Modeling the Heat Sense Flowmeter

Real-time measurement of velocities in porous media is desirable for engineers engaged in ground-water remediation, monitoring projects, drainage studies, etc. This paper investigates the theory supporting the heat sense flowmeter and introduces a finite difference conduction-convection-dispersion model to convert instrument response to Darcy velocity. The model was tested under laboratory conditions and demonstrated good agreement with the empirical data. Results showed a noticeable attenuation of the heat pulse amplitude for high velocities. This suggests that for high velocities, correlating the Darcy velocity with amplitude gives more accurate readings than correlating Darcy velocity with time to peak.