Theoretical and experimental investigation of acoustic streaming in a porous material

An experimental and theoretical investigation of the influence of high-frequency acoustic waves on the flow of a liquid through a porous material has been made. Particular attention was paid to the phenomenon of acoustic streaming of the liquid in the porous material due to the damping of the acoustic waves. The experiments were performed on Berea sandstone cores. Two acoustic horns were used with frequencies of 20 and 40 kHz, and with maximum power output of 2 and 0.7 kW, respectively. A high external pressure was applied in order to avoid cavitation. A microphone was used to measure the damping of the waves in the porous material and also temperature and pressure measurements in the flowing liquid inside the cores were carried out. To model the acoustic streaming effect Darcy's law was extended with a source term representing the momentum transfer from the acoustic waves to the liquid. The model predictions for the pressure distribution inside the core under acoustic streaming conditions are in reasonable agreement with the experimental data.