VARIATIONAL BOUND NIP ELEMENT METHOD APPLIED TO LONGITUDINAL LAMINAR FLOW IN ORDERED FIBROUS POROUS MEDIA

L. B. Machado, E. A. Lisboa and M. E. Cruz
Mechanical Engineering Department, EE/COPPE/UFRJ, CP 68503, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, 21945-970, BRAZIL

Abstract

We apply a variational bound nip element method to calculate the longitudinal permeability for laminar flow in ordered fibrous porous media having arbitrary concentrations. Our hybrid analytico computational approach handles the geometrically stiff problems associated with highly packed media, by providing rigorous upper and lower bounds for the permeability. Our formulation is applicable to both ordered and random fibrous porous media; here we present and validate results for the permeability of the square and equilateral triangular arrays.