Creeping flow in two-dimensional networks

Abstract

We discuss creeping incompressible fluid flow in two-dimensional networks consisting of regular lattice arrays of variable-sized channels and junctions. The intended application is to low-Reynolds-number flow in models of porous media. The flow problem is reduced to an analogue linear-network problem and is solved by numerical matrix inversion. It is found that ‘effective-medium theory’ provides an excellent approximation to flow in such networks. Various qualitative features of such flows are discussed, and an elegant general form for the absolute permeability is derived. The latter, and the effective-medium approximation, are equally applicable to three-dimensional networks.