Fluid transport through porous media is a relevant topic to many scientific and engineering fields. Soil scientists, civil engineers, hydrologists and hydrogeologists are concerned with the transport of water, gases and nonaqueous phase liquid contaminants through porous earth materials; petroleum engineers are concerned with the flow of water, gas, and oil trhough production reservoirs; chemical engineers use principles of fluid transport through porous media in the design and operation of chemical reacotrs, and material engineers design and manufacture a variety of porous materials.