Effect of Particle Size Distribution and Packing Compression on Fluid Permeability: A Comparison of Experiments and Monte-Carlo/Lattice-Boltzmann Simulations, 2008 Advanced Coating Fundamentals Symposium

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Massive parallel Lattice Boltzmann method simulations of flow through highly polydispersed spherical particle packings formed using Monte-Carlo methods have been performed. The computed fluid permeability values have been compared with experimental data obtained from tablets made of three natural ground calcium carbonate powders compressed at different levels. The agreement with experimental measurements is excellent (average relative error as low as ~30%). A series of flow simulations has also been performed for packings compressed at different levels and made of spherical particles with increasing polydispersity modeled with both lognormal and Weibull size distributions. Surprisingly, the predicted permeability values for polydisperse pigments were found to follow reasonably well Carman-Kozeny correlation although an increasing deviation towards lower predicted permeability values as polydispersity was increased was observed. Finally, it is found that as packing compression increases, the Kozeny constant decreases.