Reconstruction of 3D Porous Geometry for Coupled FEM-CFD Simulation

Porous materials can be found in numerous areas of life (e. g., applied science, material science), however, the simulation of the fluid flow and transport phenomena through porous media is a significant challenge nowadays. Numerical simulations can help to analyze and understand physical processes and different phenomena in the porous structure, as well as to determine certain parameters that are difficult or impossible to measure directly or can only be determined by expensive and time-consuming experiments. The basic condition for the numerical simulations is the 3D geometric model of the porous material sample, which is the input parameter of the simulation. For this reason, geometry reconstruction is highly critical for pore-scale analysis. This paper introduces a complex process for the preparation of the microstructure's geometry in connection with a coupled FEM-CFD two-way fluid-structure interaction simulation. Micro-CT has been successfully applied to reconstruct both the fluid and solid phases of the used porous material.

Enhanced Low-Frequency Sound Absorption of a Porous Layer Mosaicked with Perforated Resonator

A composite structure composed of a porous-material layer mosaicked with a perforated resonator is proposed to improve the low-frequency sound absorption of the porous layer. This structure is investigated in the form of a porous-material matrix (PM) and a perforated resonator (PR), and the PR is a thin perforated plate filled with porous material in its back cavity. Theoretical and numerical models are established to predict the acoustic impedance and sound absorption coefficient of the proposed structure, and two samples made of polyurethane and melamine, respectively, are tested in an impedance tube. The predicted results are consistent with that of the measured. Compared with a single porous layer with the same thickness, the results show that the designed structure provides an additional sound absorption peak at low frequencies. The proposed structure is compact and has an effective absorption bandwidth of more than two octaves especially below the frequency corresponding to 1/4 wavelength. A comparison is also made between the sound absorption coefficients of the proposed structure and a classical micro-perforated plate (MPP), and the results reveal equivalent acoustic performance, suggesting that it can be used as an alternative to the MPP for low–mid frequency sound absorption. Moreover, the influences of the main parameters on the sound absorption coefficient of PPCS are also analyzed, such as the hole diameter, area ratio, flow resistance, and porous-material thickness in the PR. The mechanism of sound absorption is discussed through the surface acoustic impedance and the distributions of particle velocity and sound pressure at several specific frequencies. This work provides a new idea for the applications of the thin porous layer in low- and medium-frequency sound absorption.

Structure design and performance analysis of aerostatic thrust bearing with compound restrictors

Aerostatic thrust bearing compensated by multi-orifices and porous material restrictor simultaneously is proposed to improve the static performance of the bearing. Load Carrying Capacity (LCC), stiffness and the flow field characteristics of the bearing are obtained by Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) simulation. The influences of supply pressure, orifice number, orifice diameter, orifice distribution, porous material thickness and permeability coefficient on the bearing performance are analysed. It is indicated that LCC and stiffness of the bearing with compound restrictors are much higher than those of the bearing with porous material restrictor or multi-orifice restrictor if gas film thickness is in rational range. The bearing with compound restrictors has better stability than that of the bearing with multi-orifice restrictor. Moreover, the optimum bearing parameters with compound restrictors are given to improving the performance of aerostatic thrust bearing.

Investigation of the influence of operational factors on the heat-protective characteristics of a package of materials for firefighter combat clothing

The article is devoted to the assessment of the impact of operational factors on the heat-protective performance of a package of materials of firefighter's combat clothing. The paper considers the influence of high humidity, compression of a package of materials, the presence of reflective elements in a package of clothing materials. The operational factors of influence on the heat-protective indicators of the package of materials of the firefighter's combat clothing, which reduce the protective action time by more than 3 times, are determined. The paper notes that it is the humidity and compression of the package of materials that change the nature of heating, which is due to an increase in the thermal conductivity of the layers when these factors affect the porous material.

Neutralization of solvent vapors of brand 650 by the adsorption‑catalytic method

The purpose of this work is to study the process of neutralization of vapors of a mixed solvent of the brand 650 by the adsorption‑catalytic method. The essence of the method consists in the concentration of solvent components on the sorbent, thermal desorption followed by periodic flameless catalytic oxidation of accumulated organic substances to carbon dioxide and water. Synthetic zeolite of the NaX brand was used as a sorbent, and a porous material based on foam ceramics of the Al2O3/SiO2 composition with a highly developed modified surface with an active catalytic phase was used as a catalyst. The mixed solvent contains, xylenes, ethylcellosol, n‑butanol. It is shown that the value of the sorption volume of zeolite for each class of the considered compounds is influenced by certain factors: the length and structure of the carbon skeleton, the position of the hydroxyl group (for alcohols and esters), the number of methyl groups in the composition of molecules (for the production of benzene). The conversion rate of the mixed solvent components was 65.4–90.1 %.

Performance and Parameter Sensitivity Analysis of the PEMFC Flow Channel with Porous Baffles

In this paper, a method to improve the performance of PEMFCs using porous material as a flow channel baffle is proposed. The results show that PEMFCs with four porous baffles flow channels have better performance at high current density compared with the traditional flow channel. The structural parameters of the flow channel explored in this study include porosity, the thickness of the baffle and the number of baffles, and their influence on the performance of PEMFCs. Sensitivity analysis results show that the performance of the PEMFCs with the porous baffle channel is the most sensitive to baffle thickness, and the thickness and baffle could be appropriately adjusted. The number of plates and porosity of the baffle are adjusted to improve the performance of the PEMFCs.

Boundary Value Problems of Thermoelasticity for Porous Sphere and for A Space with Spherical Cavity

This article is concerned with the coupled linear quasi-static theory of thermoelasticity for porous materials under local thermal equilibrium. The system of equations is based on the constitutive equations, Darcy's law of the flow of a fluid through a porous medium, Fourier's law of heat conduction, the equations of equilibrium, fluid mass conservation and heat transfer. The system of governing equations is expressed in terms of displacement vector field, the change of volume fraction of pores, the change of fluid pressure in pore network and the variation of temperature of porous material. The present paper is devoted to construct explicit solutions of the quasi-static boundary value problems (BVPs) of coupled theory of thermoelasticity for a porous elastic sphere and for a space with a spherical cavity. In this research the regular solution of the system of equations for an isotropic porous material is constructed by means of the elementary (harmonic, bi-harmonic and meta-harmonic) functions. The basic boundary value problems (the Dirichlet type boundary value problem for a sphere and the Neumann type boundary value problem for a space with a spherical cavity) are solved explicitly. The obtained solutions are given by means of the harmonic, bi-harmonic and meta-harmonic functions. For the harmonic functions the Poisson type formulas are obtained. The bi-harmonic and meta-harmonic functions are presented as absolutely and uniformly convergent series.