Macroscopic lattice Boltzmann model for heat and moisture transfer process with phase transformation in unsaturated porous media during freezing process

Abstract

In the current study, a macroscopic lattice Boltzmann model for simulating the heat and moisture transport phenomenon in unsaturated porous media during the freezing process was proposed. The proposed model adopted percolation threshold to reproduce the extra resistance in frozen fringe during the freezing process. The freezing process in Kanagawa sandy loam soil was demonstrated by the proposed model. The numerical result showed good agreement with the experimental result. The proposed model also offered higher computational efficiency and better agreement with the experimental result than the existing numerical models. Lattice Boltzmann method is suitable for simulating complex heat and mass transfer process in porous media at macroscopic scale under proper dimensionless criterion, which makes it a potentially powerful tool for engineering application.

Keywords

• macroscopic lattice boltzmann model
• heat and moisture transfer
• unsaturated porous media
• freezing process
• percolation threshold
• 02.60.cb
• 05.60.-k
• 44.30.+v
• 65.20.de