Fundamentals of Transport in Porous Media

How do fluids, ions, and gases move through complex, microscopic structures like battery electrodes, fuel cells, and soils? Understanding transport in porous media is essential for designing next-generation electrochemical energy systems and solving critical chemical engineering challenges. This course provides a clear, step-by-step pathway from the physical foundations to practical engineering models. You will transition from a basic understanding of fluid mechanics to confidently modeling complex, multi-component transport in structured and unstructured porous networks. What you'll learn: - Understand foundational definitions, porosity, tortuosity, and representative elementary volumes. - Apply Darcy's Law and its extensions to model single-phase and multi-phase fluid flow. - Model diffusion and dispersion processes within complex pore networks. - Analyze electrochemical transport, including ion migration and charge transfer in porous electrodes. - Evaluate modern energy applications, from battery electrodes to fuel cell membrane assemblies. This course starts with essential physical chemistry and fluid dynamics concepts before guiding you through mathematical formulations and real-world engineering scenarios. You will read detailed explanations, analyze worked derivations, and solve practical exercises designed to solidify your understanding. This course is designed for engineering students, researchers, and professionals who want to understand transport phenomena in porous materials. No advanced background in porous media is required, though a basic familiarity with calculus and general physics is helpful.