Flow of viscous and viscoelastic fluids through and around porous bodies

The slow flow of a viscous fluid through and around porous spheres is considered. The numerical simulation uses a special mixture of computational techniques: quadratic approximation and expansion in power series. The resulting calculations predict the evolution of the main features of the flow if the boundary conditions are varying, particularly if the tangential velocity is neglected or if a viscous filtration velocity is assumed at the sphere surface. The cases of full and hollow spheres with uniform and non uniform permeabilities are considered, the external impermeable walls of the flow being concentric spheres or cylinders. Some influence of viscoelastic properties of the fluid is also given.Nomenclature AA_n, A_n, B_n, b_n, C_n, c_n, D_n constants of integration - C_n(t) Gegenbauer functions with degree n and order –1/2 - e shell thickness - K, K* permeability - P_n(t) Legendre functions - Q_v volumetric rate of flow - p, p₀, p_e pressure, far away pressure, average pressure - R* sphere radius - r, spherical coordinates - Re Reynolds' number (see equation 37) - s, t sinus and cosinus - V₀^* uniform velocity - v velocity component - We Weissenberg's number (see equation (37)) - permeability coefficient - thickness coefficient - structural coefficient - diameter ratio sphere-cylinder - * dynamic viscosity of the fluid - stream functions - normal stress ( _rr) - tangential stress ( ) - ₀^* relaxation time of the fluid