MODELING MULTI-PHASE TRANSPORT IN DEFORMABLE, HYGROSCOPIC POROUS MEDIA: APPLICATIONS TO CONVECTIVE DRYING OF LUMBER

摘要

A fundamental model of multi-phase flow in deformable, hygroscopic porous media has been developed through application of macroscopic energy and mass conservation equations. Microscopic effects are included via volume-averaging techniques for the three phases present in the porous media: liquid, gas, and solid. The model includes convective and capillary transport of free water, convective and diffusive transport of water vapor and air, and diffusive transport of bound water. Porosity variations in deformable media have been included during development of the governing equations. The model is applied to convective drying of lumber via appropriate boundary conditions and transport parameters which are available in the literature. The governing coupled, non-linear equations are rewritten and solved in terms of three governing variables: moisture content, temperature, and gas phase pressure. The conservation equations presented in vector notation have been simplified to one spatial dimension for solution here. Control-volume formulations are used to discretize the governing partial differential equations and boundary conditions with a power-law scheme used to proportion the diffusive and convective flux contributions across the control volume interfaces. An uncoupled solution strategy is employed although each conservation equation is solved implicitly. Presented model results include predictions of moisture, temperature, and gas phase pressure during drying both as averages over time for convective drying at two different ambient conditions and as distributions within the board at any time for high temperature air drying. Flows of individual moisture species (liquid/free water, water vapor, and bound water) within the board are also presented.