About non-Fickian hyperbolic diffusion

Abstract

Fick's law expresses the proportionality of solute flux with respect to concentration gradient. Similar relations are Darcy's law for the fluid flow in porous media, Ohm's law for the electric flux and Fourier's law for heat transfers. When introduced in the corresponding balance equations, these flux laws yield diffusion equations of parabolic character. Different attempts have been made to obtain hyperbolic equations so as to point out propagative phenomena. This was done by adding a time derivative flux term to the flow law. In the paper we focus on solute transport. Two possible non-Fickian diffusion cases are addressed. We firstly investigate diffusion in fluids by a mechanistic approach. Secondly, we study the macroscopic diffusion law in composite materials with large contrast of diffusion coefficient. We show that the obtained diffusion law yields hyperbolicity for drastically small characteristic times or non-propagative waves, respectively.