Numerical simulation of coupled heat and mass transfer in wood dried at high temperature

The mutual effect between heat and mass transfer is investigated for wood dried at high temperature. A numerical model of coupled heat and mass transfer under the effect of the pressure gradient is presented. Based on the macroscopic viewpoint of continuum mechanics, the mathematical model with three independent variables (temperature, moisture content and gas pressure) is constructed. Mass transfer in the pores involves a diffusional flow driven by the gradient of moisture content, convectional flow of gaseous mixture governed by the gradient of gas pressure, the Soret effect and phase change of water. Energy gain or loss due to phase change of water is taken as the heat source. Numerical methods, the finite element method and the finite difference method are used to discretize the spatial and time dimension, respectively. A direct iteration method to solve the nonlinear problem without direct evaluation of the tangential matrix is introduced. The local convergence condition based on the contraction–mapping principle is discussed. The mathematical model is applied to a 3-D wood board dried at high temperature with the Neumann boundary conditions for both temperature and moisture content, and the Dirichlet boundary conditions for gas pressure.     

Convective drying analysis of three-dimensional porous solid by mass lumping finite element technique

A numerical analysis of convective drying of a 3D porous solid of brick material is carried out using the finite element method and mass lumping technique. The energy equation and moisture transport equations for the porous solid are derived based on continuum approach following Whitaker’s theory of drying. The governing equations are solved using the Galerkin’s weighted residual method, which convert the governing equations into discretized form of matrix equations. The resulting capacitance matrices are made diagonal matrices by following the classical row-sum mass lumping technique. Hence with the use of the Eulerian time marching scheme, the final equations are reduced to simple algebraic equations, which can be solved directly without using an equation solver. The proposed numerical scheme is initially validated with experimental results for 1D drying problem and then tested by application to convective drying of 3D porous solid of brick material for four different aspect ratios obtained by varying the cross section of the solid. The mass lumping technique could correctly predict the wet bulb temperature of the solid under evaporative drying conditions. A parametric study carried out for three different values of convective heat transfer coefficients, 15, 30 and 45 W/m² K shows an increased drying rate with increase in area of cross section and convective heat transfer coefficient. The proposed numerical scheme could correctly predict the drying behavior shown in the form of temperature and moisture evolutions.     

Study of a new macro-particle model for the low-temperature pyrolysis of dried wood chips

 This paper presents a transient one-dimensional mathematical model which simulates the pyrolysis of a single dried wood particle. The porous wood particle is considered as a two-phase system: the solid phase consisting of wood and char and the gas phase consisting of volatiles and tar. Conservation equations for mass, momentum and energy are developed for each phase. Chemical processes are described through an existing one-stage three-reactions scheme, leading separately to char, tar and volatiles evolution dynamics. The variation of transport and physical properties with temperature and with composition is presented by algebraic equations. The model presented in this paper is more advanced than the current models found in literature, since it contains physical effects not included in past models, such as cross diffusion, differing solid and gas phase temperatures and a transient gas phase momentum equation incorporating the wall friction experienced by a fluid flowing through a porous medium. Furthermore, an adequate reference system for enthalpy, based on temperature dependent reaction heats, is used. The mathematical equations with initial and boundary conditions are solved numerically by means of a commercial CFD code (PHOENICS). The validity of the pyrolysis kinetics scheme is examined through comparison with experimental data. Furthermore, the macro-particle model is validated by (1) examining the limitations and importance of the newly-modelled effects (different solid phase and gas phase temperature, cross diffusion and wall friction) and (2) making a comparison between predicted and experimental results for large particles. Received on 18 December 2000     

An efficient method for nonlinear aeroelasticy of slender wings

This paper aims the nonlinear aeroelastic analysis of slender wings using a nonlinear structural model coupled with the linear unsteady aerodynamic model. High aspect ratio and flexibility are the specific characteristic of this type of wings. Wing flexibility, coupled with long wingspan can lead to large deflections during normal flight operation of an aircraft; therefore, a wing in vertical/forward-afterward/torsional motion using a third-order form of nonlinear general flexible Euler–Bernoulli beam equations is used for structural modeling. Unsteady linear aerodynamic strip theory based on the Wagner function is used for determination of aerodynamic loading on the wing. Combining these two types of formulation yields nonlinear integro-differentials aeroelastic equations. Using the Galerkin’s method and a mode summation technique, the governing equations will be solved by introducing a numerical method without the need to adding any aerodynamic state space variables and the corresponding equations related to these variables of the problem. The obtained equations are solved to predict the aeroelastic response of the problem. The obtained results for a test case are compared with those of some other works and show a good agreement between results.     

Nonisothermal moisture transport in hygroscopic building materials: modeling for the determination of moisture transport coefficients

A mathematical model for calculating the nonisothermal moisture transfer in building materials is presented in the article. The coupled heat and moisture transfer problem was modeled. Vapor content and temperature were chosen as principal driving potentials. The coupled equations were solved by an analytical method, which consists of applying the Laplace transform technique and the Transfer Function Method. A new experimental methodology for determining the temperature gradient coefficient for building materials was also proposed. Both the moisture diffusion coefficient and the temperature gradient coefficient for building material were experimentally evaluated. Using the measured moisture transport coefficients, the temperature and vapor content distribution inside building materials were predicted by the new model. The results were compared with experimental data. A good agreement was obtained.     

Mixed Convection in a Vertical Porous Channel

A numerical study of mixed convection in a vertical channel filled with a porous medium including the effect of inertial forces is studied by taking into account the effect of viscous and Darcy dissipations. The flow is modeled using the Brinkman–Forchheimer-extended Darcy equations. The two boundaries are considered as isothermal–isothermal, isoflux–isothermal and isothermal–isoflux for the left and right walls of the channel and kept either at equal or at different temperatures. The governing equations are solved numerically by finite difference method with Southwell–Over–Relaxation technique for extended Darcy model and analytically using perturbation series method for Darcian model. The velocity and temperature fields are obtained for various porous parameter, inertia effect, product of Brinkman number and Grashof number and the ratio of Grashof number and Reynolds number for equal and different wall temperatures. Nusselt number at the walls is also determined for three types of thermal boundary conditions. The viscous dissipation enhances the flow reversal in the case of downward flow while it counters the flow in the case of upward flow. The Darcy and inertial drag terms suppress the flow. It is found that analytical and numerical solutions agree very well for the Darcian model. An erratum to this article is available at .     

Solving 2-D nonlinear coupled heat and moisture transfer problems via a self-adaptive precise algorithm in time domain

Introduction Thestudyonnonlineartransienttransferproblemsissignificantpracticallyand theoretically[1,2].Insolvingtheseproblemsdiscretelyinthetimedomain,eitherbyiterative techniques,orbylinearizingapproachesbasedonsomeadditionalassumptions,the adaptabilityofcomputingaccuracytothechangeofthesizeoftimestepneedtobetakeninto account[3].Yang[3]presentedaprecisealgorithminthetimedomaintosolvetransfer problems,themajoradvantagesofthisalgorithmtosolvenonlinearproblemsisthatno additionalassumptionandite…     

Modeling of Breakthrough Curves for Adsorption of Propane, <Emphasis Type="Italic">n</Emphasis>-Butane,and Iso-Butane Mixture on 5A Molecular Sieve Zeolite

Breakthrough curves for the adsorption of propane, n-butane, and iso-butane mixture on 5A molecular sieve zeolite were obtained experimentally and theoretically at a constant temperature of 301 K. The equilibrium model and linear driving force model were used to predict the experimental breakthrough curves for this multicomponent mixture. The equilibrium model gave a satisfactory fit for experimental data. The model equations were solved by a numerical method based on backward finite difference with a fixed griding technique. The effects of feed flow rate (0.552–3.496 l/min), feed concentration (60.72–141.68 mmol/l), and adsorbates composition (58.75–75.32%) on these breakthrough curves were examined.     

A Survey of Multicomponent Mass Diffusion Flux Closures for Porous Pellets: Mass and Molar Forms

Heterogeneous catalysis is of paramount importance in many areas of gas conversion and processing in chemical engineering industries. In porous pellets, the catalytic reactions may be affected by diffusional limitations such that the global rate can be different from the intrinsic reaction rate. In the literature, a number of multicomponent diffusion flux closures have been applied to characterize the diffusion process within different units in chemical process plants. The main purpose of this paper is to outline the derivation of the different diffusion flux models: the rigorous Maxwell–Stefan and dusty gas models, and the simpler Wilke and Wilke–Bosanquet models. Usually the diffusion fluxes are derived and presented with respect to the molar average velocity definition. In this study, also the diffusion flux closures with respect to the mass average velocity definition is outlined. Thus, if the temperature equation and the momentum equation are used in the pellet model, a consistently closed set of pellet equations is obtained on mass basis holding only the mass average velocity. On the other hand, for the closed set of pellet equations on molar basis, the component balances hold the molar averaged velocity whereas the temperature and momentum equations hold the mass average velocity due to the physical laws applied deriving these fundamental balances. Nevertheless, the Maxwell–Stefan and dusty gas models are manipulated and put on the convenient Fickian form. The second purpose of this article is the evaluation of the diffusion flux closures derived. For this purpose, a transient model is developed to describe the evolution of the species composition, pressure, velocity, temperature, total concentration, and fluxes within a spherical pellet. The catalyst problem has been simulated for the methanol dehydration process producing dimethyl ether (DME), with computed efficiency factor values in the range 0.06–0.6 for pellet pore diameters of 0.1–100 nm. Identical results are expected for the mole and mass based pellet equations. However, deviations are obtained in the component fractions comparing the mass and mole based pellet model formulations where the mass fluxes were described according to the Wilke and Wilke–Bosanquet models. On the other hand, the rigorous Maxwell–Stefan and dusty gas models gave identical results.     

Convective mass transfer across fluid interfaces in straight angular pores

Steady convective mass transfer to or from fluid interfaces in pores of angular cross-section is theoretically investigated. This situation is relevant to a variety of mass transport process in porous media, including the fate of residual non-aqueous phase liquid ganglia and gas bubbles. The model incorporates the essential physics of capillarity and solute mass transfer by convection and diffusion in corner fluid filaments. The geometry of the corner filaments, characterized by the fluid–fluid contact angle, the corner half-angle and the interface meniscus curvature, is accounted for. Boundary conditions of zero surface shear (‘perfect-slip’) and infinite surface shear (‘no-slip’) at the fluid–fluid interface are considered. The governing equations for laminar flow within the corner filament and convective diffusion to or from the fluid–fluid interface are solved using finite-element methods. Flow computations are verified by comparing the dimensionless resistance factor and hydraulic conductance of corner filaments against recent numerical solutions by Patzek and Kristensen (J. Colloid Interface Sci 236, 305–317 2001). Novel results are obtained for the average effluent concentration as a function of flow geometry and pore-scale Peclet number. These results are correlated to a characteristic corner length and local pore-scale Peclet number using empirical equations appropriate for implementation in pore network models. Finally, a previously published “2D-slit” approximation to the problem at hand is checked and found to be in considerable error.     

Assessing the consequences of gas cloud transport over a stand of forest

A mathematical continuum model of a stand of forest for assessing the consequences of the movement of a gas cloud, formed as a result of an accident, industrial gas emission, or production testing, is presented. The Navier-Stokes, continuity and diffusion equations are used to investigate the accumulation of harmful impurities by the stand and their subsequent removal. The two-dimensional problem is solved in the natural variables (velocity and pressure) using the Belotserkovskii procedure and the geometric splitting method. Perm. Translated from Izvestiya Rossiiskoi Akademii Nauk, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 4, pp. 79–87, July–August, 2000.     

Continuum and kinetic approaches to the simulation of the hypersonic flow past a flat plate

The data of a mathematical simulation of hypersonic flow past a flat plate at zero incidence obtained on the basis of a numerical solution of the complete Navier-Stokes equations and the Monte Carlo statistical modeling method are compared. The effect of the slip and temperature jump conditions imposed on the body surface is examined for various values of the temperature factor. The behavior of the gasdynamic variables on the body surface and in the flowfield is analyzed. Moscow. Translated from Izvestiya Rossiiskoi Akademii Nauk, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 1, pp. 133–145, January–February, 1997.     

Nonlinear vibrations of a viscoelastic plate with concentrated masses

The problem of vibrations of a viscoelastic plate with concentrated masses is studied in a geometrically nonlinear formulation. In the equation of motion of the plate, the action of the concentrated masses is taken into account using Dirac δ-functions. The problem is reduced to solving a system of Volterra type ordinary nonlinear integrodifferential equations using the Bubnov-Galerkin method. The resulting system with a singular Koltunov-Rzhanitsyn kernel is solved using a numerical method based on quadrature formulas. The effect of the viscoelastic properties of the plate material and the location and amount of concentrated masses on the vibration amplitude and frequency characteristics is studied. A comparison is made of numerical calculation results obtained using various theories. __________ Translated from Prikladnaya Mekhanika i Tekhnicheskaya Fizika, Vol. 48, No. 6, pp. 158–169, November–December, 2007.     

Hydrodynamic and heat transfer characteristics of laminar flow past a parabolic cylinder with constant heat flux

 Steady, two-dimensional, symmetric, laminar and incompressible flow past parabolic bodies in a uniform stream with constant heat flux is investigated numerically. The full Navier–Stokes and energy equations in parabolic coordinates with stream function, vorticity and temperature as dependent variables were solved. These equations were solved using a second order accurate finite difference scheme on a non-uniform grid. The leading edge region was part of the solution domain. Wide range of Reynolds number (based on the nose radius of curvature) was covered for different values of Prandtl number. The flow past a semi-infinite flat plate was obtained when Reynolds number is set equal to zero. Results are presented for pressure and temperature distributions. Also local and average skin friction and Nusselt number distributions are presented. The effect of both Reynolds number and Prandtl number on the local and average Nusselt number is also presented. Received on 5 July 2000     

A phenomenological and extended continuum approach for modelling non-equilibrium flows

This paper presents a new technique that combines Grad’s 13-moment equations (G13) with a phenomenological approach to rarefied gas flows. This combination and the proposed solution technique capture some important non-equilibrium phenomena that appear in the early continuum-transition flow regime. In contrast to the fully coupled 13-moment equation set, a significant advantage of the present solution technique is that it does not require extra boundary conditions explicitly; Grad’s equations for viscous stress and heat flux are used as constitutive relations for the conservation equations instead of being solved as equations of transport. The relative computational cost of this novel technique is low in comparison to other methods, such as fully coupled solutions involving many moments or discrete methods. In this study, the proposed numerical procedure is tested on a planar Couette flow case, and the results are compared to predictions obtained from the direct simulation Monte Carlo method. This test case highlights the presence of normal viscous stresses and tangential heat fluxes that arise from non-equilibrium phenomena, which cannot be captured by the Navier–Stokes–Fourier constitutive equations or phenomenological modifications.      

Fractional optimal control of a 2-dimensional distributed system using eigenfunctions

This paper presents an eigenfunctions expansion based scheme for Fractional Optimal Control (FOC) of a 2-dimensional distributed system. The fractional derivative is defined in the Riemann–Liouville sense. The performance index of a FOC problem is considered as a function of both state and control variables, and the dynamic constraints are expressed by a Partial Fractional Differential Equation (PFDE) containing two space parameters and one time parameter. Eigenfunctions are used to eliminate the terms containing space parameters and to define the problem in terms of a set of generalized state and control variables. For numerical computation Grünwald–Letnikov approximation is used. A direct numerical technique is proposed to obtain the state and the control variables. For a linear case, the numerical technique results into a set of algebraic equations which can be solved using a direct or an iterative scheme. The problem is solved for different number of eigenfunctions and time discretization. Numerical results show that only a few eigenfunctions are sufficient to obtain good results, and the solutions converge as the size of the time step is reduced.     

Mixed convection in a vertical channel with discrete heat sources at the wall

The mixed convection in a vertical plane-parallel channel with two heat sources of finite dimensions located at the wall is analyzed on the basis of a two-dimensional numerical simulation. The effect of the distance between the heat sources on the flow pattern and the temperature field is studied. Calculations are performed on the Grashof and Reynolds number ranges from 0–10⁵ and 0–10, respectively, at a Prandtl number of 0.7. The mathematical model is based on the time-dependent Navier-Stokes equations in the Boussinesq approximation. The problem is solved by the finite element method.     

Conjugate mixed convection heat and mass transfer in brick drying

 In this study, a numerical methodology for the solution of conjugate heat and mass transfer problem is presented. Fluid flow, heat and mass transfer over a rectangular brick due to transient laminar mixed convection has been numerically simulated. The coupled non-linear partial differential equations, for both gas phase and solid are solved using finite element procedure. Flow is assumed to be incompressible, two-dimensional, laminar. Analysis has been carried out at a Reynolds number of 200 with Pr = 0.71. The effect of buoyancy on the brick drying has been investigated. Velocity vectors, streamlines in the flow field and temperature and moisture contours and temperature distribution along the solid surface are presented. It is observed that there is considerable effect of buoyancy during drying. The results indicate a non-uniform drying of the brick with the leading edge drying faster than the rest of the brick. Received on 9 December 1998     

Fully Coupled THMC Modeling of Wellbore Stability with Thermal and Solute Convection Considered

Wellbore stability analysis is an important topic in petroleum geomechanics. Analytical and numerical analysis of wellbore stability involves the study of interactions among pressure, temperature and chemical changes, and the mechanical response of the rock, a coupled thermal–hydraulic–mechanical–chemical (THMC) process. Thermal and solute convection have usually been overlooked in numerical models. This is appropriate for shales with extremely low permeability, but for shales with intermediate and high permeability (e.g., shale with a disseminated microfissure network), thermal and solute convection should be considered. The challenge of considering advection lies in the numerical oscillation encountered when implementing the traditional Galerkin finite element approach for transient advection–diffusion problems. In this article, we present a fully coupled THMC model to analyze the stress, pressure, temperature, and solute concentration changes around a wellbore. In order to overcome spurious spatial temperature oscillations in the convection-dominated thermal advection–diffusion problem, we place the transient problem into an advection– diffusion-reaction problem framework, which is then efficiently addressed by a stabilized finite element approach, the subgrid scale/gradient subgrid scale method (SGS/GSGS).     

Modelling detonation waves in condensed energetic materials: multiphase CJ conditions and multidimensional computations

A hyperbolic multiphase flow model with a single pressure and a single velocity but several temperatures is proposed to deal with the detonation dynamics of condensed energetic materials. Temperature non-equilibrium effects are mandatory in order to deal with wave propagation (shocks, detonations) in heterogeneous mixtures. The model is obtained as the asymptotic limit of a total non-equilibrium multiphase flow model in the limit of stiff mechanical relaxation only (Kapila et al. in Phys Fluids 13:3002–3024, 2001). Special attention is given to mass transfer modelling, that is obtained on the basis of entropy production analysis in each phase and in the system (Saurel et al. in J Fluid Mech 607:313–350, 2008). With the help of the shock relations given in Saurel et al. (Shock Waves 16:209–232, 2007) the model is closed and provides a generalized ZND formulation for condensed energetic materials. In particular, generalized CJ conditions are obtained. They are based on a balance between the chemical reaction energy release and internal heat exchanges among phases. Moreover, the sound speed that appears at sonic surface corresponds to the one of Wood (A textbook of sound, G. Bell and Sons LTD, London, 1930) that presents a non-monotonic behaviour versus volume fraction. Therefore, non-conventional reaction zone structure is observed. When heat exchanges are absent, the conventional ZND model with conventional CJ conditions is recovered. When heat exchanges are involved interesting features are observed. The flow behaviour presents similarities with non ideal detonations (Wood and Kirkwood in J Chem Phys 22:1920–1924, 1950) and pathological detonations (Von Neuman in Theory of detonation waves, 1942; Guenoche et al. in AIAA Prog Astron Aeronaut 75: 387–407, 1981). It also present non-conventional behaviour with detonation velocity eventually greater than the CJ one. Multidimensional resolution of the corresponding model is then addressed. This poses serious difficulties related to the presence of material interfaces and shock propagation in multiphase mixtures. The first issue is solved by an extension of the method derived in Saurel et al. (J Comput Phys 228(5):1678–1712, 2009) in the presence of heat and mass transfers. The second issue poses the difficult mathematical question of numerical approximation of non-conservative systems in the presence of shocks associated to the physical question of energy partition among phases for a multiphase shock. A novel approach is used, based on extra evolution equations used to retain the information of the material initial state. This method insures convergence in the post-shock state. Thanks to these various theoretical and numerical ingredients, one-dimensional and multidimensional unsteady detonation waves computations are done, eventually in the presence of material interfaces. Convergence of the numerical hyperbolic solver against ZND multiphase solution is reached. Material interfaces, shocks, detonations are solved with a unified formulation where the same equations are solved everywhere with the same numerical scheme.