Poiseuille's Law Formula:
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Poiseuille's Law describes the laminar flow of an incompressible and Newtonian fluid through a long cylindrical pore of constant cross-section. It provides a mathematical relationship between the flow rate and various parameters including pore diameter, fluid viscosity, pore length, and pressure difference.
The calculator uses Poiseuille's Law formula:
Where:
Explanation: The equation shows that flow rate is proportional to the fourth power of pore diameter and pressure difference, and inversely proportional to viscosity and pore length.
Details: Accurate calculation of liquid flow through pores is crucial for membrane filtration processes, biomedical applications, microfluidics, and various industrial processes involving fluid transport through porous materials.
Tips: Enter all values in SI units. Membrane pore diameter and length should be in meters, viscosity in Pascal-seconds, and pressure difference in Pascals. All values must be positive.
Q1: What types of fluids does Poiseuille's Law apply to?
A: Poiseuille's Law applies to Newtonian fluids (constant viscosity) undergoing laminar flow through cylindrical pores.
Q2: Why is the flow rate proportional to the fourth power of pore diameter?
A: This strong dependence comes from the combination of the cross-sectional area (proportional to d²) and the average velocity (also proportional to d²) in laminar flow.
Q3: What are typical values for membrane pore diameters?
A: Membrane pore diameters can range from nanometers to micrometers, depending on the application and membrane type.
Q4: When is Poiseuille's Law not applicable?
A: The law doesn't apply to turbulent flow, non-Newtonian fluids, very short pores, or when the pore diameter approaches the mean free path of the fluid molecules.
Q5: How does temperature affect the flow rate?
A: Temperature primarily affects the viscosity of the liquid. As temperature increases, viscosity typically decreases, leading to increased flow rates.