 6–30 and 6–34, used with the DP45 low pressure-difference given by [31]:
sensor, were for pressure ranges up to 0.35, 1.4, 8.6 and 22.0 kPa, sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
 2  2  2
respectively. When in use, each sensor was connected to a dDp=Lu dDp dL du
¼ þ þ ð1Þ
Validyne CD15 carrier demodulator, which provided 0–10 V DC Dp=Lu Dp L u
signal. The demodulator was connected to a multimeter where
the voltage signals were read. which resulted in a maximum uncertainty of 1.56%. Uncertainty in
Each sensor/diaphragm combination had to be calibrated prior other derived parameters is reported in the results section.
to use. A stand with two plastic tubes and a measuring scale, all
mounted vertically, was utilized. The two sides of the sensor were 3. Results and discussion
connected to the lower ends of the plastic tubes. To find the zero-
pressure-difference point, water was added through the top ends A slightly modified form of the Forchheimer equation can be
of the tubes using a beaker to obtain equal heights in the two obtained by dividing both sides of the equation by the average
tubes. A syringe was used for fine adjusting water levels. The velocity u, [2,13,17]:
hydrostatic pressures on both sides of the diaphragm were equal Dp l q F
corresponding to zero pressure difference between the poles of ¼ þ pffiffiffiffi u ð2Þ
Lu K K
the sensor, and the demodulator gave zero-volt signal. The water
level in one of the tubes was then increased, until the pressure dif- where Dp is the static pressure drop, L is the length of the porous
ference was equal to the maximum pressure difference obtainable medium in the flow direction, K is the permeability, l is the fluid
by the installed diaphragm. The value of this pressure difference viscosity, q its density and F is a coefficient that accounts for
was calculated from the height of the water column, acceleration inertia/form drag. Sometimes F is referred to as the Forchheimer
due to gravity (9.81 m/s2) and the density of water obtained from coefficient. This equation yields a positively sloping line in the
tables at the measured temperature during calibration. This Forchheimer regime and a horizontal line in the Darcy regime. As
maximum pressure difference corresponded to a 10-V signal- the such, plotting the reduced pressure drop Dp/Lu versus velocity u
maximum output reading. Because there was a linear relation can clearly show various flow regimes. The choice of the average
between the voltage output and corresponding pressure difference velocity as an independent variable provides an immediate physical
across the diaphragm, according to the manufacture’s information, sense of magnitude of how low or high the velocity should be in
the two pressure difference-voltage pairs were sufficient for cali- various flow regimes.
bration. After calibration, the sensor was installed in the set-up, Fig. 2 is a plot of the reduced pressure drop Dp/Lu versus u. In
as shown in Fig. 1. essence, similar format for presenting pressure drop data was uti-
For a given run, control valves were adjusted and water was lized by Fand et al. [5] for packed spheres and by Boomsma and
allowed to flow into the porous medium until steady state was Poulikakos [17] and Beavers and Sparrow [10] for metal foam.
reached. A valve with multiple turns installed at the inlet provided The general trend of the reduced pressure drop is that it increases
fine control over the mass flow rate. Care was taken as to remove with velocity for the three porous media. It is clear that pressure
air bubbles from the system through the purger as needed. At drop in packed spheres is significantly higher than in metal foam.
steady state and for a fixed flow rate, water exiting the test section For example, at a velocity of about 0.06 m/s, the reduced pressure
was captured in the collecting tank over a known period of time: drop in metal foam is only about 42 kPa s/m2, while at the same
approximately 50 s to 1.5 min for high flow rates, and 3–4 min velocity the pressure drop is about 475 and 2346 kPa s/m2 for
for very low flow rates for metal foam; and for the packed spheres, the 3- and 1-mm spheres, respectively. This is expected as the
water was collected for about 4 min for high flow rates and for porosity of the foam is more than twice the porosity of packed
about 30 min for very low flow rates. Knowing the time and the spheres. The pressure drop for the 1-mm spheres is about five
mass of the collected water, the mass flow rate and the average times higher than that for the 3-mm spheres. This is also expected
flow velocity were determined. Several successive voltage readings since the packing is denser in the case of the 1-mm sphere result-
(5–8) were taken during collecting a certain mass of water. These ing in smaller flow passages, even though the porosities are prac-
readings were averaged and recorded. tically the same for the two porous media. In addition, the
Uncertainty in the reported data included measurement error in winding of flow passages is considerably greater in the case of
the directly-measured quantities: length, mass, time and voltage; the 1-mm spheres, which is likely to increase tortuosity.
and propagated error in derived quantities, e.g., flow rate and The process of identifying various flow regimes relied on three
reduced pressure drop [31]. The uncertainties in length and steps. First, approximate locations of regimes’ boundaries by visual
428 N. Dukhan et al. / Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 57 (2014) 425–433

Fig. 2. Reduced pressure drop versus average velocity for the three porous media. Uncertainty in reduced pressure drop is 1.11% the Darcy regime and 0.70% in all other
regimes.

there is a transitional regime which leads to the Forchheimer

regime starting at about 0.05 m/s for the 1-mm spheres, and at
about 0.02 m/s for the 3-mm spheres. According to Dybbs and
Edwards [4], there is little consensus as to what the distinct flow
regimes and transition points were beyond the Darcy regime.
For the 3-mm, a regime beyond the Frochheimer regime was
obtained. This regime starts at about 0.09 m/s and is likely a turbu-
lent flow regime. In this regime, and similar to the Frochheimer
regime, the reduced pressure drop is seen to be a linear function
of the velocity. Fand et al. [5] showed that turbulent flow in packed
spheres was described by the Forchheimer equation, but with dif-
ferent coefficients (permeability and Forchheimer coefficient), as
will be shown later.
Similar trends are discernable for metal foam: the Darcy regime
extends to 0.007 m/s, approximately; after which there is a narrow
transitional regime followed by the Forchheimer regime starting at
about 0.02 m/s. For metal foam, the Forchheimer regime extends
Fig. 3. Reduced pressure drop versus average velocity: Darcy, transitional and until about 0.14 m/s. Beyond the Frochheimer regime, there seems
Forchheimer regimes. Uncertainty in reduced pressure drop is 1.11% in Darcy to be another narrow transitional regime (0.14–0.19 m/s), followed
regime and 0.70% in other regimes.
by a different regime starting at about 0.2 m/s, which is likely tur-
bulent. It is seen that demarcation of flow regimes in metal foam is
inspection of the behavior of the reduced pressure drop in Figs. 2 very different from that in packed spheres, with transitions gener-
and 3. Second, the last of few points at the end the data set are fit- ally taking place at significantly higher Reynolds number for metal
ted with a line and the R2 is obtained. Then one point for lower foam.
velocity is at a time, while mentoring the correlation goodness The literature on fluid flow in porous media contains disagree-
indicated by the R2 value due to the addition of new points. The ment regarding transition among flow regimes and flow regime
lower end of a regime is signified by a sudden and continued boundaries. For transition in packed-spheres porous media see
decrease of the R2 value. Third, and as a further confirmation, the [5,6], and for various kinds of metal foam, refer to [17,20,32–34].
behavior of the friction factor (given later) is probed in the same Using Figs. 2 and 3, values of the permeability in the Darcy
manner, and demarcation of flow regimes obtained based on fric- regime, and permeability and Forchheimer coefficient in each of
tion-factor behavior are compared to those obtained using the the regimes beyond the Darcy regime can be calculated. The
reduced pressure plots (Figs. 2 and 3), and are shown to be obtained values are shown in Table 1. It is clear that the same por-
consistent. ous medium exhibits different permeabilities and Forchheimer
Various flow regimes and transitions can’t be clearly discerned coefficients in different flow regimes. Dukhan and Minjeur [22]
in Fig. 2, especially in the low-velocity range. Fig. 3 is an enlarged have shown that K calculated in the Forchheimer regime was dif-
plot of the pressure drop data for the low-velocity range for the ferent from the one obtained in the Darcy regime for airflow in
purpose of identifying Darcy regime and departure from it. In the the same aluminum foam. Boomsma and Poulikakos [17] have also
purely viscous Darcy regime, a constant value of the reduced pres- shown the same results for water flow in aluminum foam.
sure drop, which is a horizontal line in the format of Fig. 3, must be The value obtained for the permeability of the foam in turbulent
displayed. In other words, Darcy regime is characterized by a linear flow seems to be rather high compared to those obtained for the
dependence of the pressure drop on velocity: Darcy and Forchheimer regimes. This is not the case for the
spheres. This jump in permeability for foam in turbulent flow
Dp l
¼ u ð3Þ can be due to the ability of the flow at high velocity to sweep more
L K of the boundary layers on the internal solid surfaces of the foam,
Eq. (3) is the famous Darcy law. providing more open flow area (which is conceptually related to
For 1-mm and 3-mm spheres, the Darcy regime ends at about the permeability). The solid surfaces of the internal structure of
0.01 and 7  103 m/s, respectively. For both kinds of spheres, the foam are more accessible to flow compared to flow between
 N. Dukhan et al. / Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 57 (2014) 425–433 429

Table 1 de Plessis and Masliyah [26] used volume averaging to develop

Permeability and Forchheimer coefficient in various flow regimes for three porous a momentum transport equation for isotropic consolidated porous
media.
media. For no boundary effects, the equation reduced to a Forch-
Porous Flow regime Permeability, Forchheimer heimer-type equation in which the permeability was a function
medium K  109 (m2) coefficient, F of the porosity, tortuosity and a characteristic length. They indi-
1-mm spheres Darcy 0.69 NA cated that the permeability in the Darcy regime was constant,
Forchheimer 1.00 0.54 while in the Forchheimer regime, it decreased with increasing
Turbulent NA NA
3-mm spheres Darcy 6.18 NA
velocity. The microscopic inertial effects were introduced by con-
Forchheimer 7.34 0.43 sidering flow development in the pores. The microstructure was
Turbulent 6.61 0.39 represented by the porosity and a characteristic length only.
Metal Foam Darcy 67.7 NA de Plessis and Masliyah [26] noted that the second order term
Forchheimer 52.9 5.29
in Forchheimer equation is empirical and was added to account
Turbulent 347.2 0.112
for the microscopic inertial effects observed experimentally. Ruth
and Ma [27] and Barak [35] indicated that the Forchheimer ‘‘effect’’
packed spheres. So this effect is expected to be more pronounced in was due to microscopic inertial effects that distorted the velocity
the case of foam. This is primarily due to the vast geometrical and pressure fields, i.e., changing the microscopic streamlines
structure of the foam (thin connected ligaments forming windows) and flow patterns in the pore space.
and packed spheres. The foam also has a much higher porosity Ruth and Ma [27] derived the Forchheimer equation by means
compared to packed spheres. of averaging the microscopic momentum equation, and recom-
Because of low momentum in the Darcy regime (creeping flow), mended that the Forchheimer regime be described by what they
the flow engulfs and attaches to the internal surfaces of the solid termed the Forchheimer number Fo, which can be written in the
phase of a porous medium. As such, wakes and inertial cores are current notation as
non-existent, and the actual geometry of the internal structure of pffiffiffiffi
the medium is exposed, and is directly ‘experienced’, by the flow- qu K
Fo ¼ F ð5Þ
ing fluid. Dybbs and Edwards [4] stated that, in the Darcy regime, l
the exact nature of the velocity distribution was determined by
local geometry. Because of this nature of flow in the Darcy regime, where K is the permeability measured in the Darcy regime.
pffiffiffiThey
ffi also
the permeability obtained in this regime is most closely related to indicated that, in the Forchheimer equation the ratio F= K depends
the internal morphology of the porous medium, and it is constant on the structure and may contain information on tortuosity. They
for a given porous medium. asserted that two length scales are need to properly describe porous
media pressure drop; a length scale based on pore structure and a
length scale based on microscopic inertial effects.
3.1. Ergun and Forchheimer equations revisited

3.3. Ergun equation

Departure from the Darcy regime marks the beginning of new
regime usually referred to as inertial, Forchheimer or simply
In order to link the pressure drop to structural characteristics of
non-Darcy regime. In this regime, the pressure drop dependence
porous media, Ergun [3] proposed the relation
on the velocity is second order. Aside from seepage flow in some
natural porous media, e.g., sand and rocks, published data for pres- Dp ð1  eÞ2 l ð1  eÞq 2
sure drop in porous media mostly lie in the non-Darcy regime. As ¼A uþB 3 u ð6Þ
L e3 d2par e dpar
such, this regime is most encountered in real-life and engineering
applications of porous media. For describing the pressure drop in where e is the porosity and dpar is the particle diameter. For spher-
this regime, two widely used equations are used: Forchheimer ical particles, the empirical constants A and B were 150 and 1.75,
and Ergun equations. respectively. The values of A and B were thought to be universal;
however subsequent experiments proved otherwise. In Fand et al.
3.2. Forchheimer equation [5], who tested spheres of various diameters, A and B exhibited
some variations with diameter. Comiti and Renaud [36] obtained
The Forchheimer equation (also known as the Forchheimer- an average value of 141 for A and 1.63 for B for all of the packed
extended Darcy equation and the Hazen–Dupuit–Darcy equation) is: spheres they tested. McDonald et al. [37] recommended replacing
e3 by e3.6 in Ergun equation and using A = 180 and B between 1.8
Dp l qF
¼ u þ pffiffiffiffi u2 ð4Þ and 4.0, depending on the roughness of the particles comprising
L K K the porous medium.
Forchheimer postulated his equation using analogy with pipe flow, The construction of Ergun equation was based on modeling the
[23]. The permeability of the porous medium, K, has units of area; it space between packed beds of spheres as parallel capillaries, with
represents openness of the porous medium to fluid flow. The the first term accounting for viscous effects and the other term for
form-and-inertia drag coefficient F, also known as the Forchheimer kinetic effects. The multipliers A and B can be viewed as correction
coefficient, is believed to be universal, or at least fixed for a given factors to account for the geometrical difference between flow paths
class of porous media, [18,19,33]. Similar to permeability, F is through packed spheres and parallel capillaries, Klumpp et al. [28].
strongly dependent on the internal structure of the porous medium. In an earlier form Ergun equation was
Ahmed and Sunada [24] arrived at the Forchheimer equation
Dp lr2 qr
starting from the Navier–Stokes equations in non-dimensional ¼ A 3 u þ B 3 u2 ð7Þ
form and integrating them over a statistically representative
L e e
control volume. Hassanizadeh and Gray [23] provided a derivation where r is the surface area per unit volume. For a spherical particles
of the Forchheimer equation using the continuum approach and 6ð1  eÞ
concluded that the second order velocity term was attributed to r¼ ð8Þ
dpar
microscopic drag forces. For another theoretical derivation of the
Forchheimer equation, Whitaker [25] should be consulted. By substituting for r from Eq. (8) into Eqs. (6), (7) is obtained.
430 N. Dukhan et al. / Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 57 (2014) 425–433

According to Bird et al. [29], Ergun Eq. (6) can be obtained by Substituting in Eq. (9) we get
superimposing the Blake–Kozeny equation (first term on the right
hand side (RHS) of Eq. (6), which corresponds to ‘laminar’ flow, and e3 d2par
K¼ ð11Þ
the Bruke–Plummer equation (second term on RHS of Eq. (6)) and 36jð1  eÞ2
it corresponds to ‘turbulent’ flow. In this statement there is no dis-
It has been believed that j is universal, however, for spherical par-
tinction between Darcy and non-Darcy inertial regimes, which
ticles Kaviany [8] stated that j is identically 5, while Fand et al. [5]
both lie within the laminar regime.
reported a value of 5.28 for j. It should be noted that j by definition
In this sense the Ergun equation describes the behavior of pres-
is a function of tortuosity, for a given porous media j was reported
sure drop between, and including, two extremes: Darcy (creeping)
to increase with porosity, [48]. Eq. (11) has been described as satis-
and turbulent flows. As such the Forchheimer regime can be views
factory by Kaviany [8] and Nield and Bejan [9].
as a transitional regime that is sandwiched between two different
It must be emphasized that in the steps leading to Eq. (11) for
transitions: one signifies departure from creeping flow (still lami-
the permeability K, the Darcy law was invoked, i.e., the theory per-
nar) and one signifies transition from (inertial) laminar to turbulent
tains to Darcy (creeping) flow, [8]. Therefore, the obtained perme-
flow.de Plessis [30] analytically derived a momentum transport
ability of Eq. (11) is the Darcy permeability (the permeability
equation for fully-developed laminar flow through granular porous
measured in the creeping flow regime).
media. For high laminar Reynolds number, the non-Darcy effect
By comparing the dependence of the permeability in Ergun Eq.
was modeled as a form drag. The resulting equation compared
(6) and in the hydraulic radius theory, Eq. (11), we conclude that
remarkably well with Ergun equation.
Ergun equation employs Darcy permeability K. What is important
In addition to packed beds and other traditional porous media,
here is to note the exact functional dependence of the permeability
Ergun equation has been successfully applied to foam-like porous
on the porosity and particle diameter in Eqs. (6) and (11); and as
media, [28,38–42]. Inayat et al. [39] used the basic form of Ergun
importantly the presence of a multiplying coefficient: A for Ergun
equation in order to develop a new correlation for the pressure
and 1/(36j) for the hydraulic theory. The latter theory ties this
drop in open-cell periodic foams described by the tetrakaidecahe-
coefficient to the surface area of the solid phase of a porous med-
dron geometry. The correlation only required knowledge of two
ium, which directly participates in the viscous shear stress for flow
parameters: the porosity and the window diameter. Inayat
in a porous medium. This coefficient is missing in Forchheimer Eq.
et al. [40] applied Ergun correlation to predict pressure drop in
(4); and it has been shown above that this coefficient is neither
reticulated ceramic foams, while Klumpp et al. [28] apply the
constant nor universal. The mere existence of the constant A and
correlation to periodic open-cell structures with ideal cubic cell
its relationship to the constant B are two issues that need to be
geometry.
addressed. The current authors contend that these coefficients
Dietrich et al. [41] used an Ergun-type equation to correlate the
depend on: (1) the internal structure of the porous medium and
pressure drop in ceramic foam with various porosities and pore
(2) the flow regime.
densities. They used the hydraulic diameter as a characteristic
Substituting from Eq. (11) into Eq. (6), the following form of
length. Dietrich [42] applied the correlation to numerous data sets
Ergun equation is obtained:
for ceramic and metal foam from the literatures. The correlation
predicted these data to within 40% margin of error. Dp A l B q
¼ u þ 3=2 pffiffiffiffi pffiffiffiffi u2 ð12Þ
L 36j K 6e j K
3.4. Comparison of the two relations
In a non-dimensional form, Eq. (12) can be written as
 
While both equations are widely employed, there is no specific A 1 B
reason for choosing one over the other clearly stated by researchers
f ¼ þ 3=2 pffiffiffiffi ð13Þ
36j Re 6e j
of flow in porous media. The literature seems to be split between pffiffiffiffi pffiffiffiffi
where f ¼ ðDp=LÞ K =qu2 and Re ¼ qu K =l:
the two equations. For example: [28,33,39,43,44] employed Ergun
or Ergun-type equations, while [2,10,45–47] utilized Forchheimer
3.6. Observation
equation to correlate their pressure drop data.
The Forchheimer and Ergun relations look very similar in the
The observations that have just been stated are considered in
sense that they both have a viscous term proportional to the aver-
conjunction with another critical observation made by Antohe
age velocity and a form/inertia drag term proportional to the
et al. [2], Boomsma and Poulikakos [17] and Dukhan and Minjeur
square of the velocity. However, they differ by multipliers, which
[22]: the same porous medium (metal foam) exhibited different
requires explanation and reconciliation.
permeabilities and Forchheimer coefficients in different flow
regimes, i.e., K calculated from the Forchheimer equation was dif-
3.5. The hydraulic radius theory
ferent from the one obtained in the Darcy regime for the same
metal foam. This is indeed the same result as was presented above
The hydraulic radius theory of Kozeny–Carman is perhaps the
for the three porous media of the current study, Table 1. The Forch-
most widely accepted theory for determining the permeability in
heimer equation can be restated to reflect this fact:
the Darcy regime, [48]. The theory provides the following relation
for the permeability as a function of structural parameters: Dp l qF
¼ u þ pffiffiffiffiffiffi u2 ð14Þ
3 L KF KF
e
K¼ ð9Þ
jð1  eÞ2 r where KF is the permeability measured in the Forchheimer regime.
This permeability can be expressed in terms of the permeability in
where j is the Carman–Kozeny constant (dimensionless) and r is the Darcy regime K, according to
the surface area of the solid particle per unit volume. The mean
K
particle diameter is the diameter of a hypothetical sphere with KF ¼ ð15Þ
c1
the same r:
where c1 is a constant for a given porous medium, and is different
6 than unity. Substituting for KF in the Forchheimer Eq. (14), the fol-
dpar ¼ ð10Þ
r lowing is obtained
 N. Dukhan et al. / Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 57 (2014) 425–433 431

Dp l pffiffiffiffiffi qF diameter does not take into account any of the actual morpholog-
¼ c1 u þ c1 pffiffiffiffi u2 ð16Þ
L K K ical parameters of the foam.
Employing the same non-dimensional groups as in Eqs. (13) and
(16) becomes 3.7. Application to Forchheimer regime of current study
 
1 pffiffiffiffiffi All of the experimental data of the current investigation is plot-
f ¼ c1 þ c1 F ð17Þ
Re ted as friction factor versus the reciprocal of Reynolds number in
Fig. 4. Part (a) of this figure correlates the friction factor according
One of the observations regarding Eq. (17) is that the multipli-
to Eq. (17), while part (b) utilizes Eq. (21).It is evident that Eq. (17)
ers of the viscous and inertial terms are in fact related to each
provides a better fit of the friction factor compared to the Eq. (21).
other. A similar form of Eq. (17) was derived by Kececioglu and
This is true for the three porous media investigated in the current
Jiang [6] starting from Ergun’s equation and utilizing the square
study. From the curve fits of the data in Fig. 4, values for the mul-
root of permeability in their Darcy regime of their study. pffiffiffiffiffi
tipliers c1 and c1 F of Eq. (17) are obtained and are listed in Table 2.
In this manner the two famous equations of Ergun and Forch-
It is clear that F is different for the three porous media. Liu et al.
heimer have identical form. Comparing their non-dimensional
[33] asserted that F represented (microscopic) inertial effects and
forms, Eqs. (13) and (17), the following is obtained:
was sensitive to the roughness of the porous medium; in the case
A of metal foam for example, F depended on the shape of the liga-
c1 ¼ ð18Þ ment and the cell structure.
36j

pffiffiffiffiffi B 3.8. Turbulent flow regime

c1 F ¼ pffiffiffiffi ð19Þ
6e3=2 j
Both Darcy (viscous) and Forchheimer (inertial) regimes, along
A couple of points can be made here: (1) the two multipliers of
with transition between the two, are laminar in nature. At the
the viscous and drag terms are connected, i.e., not independent
end of the Forchheimer regime, another transition from laminar
from each other, and (2) the multiplier of the form drag term
to turbulent flow occurs. A careful demarcation of transition from
depends explicitly on the porosity.
laminar to turbulent in porous media was given in [49,50], along
Based on experimental data for packed-bed porous media,
with physical explanation of the nature of turbulence in porous
Dybbs and Edwards [4] calculated the friction factor, and con-
media based on intricate local measurements. Another detailed
firmed that it behaved according to
study addressing this issue was presented by Dybbs and Edwards
 
1 [4]. Hassanizadeh and Gray [23] indicated that critical values of
f ¼a þb ð20Þ Reynolds number, based on a microscopic (pore) length scale for
Re
the onset of nonlinear (deviation from Darcy flow) according to
where a and b are ‘constants’. This is indeed the same form as Eqs. most physical experiments range between 1 and 15, and 5 and
(13) and (17). It should be noted here that if we start with the 13 according to numerical experiments (solving Navier–Stokes
Forchheimer Eq. (4), and miss the fact the permeability in the Forch- equations in the pore space of idealized porous media).
heimer regime is different from the permeability in the Darcy Turbulence can be triggered by non-uniformity of pore size dis-
regime, we obtain the non-dimensional form tribution and internal surface roughness. Mechanisms influencing
  transition to turbulent flow include mixing of intersecting streams
1 and separation of microscopic flow field from the internal local
f ¼ þF ð21Þ
Re
pffiffiffiffiffi
which does include the multipliers c1 and c1 : Some researchers
did not have the multiplier c1 (or a) in their friction factor depen-
dence on Reynolds number, e.g., [10,20,45].
In the non-dimensional variables f and Re, the choice of the
square root of the permeability (of the Darcy regime) as a charac-
teristic length is supported by several researchers. Dybbs and
Edwards [4] stated that in the purely viscous Darcy regime, the
exact nature of the flow field was determined by the local internal
geometry of the porous medium. As such the permeability
obtained in the Darcy regime represents the actual internal struc-
ture of the foam most accurately. Kececioglu and Jiang [6] stressed
that the appropriate characteristic length for packed spheres ought
to be the square root of the permeability, not the sphere diameter.
Boomsma and Poulikakos [17] indicated that Reynolds number
based on Darcy-regime permeability was the preferred parameter
to indicate transition from Darcy to Forchheimer regime, since it
gave the least divergent values for three types of metal foam in
their study.
Bonnet et al. [32] used the cell diameter as a characteristic
length in place of the particle diameter in Ergun equation. By com-
paring a large set of correlations and experimental data from the
literature, Edouard et al. [13] showed that the use of the pore (or
cell) diameter of the foam as a characteristic length was not appro- Fig. 4. Friction factor versus reciprocal of Reynolds number for Frochheimer regime
priate. Obviously, the use of the hydraulic diameter as a character- of current study: (a) correlating according to Eq. (17), (b) correlating according to
istic length for flow in metal foam is not appropriate either, as this Eq. (21).
432 N. Dukhan et al. / Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 57 (2014) 425–433

Table 2
Correlation coefficients for Forchheimer regime.
pffiffiffiffiffi
Porous medium c1 c1 F F

1-mm spheres 0.668 0.557 0.681

3-mm spheres 0.799 0.460 0.514
Metal foam 1.316 0.092 0.080

geometry. Rode et al. [51] stated that the fluctuations of the local
velocity gradient in the turbulent regime were due to the forma-
tion, and passage, of liquid aggregates. There is some disagreement
on transition to turbulence in porous media, [51]. Seguin et al. [49]
Fig. 5. Friction factor versus reciprocal of Reynolds number for turbulent regime of
indicated that, unlike open pipe flow, transition from laminar to current study: correlating according to Eq. (26).
turbulent regime in porous media was gradual.
It is established that the pressure drop for turbulent flow in por-
ous media is second order in velocity, [5,52]. Actually, Skjetne and Table 3
Correlation values for fully turbulent flow for current study and literature.
Aurliault [52] have shown this fact theoretically. So the Forchhei-
pffiffiffiffiffi
mer equation can be used for correlating the pressure drop in tur- References Medium Fluid e (%) ppi c2 F
bulent flow. It must be noted here that the same porous medium Current Study Aluminum foam Water 87 20 0.115
exhibits a permeability in turbulent flow that is different from 3-mm spheres Water 35 NA 0.498
the permeability in the Darcy and Forchheimer regimes, Table 1. Mancin et al. [13] Aluminum foam Air 90 10 0.079
The Forchheimer Eq. (4) can be restated to reflect this fact: Aluminum foam Air 96 10 0.105
Dukhan and Patel [19] Aluminum foam Air 92 20 0.053
Dp l qF Liu et al. [33] Aluminum foam Air 91 5 0.100
¼ u þ pffiffiffiffiffi u2 ð22Þ Aluminum foam Air 87 20 0.102
L Kt Kt Aluminum foam Air 96 20 0.340
Copper foam Air 0.93 5 0.117
where Kt is the permeability measured in the turbulent regime. This
Copper foam Air 0.93 10 0.103
permeability can be expressed in terms of the permeability in the Mancin et al. [53] Copper foam Air 0.93 20 0.123
Darcy regime K, according to Copper foam Air 0.93 40 0.221
Fand et al. [5] 2-,3-, 4-mm Water 0.36 NA 0.474
K spheres
Kt ¼ ð23Þ
c2 Kececioglu and Jiang [6] 3-, 6-mm spheres Water 40 NA 0.869

where c2 is a constant and is different from c1 and from unity.

Substituting for Kt in the Forchheimer Eq. (22), the following is
obtained Some of the literature data for fully-developed turbulent flow are
pffiffiffiffiffi
presented in Table 3. Values of the constant c2 F for these data
Dp l pffiffiffiffiffi qF
¼ c2 u þ c2 pffiffiffiffi u2 ð24Þ sets are given in the table. It is worth noting that the value
L K K obtained for the 3-mm spheres of the current study 0.498 is close
Employing the same non-dimensional groups as in Eqs. (13) and to the one obtained by Fand et al. [5], 0.474, but very different from
(24) becomes that reported by Kececioglu and Jiang [6], 0.869. It should be noted
  that there were major differences between the latter two studies in
1 pffiffiffiffiffi few important aspects: pressure-drop values, demarcation of flow
f ¼ c2 þ c2 F ð25Þ
Re regimes and data reduction.
pffiffiffiffiffi
For high values of Reynolds number typical of turbulent flow, For metal foam, the coefficient c2 F is generally lower com-
the first term on the right hand side of Eq. (25) (viscous contribu- pared to packed spheres, indicating lower pressure drop in the
tion) can be ignored, and thus for turbulent flow foam. The value obtained in the current study for aluminum foam,
pffiffiffiffiffi 0.115, is comparable to 0.102 of Liu et al. [33] for 20 ppi foam with
f ¼ c2 F ð26Þ 87% porosity. For metal foam in general, there seems to be a depen-
pffiffiffiffiffi
dence of c2 F on the ppi and porosity, which is expected since F
Similar treatment was done by Klumpp et al. [28] for high
and c2 depend on these structural parameters.
velocities.
Eq. (26) is employed to treat the data of the current study in the
turbulent regime, as shown in Fig. 5. The friction factor is seen to 4. Conclusion
be practically constant for turbulent flow for metal foam and the
3-mm spheres. For turbulent flow, viscous effects are negligible Pressure-drop results for water flow in packed beds of spheres
and the friction factor becomes independent of Reynolds number; and in open-cell commercial metal foam were presented. Darcy,
this behavior is similar to what happens in open pipe flow. (No tur- Forchheimer and turbulent flow regimes were encountered. Pres-
bulent data were obtained for the 1-mm spheres.) The packed sure drop characteristics were investigated in each flow regime.
spheres are shown to produce about five times higher friction fac- Each porous medium was seen to have different permeability
tor (pressure drop) over metal foam in the turbulent regime. This is and Forchheimer coefficient in post-Darcy flow regimes. The Darcy
expected due primarily to the difference in porosity. law, for creeping flow, and the two most-widely-used equations for
The majority of the data for liquid flow in porous media lie in correlating pressure drop in porous media in the post-Darcy
the Forchheimer regime and/or in the early (not fully-developed) regime (Forchheimer and Ergun relations) were presented and dis-
turbulent flow regime (1 < Re < 100 approximately), probably due cussed in some details. Some apparent differences between the
to experimental limitation of reaching higher flow rates represen- two equations were presented, explained and reconciled using
tative of fully turbulent flow. Data for fully turbulent flow in por- the hydraulic radius theory, and the fact that the same porous
ous media (Re > 100 approximately) are scarce in the literature. medium shows different permeability in different flow regimes.
 N. Dukhan et al. / Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 57 (2014) 425–433 433

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