Microstructure Simulation to Predict the Influence of Particle Properties on Permeability of Granular Porous Media

Abstract This work investigates the influence of particle shape and asperity height on the flow behavior of porous granular media using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). The developed framework includes the generation of random structured particle beds with LIGGGHTS using the Discrete Element Method (DEM) and the subsequent analysis of the pore space in terms of porosity and specific surface area. CFD is then applied to analyze the flow through the pore space at a Reynolds number of $$Re=1$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>R</mml:mi> <mml:mi>e</mml:mi> <mml:mo>=</mml:mo> <mml:mn>1</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> . In the post-processing, the permeability of the granular porous media is derived and a significant influence of the particle shape and asperity height on the permeability and porosity can be seen. In the end, a comparative analysis of simulations results and analytical models based on Ergun and Carman-Kozeny is conducted. The study reveals that the Carman-Kozeny approach exhibits a remarkable capacity to replicate the influence of particle shape and surface asperity, while the Ergun approach demonstrates a more limited suitability.