A comparison between the use of continuous and pore network approach in the simulation of the drying process of porous media with different pore size distributions

Abstract

The modeling and simulation of the drying process in porous media is seen as one of the most complex and difficult problems in the numerical simulation of engineering processes. The challenge in simulating a drying process comes from the fact that all heat, mass and momentum transfers happen simultaneously and must be taken into account. The numerical simulation of the drying process in porous media can be done by using two different approaches, namely continuous and discrete approach. In the continuous approach, a continuous model is used to build a mathematical system of the porous medium undergoing drying. In this approach the material properties are averaged using the concept of averaging volume. In the discrete approach, a network of pores is considered and no averaging is needed. Each approach has its own advantages and disadvantages. In this work, we compare the use of the continuous and discrete approach in the case the information about the microstructure (pore size) of the porous medium undergoing drying is given and can be taken into account in the continuous model.