Turbulent phenomena in flow through porous media

We performed-an experimental study on the behavior of the microscopic turbulent field intrinsic to porous media, and examined the mechanism of the momentum and energy transports due to the turbulent vortex miring. The flow across a bank of tubes in-a:narrow gap was utilized bs a model of flow through porous media. The flow visualizations by dye emissions show that the flow in the pore region within the solid matrix becomes, turbulent at a high Reynolds number and that the flow distortion due to the obstruction of the solid matrix produces the additional mixing to that of the interstitial vortex. The spreading phenomenon of the tracer exceeding the molecular diffusion, which is the feature of dispersion, can be recognized in the turbulent flow region, but this phenomenon cannot be recognized in the laminar flow region. The present experiments, support the fact that the Forchheimer flow resistance and dispersion have a close relevance to the turbulent mixing.