Why Porous Media Flow Is Important for Modeling
Porous media are encountered in many natural as well as manufactured systems. The need for advanced porous media modeling spans many industries and application areas like processes in fuel cells, paper-pulp drying, food production and safety, filtration, concrete, ceramics, moisture absorbents, textiles, paint drying, polymer composites, and detergent tablets. The most well-known natural porous media involving multiphase flow and transport are soils, aquifers, and oil and gas reservoirs. However, such processes also occur in biological tissues and plants. Recently, there has been growing interest in the biomechanics of porous tissues, engineered tissues, and in-tissue drug delivery.
Many of these porous systems are extremely complex. Therefore, the traditional concepts, models, and algorithms developed for porous media in the geosciences are not directly applicable and there is a very strong need for tailored models. Multiphysics couplings are essential to capture the effects of porous media on transport processes.