Pore-scale determination of parameters for macroscale modeling of evaporation processes in porous media

Abstract

Evaporation is an important process in many natural and technical systems, such as the unsaturated zone of the subsurface or microchannel evaporators. For the understanding and prediction of the involved processes, numerical simulations of multiphase flow and transport processes are an important tool. In order to achieve an accurate, physically based description of kinetic interphase mass and heat transfer occurring during evaporation, the numerical model has to account for the interfacial areas between phases. A recently developed model for two-phase flow in porous media is able to account for the involved processes by using interfacial areas explicitly as parameters in the model. The crucial issue, however, is the determination of the relationships between specific interfacial areas, capillary pressure, and saturation in this paper, we present a multiphase lattice Boltzmann model, which allows us to determine these relationships. On the basis of the scanned geometry of a natural porous medium, the relationships between specific interfacial areas, capillary pressure, and saturation are determined. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that fluid-solid specific interfacial area relationships have been obtained from pore-scale data. Using these functions, we present the results of macroscale simulations of an evaporator device and of drying in a porous medium. Copyright 2011 by the American Geophysical Union.