Permeability of Dual-Structured Porous Media

The effective permeability of dual-structured porous media has been determined through physical and numerical modeling. Example porous media consisting of a woven network of cylindrical bars overlaid by a network of spherical particles have been produced by a rapid prototyping technique. A glycerin-based solution, held in a pressurized reservoir, was forced through the porous samples. The resulting flow rate and pressure drop across the sample were measured and used to determine the permeability of each sample. Mathematical models, considering the continuity and momentum equations, were also developed for the geometries corresponding to the physical models. The results were compared with the analytical expressions of permeability reported by Khajeh and Maijer, Liu et al., and Carman-Kozeny. The measured permeabilities are in better agreement with the expressions reported by Khajeh and Maijer and Liu et al. than those calculated with the Carman-Kozeny expression.