Darcys law

of the medium, (m2 ), the cross-sectional area to ow,

A (units of area, e.g., m2 ), and the total pressure drop (p
- p), (Pascals), all divided by the viscosity, (Pas) and
the length over which the pressure drop is taking place
(L). The negative sign is needed because uid ows from
high pressure to low pressure. Note: the elevation head
must be taken into account if the inlet and outlet are at
dierent elevations. If the change in pressure is negative
(where p > p ), then the ow will be in the positive 'x'
direction. Dividing both sides of the equation by the area
and using more general notation leads

Darcys law is a phenomenologically derived constitutive

equation that describes the ow of a uid through a
porous medium. The law was formulated by Henry Darcy
based on the results of experiments[1] on the ow of water
through beds of sand. It also forms the scientic basis of
uid permeability used in the earth sciences, particularly
in hydrogeology.

Background

Although Darcys law (an expression of conservation of

momentum) was determined experimentally by Darcy, it

has since been derived from the Navier-Stokes equations q = p

via homogenization .[2] It is analogous to Fouriers law
in the eld of heat conduction, Ohms law in the eld of where q is the ux (discharge per unit area, with units
of length per time, m/s) and p is the pressure gradient
electrical networks, or Ficks law in diusion theory.
vector (Pa/m). This value of ux, often referred to as
One application of Darcys law is to water ow
the Darcy ux, is not the velocity which the uid travelthrough an aquifer; Darcys law along with the equaing through the pores is experiencing. The uid velocity
tion of conservation of mass are equivalent to the
(v) is related to the Darcy ux (q) by the porosity ( ).
groundwater ow equation, one of the basic relationships
The ux is divided by porosity to account for the fact that
of hydrogeology. Darcys law is also used to describe oil,
only a fraction of the total formation volume is available
water, and gas ows through petroleum reservoirs.
for ow. The uid velocity would be the velocity a conservative tracer would experience if carried by the uid
through the formation.

Description

v=

Darcys law is a simple mathematical statement which

neatly summarizes several familiar properties that
groundwater owing in aquifers exhibits, including:
if there is no pressure gradient over a distance, no
ow occurs (these are hydrostatic conditions),
if there is a pressure gradient, ow will occur from
high pressure towards low pressure (opposite the direction of increasing gradient - hence the negative
sign in Darcys law),

Diagram showing denitions and directions for Darcys law.

Darcys law at constant elevation is a simple proportional relationship between the instantaneous discharge
rate through a porous medium, the viscosity of the uid
and the pressure drop over a given distance.

Q=

the greater the pressure gradient (through the same

formation material), the greater the discharge rate,
and
the discharge rate of uid will often be dierent
through dierent formation materials (or even
through the same material, in a dierent direction)
even if the same pressure gradient exists in both
cases.

A (pb pa )

The total discharge, Q (units of volume per time, e.g.,

m3 /s) is equal to the product of the intrinsic permeability
1

4 ADDITIONAL FORMS OF DARCYS LAW

A graphical illustration of the use of the steady-state

groundwater ow equation (based on Darcys law and the
conservation of mass) is in the construction of ownets,
to quantify the amount of groundwater owing under a
dam.

In isotropic porous media the o-diagonal elements in the

permeability tensor are zero, ij = 0 for i = j and the
diagonal elements are identical, = ii , and the common form is obtained

Darcys law is only valid for slow, viscous ow; fortu

nately, most groundwater ow cases fall in this category. q = (p g)

Typically any ow with a Reynolds number less than one

is clearly laminar, and it would be valid to apply Darcys
law. Experimental tests have shown that ow regimes
4 Additional forms of Darcys law
with Reynolds numbers up to 10 may still be Darcian,
as in the case of groundwater ow. The Reynolds number (a dimensionless parameter) for porous media ow is 4.1 Darcys Law for Short Time Scales
typically expressed as
For very short time scales, a time derivative of ux may
be added to Darcys law, which results in valid solutions at
vd30
very small times (in heat transfer, this is called the modRe =
ied form of Fouriers law),

where is the density of water (units of mass per volume), v is the specic discharge (not the pore velocity
q
with units of length per time), d30 is a representative t + q = h
grain diameter for the porous media (often taken as the
30% passing size from a grain size analysis using sieves - where is a very small time constant which causes this
equation to reduce to the normal form of Darcys law at
with units of length), and is the viscosity of the uid.
normal times (> nanoseconds). The main reason for
doing this is that the regular groundwater ow equation
(diusion equation) leads to singularities at constant head
3 Derivation
boundaries at very small times. This form is more mathematically rigorous, but leads to a hyperbolic groundwater
For stationary, creeping, incompressible ow, i.e. ow equation, which is more dicult to solve and is only
D (ui ) /Dt 0 , the Navier-Stokes equation simplify useful at very small times, typically out of the realm of
to the Stokes equation:
practical use.
2 ui + gi i p = 0

4.2 Brinkman Form of Darcys Law

where is the viscosity, ui is the velocity in the i direction, gi is the gravity component in the i direction and p
is the pressure. Assuming the viscous resisting force is
linear with the velocity we may write:

Another extension to the traditional form of Darcys law

is the Brinkman term, which is used to account for transitional ow between boundaries (introduced by Brinkman
in 1949 [3] ),

(ij )

uj + gi i p = 0

2 q + q = p

where is the porosity, and ij is the second order per- where is an eective viscosity term. This correction
meability tensor. This gives the velocity in the n direc- term accounts for ow through medium where the grains
tion,
of the media are porous themselves, but is dicult to use,
and is typically neglected.
ni (ij )

uj = nj uj = un =

ni
(i p gi )

4.3 Darcys Law in Petroleum Engineering

which gives Darcys law for the volumetric ux density in

Another derivation of Darcys law is used extensively in
the n direction,
petroleum engineering to determine the ow through permeable media - the most simple of which is for a onedimensional, homogeneous rock formation with a uid of
ni
(i p gi )
qn =
constant viscosity.

3
This equation is valid for capillaries as well as porous media. The terminology of Knudsen eect and Knudsen
A p
Q=
diusivity is more common in Mechanical and Chemical

x
Engineering. In geological and petrochemical engineerwhere Q is the owrate of the formation (in units of ing, this eect is known as Klinkenberg eect. Using
volume per unit time), k is the relative permeability of the denition of molar ux, the above equation can be
the formation (typically in millidarcies), A is the cross- rewritten as
sectional area of the formation, is the viscosity of the
uid (typically in units of centipoise, and L is the length of
(
)1
the porous media the uid will ow through. p/x rep- p
p
p
=
R
T
+
D
q
g
K
resents the pressure change per unit length of the forma- x

Rg T
tion. This equation can also be solved for permeability,
allowing for relative permeability to be calculated by forc- This equation can be rearranged into the following equaing a uid of known viscosity through a core of a known tion
length and area, and measuring the pressure drop across
(
)
the length of the core.

Dk 1 p
q=
1+

p x
(

4.4

Darcy-Forchheimer Law

For very high velocities in porous media, inertial eects

can also become signicant. Sometimes an inertial term
is added to the Darcys equation, known as Forchheimer
term. This term is able to account for the non-linear behavior of the pressure dierence vs velocity data.[4]

Comparing this equation with conventional Darcys law,

a new formulation can be given as
ef f

(
)
1 + Dk p1 .

p
x

where ef f

This is equivalent to the eective permeability formulation proposed by Klinkenberg [9]

= q q2
x

)
(
where the additional term 1 is known as inertial perme- ef f = 1 + b
p
ability.
where b is known as the Klinkenberg parameter, which
depends on the gas and the porous medium structure.
4.5 Darcys Law for Gases in Fine Me- This is quite evident if if we compares the above fordia (Knudsen Diusion or Klinken- mulations. The Klinkerberg parameter b is dependent on
berg Eect)
permeability, Knudsen diusivity and viscosity (i.e., both
gas and porous medium properties).
For gas ow in small characteristic dimensions (e.g., very
ne sand, nanoporous structures etc.), the particle-wall
interactions become more frequent, giving rise to ad- 5 Validity of Darcys Law
ditional wall friction (Knudsen friction). For a ow in
this region, where both viscous and Knudsen friction are
present, a new formulation needs to be used. Knudsen Darcys Law is valid for laminar ow through the soil. In
presented a semi-empirical model for ow in transition ne grained soil, the dimensions of interstices are small
regime based on his experiments on small capillaries [5] and thus ow is laminar. Coarse-grained soils also be.[6] For a porous media, the Knudsen equation can be have similarly but in very coarse-grained soil, the ow is
of turbulent nature. Hence Darcys Law is not valid in
given as [6]
such soils. For ow through commercial pipes, the ow
(
)
ef f
1 pb pa
b
is laminar when Reynolds number is less than 2000 but in
N = pa +p
+
D
,
k
2
Rg T
L
case of soils, it has been found that ow is laminar when
where N is the molar ux, Rg is the gas constant, T is the the value of Reynolds number is less than unity.[10]
temperature, Dkef f is the eective Knudsen diusivity of
the porous media. The model can also be derived from
rst principles based binary friction model (BFM) [7] .[8]
6 See also
The dierential equation of transition ow in porous media based on BFM is given as [7]
The darcy unit of uid permeability
p
= Rg T
x

p
+ DK

Hydrogeology

)1
N

Groundwater ow equation

References

[1] Darcy, H. (1856). Les Fontaines Publiques de la Ville de

Dijon, Dalmont, Paris.
[2] Whitaker, S. (1986). Flow in porous media I: A theoretical derivation of Darcys law. Transport in Porous Media
1: 325. doi:10.1007/BF01036523.
[3] Brinkman, H. C. (1949). A calculation of the viscous force exerted by a owing uid on a dense swarm
of particles. Applied Scientic Research 1: 2734.
doi:10.1007/BF02120313.
[4] Bejan, A. (1984), Convection Heat Transfer, John Wiley
& Sons
[5] Cunningham, R. E. and Williams, R. J. J. (1980). Diffusion in Gases and Porous Media, Plenum Press, New
York.
[6] Carrigy, N.; Pant, L. M.; Mitra, S. K.; Secanell, M.
(2013). Knudsen diusivity and permeability of pemfc
microporous coated gas diusion layers for dierent polytetrauoroethylene loadings. Journal of the Electrochemical Society 160: F81F89. doi:10.1149/2.036302jes.
[7] Pant, L. M.; Mitra, S. K.; Secanell, M. (2012).
Absolute permeability and Knudsen diusivity measurements in PEMFC gas diusion layers and micro
porous layers. Journal of Power Sources 206: 153160.
doi:10.1016/j.jpowsour.2012.01.099.
[8] Kerkhof, P. (1996).
A modied Maxwell-Stefan
model for transport through inert membranes: The binary friction model. Chemical Engineering Journal
and the Biochemical Engineering Journal 64: 319343.
doi:10.1016/S0923-0467(96)03134-X.
[9] Klinkenberg, L. J. (1941). The permeability of porous
media to liquids and gases. Drilling and Production
Practice. American Petroleum Institute. pp. 200213.
[10] Arora, K. R. (1989), Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering,Standard Publishers

REFERENCES

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