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. The
porosity of the bed (symbol ) is that part of the volume of the bed that is void of solid
particles. The channel in Figure 1 has a volume V AL = . If the channel contains N spherical
solid particles then the solids volume fraction is
3
6
p
N d
AL
= = which is higher than
sup
v since 0 1 < < . From a practical point of view the
superficial velocity is more important than the interstitial velocity since the former is a direct
measure for the flow rate. From a theoretical point if view the interstitial velocity is more
important. It determines the flow structures in the bed (e.g. it determines if the flow in the
voids is laminar or turbulent).
In order to describe friction in the particle bed, we recall the concept of the hydraulic
diameter. In a straight channel it was defined as four times the cross sectional area available
for flow, divided by the wetted perimeter. In each cross section of the packed bed the
configuration of spheres is different, and the hydraulic diameter will fluctuate. If we average
over the length L of the bed we can redefine the hydraulic diameter D
h
as four times the
void volume divided by the total surface area. If we neglect the area of the channel walls, the
surface area is due to the N sphere surfaces. The total wetted area in the channel then is
2
w p
A N d = . The void volume we write as
( )
3
6 1
p
N d
AL
= = , we can write
( )
3
6 1
p
N d
AL
= =
.
This whole exercise we are still undertaking to determine friction in a particle bed. The
general equation for friction in channels with length L and (hydraulic) diameter D
h
was
2
1
4
2
fr
h
L
e f U
D
= . In terms of the particle bed, the velocity U here must be the interstitial
velocity
sup
ins
v
v
= (1)
The friction factor
PM
f depends on the flow regime in the particle bed, and thus on the
Reynolds number. The Reynolds number we choose here is based on the hydraulic diameter
and the interstitial velocity:
( )
sup
2 2
Re Re
3 1 3
f h ins f p
PM
D v d v
= =
, so that
( )
sup
Re
1
f p
PM
d v
.
Figure 2 shows the dependency of
PM
f on Re
PM
(note the slight differences in notation in the
Figure compared to the notation in these lecture notes).
Figure 2 shows two important regimes: laminar for low Reynolds numbers, turbulent
for high Reynolds numbers (turbulent in quotation marks since it is hard to develop real
turbulence in a porous medium due to the limited space). As we have seen before (pipe flow,
drag on a single sphere), in the laminar regime the friction factor is inversely proportional to
the Reynolds number. Here the correlation is
150
Re
PM
PM
f = so that in this regime
( )
2
sup
2 3
1
150
fr
p
v
e L
d
= (2)
This is called the Kozeny-Carman (or sometimes Blake-Kozeny, see Figure 2) equation. In
the high Re
PM
regime,
PM
f tends to a constant value (just as was the case for rough pipes):
1.75
PM
f = , so that
( )
2
sup 3
1
1
1.75
fr
p
e L v
d
= (3)
known as the Burke-Plummer equation. We can smoothly transit from the low Reynolds to
the high Reynolds regime by proposing
150
1.75
Re
PM
PM
f = + , and as a result
( ) ( )
2
sup 2
sup 3 2 3
1 1
1
1.75 150
fr
p p
v
e L v L
d d
= + (4)
which is the (famous) Ergun equation. It is the drawn curve in Figure 2 and pretty well
matches experimental results.
Figure 2 (reprinted from the De Nevers book, pg 404)
At this stage, Example 11.1 from the De Nevers book is very illustrative; we will discuss it in
class.
Permeability
In the Kozeny-Carman limit (Eq. 2),
fr
e is proportional to the velocity (since superficial and
interstitial velocity are linearly related it does not really matter which velocity). In the
Kozeny-Carman limit, velocities are usually very low. When applying Bernoullis equation
we therefore neglect inertia (the
2
1
2
v term):
p vL
gz
k
| |
+ =
|
\
. Here we have lumped part
of the constants of Eq. 2 in a new constant k. For practical reasons the velocity v here is the
superficial velocity. The constant k is called permeability, it has units m
2
(check for yourself).
Applying this equation to a thin slice if porous material dx, the equation can be written as:
( ) d p gz
v
dx k
+
= (5)
This is the Darcy equation. Considering two specific situations may help in understanding Eq.
5 better. In the first case we do not consider a pressure gradient, constant, and align x with
z . Then Eq. 5 reads g v
k
= .
Filters
Figure 3
An example of applying Darcys equation is filtration. In Figure 3 we show a horizontally
placed filter. The resistance to flow (i.e. friction) is due to the filter itself, and the filter cake.
If we have a superficial velocity v going through the system, the pressure drop over the cake
is
c
c
c
D
p v
k
= , over the filter it is
f
f
f
D
p v
k
= , so that the total pressure drop is
f
c
c f
D
D
p v
k k
| |
= + |
|
\
(6)
(maybe you notice the analogy with Ohms law with p in the role of voltage, v in the role of
current, and
f
c
c f
D
D
k k
| |
+ |
|
\
as two resistances in series).
In the course of time, the filter cake grows thicker. If the slurry pushed through the filter
has a solids volume fraction , and if all the solids are captured by the filter (and the cake) the
cake grows at a rate
c
dD
v
dt
= (this can be appreciated by setting up a solids mass balance per
unit of cross sectional area over the filter cake). If we rewrite this as
1
c
dD
v
dt
= and substitute
it in Eq. 6 we get
f
c c
c f
D
dD D
p
dt k k
| |
= + |
|
\
. In quite many practical cases p is constant so
that the only time-dependency in this equation is due to the filter cake growing in time. If we
separate variables we get
f
c
c
c f
D
D
p dt dD
k k
| |
= + |
|
\
. This we integrate from t=0 at which we
have no cake at all, to some moment in time t:
2
2 2
f c f
c c
c
c f c f
D D D
D D
p t D
k k k k
| |
= + = + |
|
\
. At
some stage in the process
2
f
c
c f
D
D
k k
. At that stage
2
2
c
c
D
p t
k
= = so that
( )
2
2 3
1
150
f
p
u
p H gH
d
( + = +
or ( )( )
( )
2
2 3
1
1 150
s f
p
u
g
d
= , which can
be rewritten as an equation in u:
( )
( )
2 3
150 1
p
s f
d
u g
=
(7)
With this equation we can estimate at what u the transition from a packed to a fluid bed takes
place since Eq. 7 expresses a balance of gravity and (fluid) friction. A typical case of a gas
fluidized bed would be a bed with in packed state a porosity of =0.4, a particle size of
p
d = 100 m,
s
=2000 kg/m
3
, =1.8 10
-5
Pa s, and
f
=1.2 kg/m
3
. Then fluidization will
start at (roughly) u=7.7 mm/s. This we can compare with the settling velocity of the spheres in
air based on Stokes law
( ) ( )
2
3
1
150
18 18
s f p
s
gd
u u
= = =0.6 m/s. (applying Stokes law is
not fully appropriate here since Re
f s p
u d