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Date
2026-03-31
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Abstract
Transport phenomena in porous media form the foundation of many natural and engineered processes, from groundwater flow and oil recovery to biological systems and materials science. This chapter provides the essential theoretical framework needed to understand and model these complex systems. This chapter aims to enable readers to define and characterize porous media through fundamental properties such as porosity and permeability, understand the physical mechanisms governing fluid transport in porous materials, and apply Darcy's law and its extensions to describe fluid flow in porous media. Readers will learn to distinguish between different flow regimes and their governing equations, recognize the challenges in modeling multiphase flow and non-Newtonian fluids, and appreciate the role of scale in porous media analysis, from pore to continuum levels. The chapter establishes the fundamental concepts and theoretical foundations of transport phenomena in porous media. We begin with basic definitions and properties of porous materials, examining how their structure affects fluid flow and transport processes. The discussion progresses through single-phase flow concepts, building up to more complex phenomena such as multiphase flow and non-Newtonian behavior. Special attention is given to the physical mechanisms governing transport at different scales, from microscopic pore-level interactions to macroscopic continuum behavior. The theoretical principles introduced here are essential for understanding fluid behavior in applications ranging from petroleum engineering and groundwater hydrology to chemical processing and environmental remediation.
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Book title
Numerical Methods in Porous Media MATLAB® and Python Approaches