Universal scaling for the permeability of random packs of overlapping and nonoverlapping particles

Vasseur, Jérémie; Wadsworth, Fabian B.; Bretagne, Eloïse; Dingwell, Donald B.

doi:10.1103/physreve.105.l043301

Universal scaling for the permeability of random packs of overlapping and nonoverlapping particles

Vasseur, Jérémie; Wadsworth, Fabian B.; Bretagne, Eloïse; Dingwell, Donald B.

Authors

Jérémie Vasseur

Dr Fabian Wadsworth fabian.b.wadsworth@durham.ac.uk
Associate Professor

Eloise Bretagne eloise.bretagne@durham.ac.uk
Research Intern (Casual)

Donald B. Dingwell

Abstract

Constraining fluid permeability in porous media is central to a wide range of theoretical, industrial, and natural processes. In this Letter, we validate a scaling for fluid permeability in random and lattice packs of spheres and show that the permeability of packs of both hard and overlapping spheres of any sphere size or size distribution collapse to a universal curve across all porosity φ in the range of φc <φ< 1, where φc is the percolation threshold. We use this universality to demonstrate that permeability can be predicted using percolation theory at φc < φ 0.30, Kozeny-Carman models at 0.30 φ 0.40, and dilute expansions of Stokes theory for lattice models at φ 0.40. This result leads us to conclude that the inverse specific surface area, rather than an effective sphere size or pore size is a universal controlling length scale for hydraulic properties of packs of spheres. Finally, we extend this result to predict the permeability for some packs of concave nonspherical particles.

Citation

Vasseur, J., Wadsworth, F. B., Bretagne, E., & Dingwell, D. B. (2022). Universal scaling for the permeability of random packs of overlapping and nonoverlapping particles. Physical Review E, 105(4), Article L043301. https://doi.org/10.1103/physreve.105.l043301

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Mar 8, 2022
Online Publication Date	Apr 20, 2022
Publication Date	2022
Deposit Date	Jun 29, 2022
Publicly Available Date	Jun 29, 2022
Journal	Physical Review E
Print ISSN	2470-0045
Electronic ISSN	2470-0053
Publisher	American Physical Society
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	105
Issue	4
Article Number	L043301
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1103/physreve.105.l043301

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