Mass Transfer and Pressure Rise in Moist Porous Material Subjected to Sudden Heating

Abstract

In this paper the authors treat heat and mass transfer which may occur in a moist porous material when it is subjected to a sudden heating of a prescribed temperature at the surface. The basic equations describing the heat and mass transfer and their dimensionless forms are presented. Thereafter, a procedure to solve the basic equations is mentioned by using their finite difference equations. Referring to the results of the numerical computations, the influences of various parameters including thermal conductivity, heat capacity, void fraction, mobility, and initial water content of the material upon temperature, pressure, and moisture distributions in the material are discussed in detail. As a conclusion of these discussions, the authors present an empirical formula to predict the maximum pressure. The proposed formula is compared with experimental results and it is found that the formula is useful for the prediction of the maximum pressure occurring in the material during heating.