PRESSURE DROP PREDICTION WITH AN ANALYTICAL STRUCTURE-PROPERTY MODEL FOR FLUID THROUGH POROUS MEDIA

Based on the statistical geometry theory and the fractal theory, a theoretical model to predict the pressure drop of fluid flowing through porous media has been derived in this work. This model is expressed as a function of specific surface, porosity, tortuosity, the pore fractal dimension, maximum pore size, which have clear physical meaning. To verify this model, experiments have been carried out with air using glass beads of three samples. For each sample, the present model fits the experimental data well. Besides, a comparison between the Ergun equation and present model has been made, the result shows that the present model fits the experimental data much better than the Ergun equation and has good accuracy in the range of 200 < Re < 1000.