The Laboratory Scale (Homogeneous Media)

A porous medium is a two-phase material in which the solid matrix constitutes one phase and the interconnected void (pores) constitutes the other. The solid matrix is either rigid or it undergoes small deformations. With a proper definition of the pore scale d, the theory of flow through porous media is concerned with the behaviour of samples of typical length scales L much larger than d. In the present part we consider the scale pertaining to laboratory samples, which are obtained for instance by extracting cores from natural formations or by packing laboratory columns. These serve as experimental support to validate the basic laws governing the flow, to be applied subsequently to large scale formations.