A study on the Wilkins and Forchheimer equations used in coarse granular media flow

Complexity of the pore geometry and the random nature of flow velocity make it difficult to predict and represent post laminar flow through porous media. Present study experimentally investigates the applicability of Forchheimer and Wilkins equations for post laminar flow where Darcy's law is invalid due to predominant inertial effect. It is observed that both porosity and media size have significant influence over the coefficients of the Forchheimer coefficients. To incorporate the effect of porosity and media size, behaviour of Forchheimer coefficients are investigated with hydraulic radius as characteristic length. An inversely proportional variation trend is found for all the present and earlier reported data. A new empirical relation between Forchheimer coefficients and hydraulic radius is obtained which can be universally applicable for all media size and porosity. Coefficients of the Wilkins equation are found to be non-deviating for different hydraulic radius in the present study and in the reported literature validating its applicability in predicting the non laminar flow through porous media. Further the Wilkins equation is modified after incorporating the correction factors for better applicability on the field.