Determination of permeability using a classic Darcy water column

Wadsworth, Fabian B.; Vossen, Caron E. J.; Schmid, Diana; Colombier, Mathieu; Heap, Michael J.; Scheu, Betty and Dingwell, Donald B. (2020): Determination of permeability using a classic Darcy water column. In: American Journal of Physics, Vol. 88, No. 1: pp. 20-24

Abstract

Permeability is a macroscopic property of materials with a percolating pore phase, such as many rocks and filters. We describe a simple experiment for the empirical determination of permeability using a low-cost method similar to that used by Darcy. We advocate the use of controlled cylindrical sintered filters, for which there is theoretical constraint of the permeability as a function of porosity, against which empirical results can be compared. The methodology presented here provides a step-by-step approach to laboratory experiments and numerical techniques for fitting a linear equation to data and is appropriate for undergraduate Physics, Earth Science, or Engineering courses. (C) 2020 American Association of Physics Teachers.

• Item Type: Journal article
• Faculties: Geosciences > Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences
• Subjects: 500 Science > 550 Earth sciences and geology
• ISSN: 0002-9505
• Language: English