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Rainer Helmig

Universität Stuttgart

Compositional multi-phase flow in coupled porous-media and free flow domains

Abstract:

Flow and transport processes in domains composed of a porous medium and an adjacent free-flow region appear in a wide range of industrial, environmental and medical applications. In this context, evaporation is an ubiquitous process, since evaporation rates and patterns affect the energy balance of terrestrial surfaces and drive an array of climatic processes. Notwithstanding the prominence of this process for many natural and engineering applications, the prediction of evaporative drying rates from porous media remains a challenge because of complex interactions between the porous-medium and the free-flow system, the ambient conditions (radiation, humidity, temperature, air velocity, turbulent conditions) at the interface, and the internal porous-medium properties.

The numerical simulation of flow and transport phenomena in porous media is quite often based on Darcy's law whereas, in free-flow regions, the (Navier-)Stokes model has to be used. Of special interest are structures composed of a porous part and an adjacent free-flowing fluid. So far, the coupling of free flow with porous-medium flow has been considered only for a single-phase system. We extend this classical concept to two-component non-isothermal flow with two phases inside the porous medium and a single phase inside the free-flow region. Our coupling concept also takes evaporation and condensation processes at the interface into account. We discuss our new model and introduce different coupling conditions. Moreover, some numerical examples illustrate the coupling between the two model domains.