Universidad Idustrial De Santander

Petroleum Engineering
Subject: Numerical Methods For Engineers
Topic: Darcy’s law
Teacher: Eduardo Carrillo Zambrano PhD
Student: Jonathan Enrique Budez Vergara Code: 2072321

1 Darcy’s Law

In 1856, in the French city of Dijon, the engineer Henry Darcy was responsible for study of
the supply network to the city. It seems that it also had to design filters sand to purify water,
so He was interested in the factors influencing the flow of water through the sandy, and pre-
sented the results of his work as a appendix to his report of the distribution network. That little
appendix has been the basis of all subsequent physico-mathematical studies on groundwater flow.

L3
Darcy find that As the flow rate Q is in , the section is L2 , and ∆l and ∆h are lengths, one
T
L
finds that units of permeability (K) are the speed .
T
Currently, Darcy’s law is expressed thus:
dh
q = −K (1)
dl
Q dh
Where q = Section ; K = Hidrauly conductivity and dl = Hidraulic gradient

Real velocity and Darcy velocity

We know that in any conduit through which a fluid is satisfied that:

L3 L
= L2 × (2)
T T
If we apply this consideration of permeameter cylinder Darcy, and calculate the speed and flow
from the section, which are known, we obtain a speed false because the water circulates through
the section of the permeameter, but only a small part of it. At that speed false (which would
circulate the water if all section of the porous medium) is called ”speed Darcy” or “flow rate”

Caudal
Darcy velocity = (3)
T otal section
That portion of the total section in which water can flow is the effective porosity , if sand has
a porosity 10% (0.10), the water will circulate for 10% of section of tube. And for the same
volume flow through a section 10 times smaller, its speed is 10 times higher. By therefore, is
satisfied that:
Darcy velocity
Lineal velocity = (4)
me
Where me = ef ecctive porosity
We call average lineal velocity, not real velocity, the result expression (4) due to the following:
the formula correctly reflects the actual speed of the particles in any section of the medium
porous, for example, as shown in Figure 1. But it is not accurate for calculate the travel time it
between two points.

Effective
Add water in
porosity
grain

Figure 1: Effective porosity

Figure 2 shows a length L1 tube filled with sand through which water is circulated. We calcu-
lated the average linear velocity through the expressions (3) L1 and (4), and evaluate that speed
L1
travel time to L2 tube over the figure (time = velocity ).

Figure 2: Tortuosity of the route

If we call the actual speed recorded along a path through a porous medium, would equal to:

Real velocity = velocity × mean lineal coef f icient (5)

This coefficient depends on the tortuosity of the porous medium, and can be approximately 1.0
to 1.2 sands.
In practice, the term is commonly used (4) saying that we have calculated the ”actual speed”
but we must be aware of the error that comment by neglecting the tortuosity of the route.
Flow through several layers: the equivalent permeability
In a stratified medium with flow often occurs through several layers, andwant to apply the law
of Darcy whole to all layers. The two mostare simple when we consider the flow parallel to the
contacts between layers or flowperpendicular to the layers.
Permeability (or hydraulic conductivity) is equivalent to an average value can assigned to all
layers as a unit. And talk about equivalent K horizontal (Kh ) and vertical equivalent K (Kv )
referring respectively to the two cases above (assuming horizontal layers, the flow is parallel to
the horizontal layers, and flow perpendicular to the layers is vertical).
Mostrar forma romanizada If the flow is parallel to the layers, the equivalent permeability (Kh )
is calculated: Flow through the layer is not a per meter of width:
∆h
Q1 = K1 [b1 1] (6)
∆l
The caudal will be the rusult of the plus fluid through layers:
X ³X ´ ∆h
Q= qi = Ki bi (7)
∆l
We can also calculate theP total caudal using the Darcy’s law to every layers, using to Kh
equivalent, and call B = bi :
∆h
Q = Kh [B] (8)
∆l
Equaling the expresions (8) and (7) we obtain:
³X ´ ∆h ³X ´ P
∆h Ki bi
Ki bi = Kh [B] ; Ki bi = Kh B ; Kh = (9)
∆l ∆l B
If the caudal is perpendicular, we can calculate also the equivalent permeability Kv :
∆h
P erpendicular caudal through layers : q = Kv (10)
B
∆h1
P erpendicular Caudal through layer no 1 : q1 = K1 (11)
b1
∆h ∆h1
Equaling (10) and (11) : Kv = K1 (12)
B b1
∆h b1
W e obtain : ∆h1 = Kv (13)
B K1
X ∆h X bi
Applying to all layers and adding : ∆hi = Kv (14)
B Ki
X ∆h X bi
As ∆hi = ∆h : ∆h = Kv (15)
B Ki
B
F inally : Kv = P b (16)
i
Ki
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Javier Sánchez San Román Dpto. Geologı́a Univ. Salamanca (España)

http://web.usal.es/javisan/hidro