NUMERICAL STUDY OF HEAT TRANSFER DURING UNSATURATED FLOW IN DUAL-SCALE POROUS MEDIA

Abstract

This numerical study investigates the heat transfer during unsaturated flow in dual-scale fibrous porous media. An iterative, control-volume approach, based on energy balance in a two-layer model, is used for developing discretized equations for average temperatures in the channels and fiber bundles. A significant difference in the channel and bundle temperatures is observed near the flow front. The ratio of the outer- and inner-region pore volumes, the ratio of liquid and fiber heat capacities, and the fiber-bu ndle thermal conductivity are identified as the three important parameters for temperature distribution. The proposed model deviates significantly from the conventional single-scale model.