Experimental Investigation of Flow Domain Division in Beds Packed with Different Sized Particles

Xin Yang, Tianhong Yang, Zenghe Xu and Bin Yang
Additional contact information
Xin Yang: Center of Rock Instability and Seismicity Research, School of Resources and Civil Engineering, Northeastern University, Shenyang 110819, China
Tianhong Yang: Center of Rock Instability and Seismicity Research, School of Resources and Civil Engineering, Northeastern University, Shenyang 110819, China
Zenghe Xu: Center of Rock Instability and Seismicity Research, School of Resources and Civil Engineering, Northeastern University, Shenyang 110819, China
Bin Yang: Center of Rock Instability and Seismicity Research, School of Resources and Civil Engineering, Northeastern University, Shenyang 110819, China

Energies, 2017, vol. 10, issue 9, 1-21

Abstract: Seepage in a medium packed with particles of variable granular size can be seen in many fields of engineering applications. Due to the relative complex spatial aspect of pore geometry, there are notable differences in the critical parameters of flow transition (Reynolds number and Forchheimer number) between different structures. It is difficult to distinguish the available range of seepage equations and predict the water flux accurately. This work aims to establish the relationship between particle size and flow transition. This is conducted according to the results of flow region division, which obtains the application range for seepage equations. Experiments were carried out in sand columns with nine different particle sizes of sand with mean diameters of 0.0375, 0.1125, 0.225, 0.45, 0.8, 1.5, 2.18, 3.555 and 7.125 mm. Four flow regimes were identified (pre-Darcy regime, Darcy regime, Forchheimer regime and turbulent regime). The experimental data indicate that the permeability increases exponentially and the inertia factor reduces exponentially with an increase in particle diameter. The inertial effect becomes more significant in the medium with larger particles than with finer particles when the flow transition occurs.

Keywords: flow domain division; particle size; flow transition; Reynolds number; Forchheimer number (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/10/9/1401/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/10/9/1401/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:10:y:2017:i:9:p:1401-:d:111904

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().