The Impact of Brinkman's Extension to Darcy's Law in the Neighborhood of a Circular Preferential Flow Pathway Primary Researchers: Dr. Aaron A. Jennings Ramagopal Pisipati Flow through preferential pathways such as fractures or discrete pores in porous media can be of considerable importance in groundwater flow and groundwater contamination problems. The phenomena can be significant at small scales such as those used for laboratory permeameter measurements or mass transport column studies, at the intermediate scales encountered in agricultural or waste disposal applications or at the large scales of aquifer analysis. New analytical strategies for analyzing flows through preferential pathways based on BrinkmanÕs extension of DarcyÕs law are being evaluated. The basic argument is that, if there are two parallel flow fields, then the impact of the (presumably higher) shear stress in the preferential flow pathway will be transferred across the interface and effect flow in the porous medium. If this is the case, then the interaction across the interface will alter flow in the preferential pathway, and in the porous medium in the neighborhood of the pathway. It is possible that the impact is negligible. It is also possible that the impact significantly alters the flow velocity and the total volumetric flux in the impacted region. The results of this work may yield significant improvements in our ability to predict the performance of complex hydraulic barrier systems such as those used in modern solid and hazardous waste landfills. CWRU Department of Civil Engineering Main Menu | Sitemap | Department Activities | On-Campus Menu Communication Click to request a Graduate | Undergraduate Application Form. Click to get in touch with a Graduate | Undergraduate Student. Click to Schedule a Tour of the Department.