Darcy's law can be expressed very generally as:
where q is the volume flux vector of the fluid at a particular point in the medium, h is the total hydraulic head, and K is the hydraulic conductivity tensor, at that point. The hydraulic conductivity can often be approximated as a scalar. (Note the analogy to Ohm's law in electrostatics. The flux vector is analogous to the current density, head is analogous to voltage, and hydraulic conductivity is analogous to electrical conductivity.)