A NUMERICAL STUDY OF NONISOTHERMAL REACTIVE FLOW IN A DUAL-SCALE POROUS MEDIUM UNDER PARTIAL SATURATION

ABSTRACT

This numerical study investigates the temperature and cure distribution during the flow of a reactive liquid in dual-scale fibrous porous media under partial saturation. An iterative, control-volume approach, based on energy and cure balances, is used for developing discretized equations in the channels and fiber tows of the two-layer model of a dual-scale porous medium. Significant differences in the average temperatures and cures within the channels and fiber tows are observed. The ratio of the channel and fiber-tow pore volumes, the ratio of liquid and fiber heat capacities, the fiber-bundle thermal conductivity, along with the reaction rate are identified as the important parameters for temperature and cure distributions.

Notes

¹In the literature, the dual-scale porous medium is often referred to as a dual-porosity medium.

²The authors are not aware of any study done to model conductive heat transfer into porous, liquid-absorbing walls of a 2-D channel during laminar flow. Further complexity is added to our problem because the liquid absorption rate into walls during the unsaturated flow varies with distance from the macrofront as well as time.

³Special stiched mats with intertow gaps aligned with the flow direction constitute a genuine dual-scale porous medium [15].