Related Experiment Video
Updated: Mar 29, 2026

Visualization of Flow Field Around a Vibrating Pipeline Within an Equilibrium Scour Hole
Published on: August 26, 2019
Experimental Evidence of Helical Flow in Porous Media
Yu Ye1, Gabriele Chiogna1,2, Olaf A Cirpka1
1Center for Applied Geoscience, University of Tübingen, Hölderlinstraße 12, D-72074 Tübingen, Germany.
Abstract:
Helical flow leads to deformation of solute plumes and enhances transverse mixing in porous media. We present experiments in which macroscopic helical flow is created by arranging different materials to obtain an anisotropic macroscopic permeability tensor with spatially variable orientation. The resulting helical flow entails twisting streamlines which cause a significant increase in lateral mass exchange and thus a large enhancement of plume dilution (up to 235%) compared to transport in homogenous media. The setup may be used to effectively mix solutes in parallel streams similarly to static mixers, but in porous media.
Related Concept Videos
Steady, Laminar Flow in Circular Tubes
Couette Flow
Steady, Laminar Flow Between Parallel Plates
Fluid Pressure over Curved Plate of Constant Width
Capillarity in Fluid
Surface tension is crucial to capillarity. It results from cohesive forces between liquid molecules at the liquid-air boundary, forming a skin that resists external forces. When the capillary tube...
Irrotational Flow

