Satisfactory empirical correlations of pressure drop are available for various packed-bed systems, including regular packed beds of spheres (1). Such correlations have been based largely on experimental data, although simple theoretical models sometimes have been included. One such model considered a packed bed as a network of irregular ducts ( 2 , 3); another considered a packed bed as a collection of submerged objects ( 4 ) . None of these correlations can be used to calculate velocity profiles; however, they do provide useful tests of the profiles reported here.Velocity profiles in packed beds of spheres recently have been calculated on the basis of a "free surface" model ( 5 ) . The pressure drop thus predicted agrees reasonably well with experimental data. However, the calculated velocity profiles must differ significantly from the actual velocity profiles in a packed bed, since the free surface model assumes that none of the spheres are touching each other.Velocity profiles in regular arrays of spheres have been calculated approximately by Uchida ( 6 ) , Brenner (7), and Hasimoto (8). Uchida and Brenner included packed (dense) arrays, whereas Hasimoto considered only dilute arrays. The results for packed arrays are not very accurate, due to the use of too few terms in the series solutions. Extensive calculations would be necessary to continue those series to the level of accuracy attained here. This paper gives a new analysis of the pressure and velocity profiles in dense cubic and simple cubic packed beds. The profiles are expanded in terms of new trial functions which satisfy the boundary conditions and periodicity conditions. The coefficients in the expansions are computed by Galerkin's method. The pressure drop relations obtained agree well with experimental data (I) for both packing arrangements.L. J. Snyder is witb Esso Production Research, Company, Houston, Texas.