Adoption of Homotopy Perturbation Method (HPM) for non-Darcy Flow in Porous Media

Abstract

For non-Darcy flow in coarse porous media, an analytical solution based on the Homotopy Perturbation Method (HPM) is proposed. Subsurface water profile data of a laboratory model are used for six different inlet discharges in both rounded and crushed coarse porous media types. The model slope is S = 0.00001 close to the horizon. Different upstream and downstream water level boundary conditions are considered. The results of the analytical solution of nonDarcy flow by the HPM method are compared with experimental data. The normal objective function (NOF) is used for better comparison between the results of analytical solutions and experimental data. Results depict that the HPM method provides acceptable solutions in both rounded and crushed media types. The analytical results of flow rates q = 26.25 lit/s with NOF of 0.000294586 percent in rounded porous media and q = 30 lit/s with NOF of 0.00028660 percent in crushed one are the most consistent with the experimental data. The proposed HPM solution performs very well, articularly at higher flow rates, in both rounded and crushed porous media.