Three-Dimensional Simulation of Mixing Flow in a Porous Mediumwith Heat and Mass Transfer in a Moisture Recovery System

In this article, simulation results of steady three-dimensional heat and mass transfer between two parallel channels separated by a porous medium are presented. The two fluid streams flowing in the two channels have different compositions and are at different temperatures. The governing equations at the present phase include conservations of mass, momentum, energy, and species. The flow is laminar since the Reynolds number based on the hydraulic diameter of the channel is less than 500 in all cases. Density is variable and is evaluated based on an ideal gas mixture. Mass diffusivity is calculated based on binary diffusion coefficients for species pairs. Comparison of the results indicate that a counter flow arrangement results in a higher performance in terms of both heat transfer and moisture recovery compared to a parallel flow case. In tact, for the particular dimensions considered in this study, an increase of about 50% in heat transfer, and an increase of about 24% in moisture recovery are observed.

Three-Dimensional Simulation of Mixing Flow in a Porous Mediumwith Heat and Mass Transfer in a Moisture Recovery System Keywords:

Heat and mass transfer , porous media , moisture recovery , CFD modeling , Simple algorithm