A NOVEL KOZENY–CARMAN CONSTANT MODEL FOR POROUS MEDIA EMBEDDED WITH TREE-LIKE BRANCHING NETWORKS WITH ROUGHENED SURFACES

Although the hydraulic features of the tree-like branching network have been widely investigated, the seepage characteristics of the networks have not been studied sufficiently. In this study, the seepage characteristics of porous media embedded with a tree-like branching network with the effects of roughness are studied based on fractal theory. Then, the Kozeny–Carman (KC) constant of the composite network is derived. The KC constant of porous media embedded with a tree-like branching network with roughened surfaces is in good agreement with the experimental data in the literature. The effects of structural parameters on seepage characteristics are also discussed. Notably, the results show that the KC constant of the composite network increases with an increasing volume porosity, and decreases with an increase in the relative roughness. Besides, the model established in this paper contains no empirical constants to ensure that each parameter has its physical significance. Thus, the proposed model can facilitate a better understanding of the seepage characteristics of fluid transport through a tree-like branching network embedded in porous media.