Sabri Ergun (1 March 1918 in Turkey - 18 February 2006) was a chemical engineer.

He is widely recognized for his enthusiasm and many contributions to the fields of chemical engineering and solid state physics.

Ergun Equation

The Ergun Equation is a correlation derived by Ergun in 1952 for the friction factor in a packed column as a function of the Reynolds number:

$f\_p\; =\; \backslash frac\; \{150\}\{Re\_p\}\; +\; 1.75$

where $f\_p$ and $Re\_p$ are defined as

$f\_p\; =\; \backslash frac\{\backslash Delta\; p\}\{L\}\; \backslash frac\{D\_p\}\{\backslash rho\; V\_s^2\}\; (\backslash frac\{\backslash epsilon^3\}\{1-\backslash epsilon\})$ and $Re\_p\; =\; \backslash frac\{D\_p\; V\_s\; \backslash rho\}\{(1-\backslash epsilon)\backslash mu\}$

where: $\backslash Delta\; p$ is the pressure drop across the bed,
$L$ is the length of the bed (not the column),
$D\_p$ is the equivalent spherical diameter of the packing,
$\backslash rho$ is the density of fluid,
$\backslash mu$ is the dynamic viscosity of the fluid,
$V\_s$ is the superficial velocity (i.e. the velocity that the fluid would have through the empty tube at the same volumetric flow rate), and
$\backslash epsilon$ is the void fraction of the bed(Bed porosity at any time).

References

Flow through packed beds