Permeability-porosity relationship assessment by 2-D numerical simulations

Abstract

An accurate evaluation of the permeability of a porous structure is critical for predicting fluid flow rates. In this study, we report the results of two-dimensional simulations of creeping flow through porous structures with porosities between 0.2 and 0.99. Our numerical results demonstrate that in this range, permeability is an exponential function of the porosity. This result is found to be in good agreement with experimental data. In addition, we compare our simulation results with some permeability-porosity relationship available in literature. We found that Carman–Kozeny’s correlation agrees very well with our results for porosities up to 0.87 and Koponen et al.’s relationship holds well for porosities higher than 0.95. Based on the results obtained in this study, a new permeability-porosity relationship is presented, for the model system used.