Capillary Action (wicking), Water flows in porous media, Ansys Fluent Simulation Training

Description

In this project, Water flow in porous media and capillary action has been simulated using ANSYS Fluent software. We perform this CFD project and investigate it by CFD analysis.

Capillary action is the process of a liquid flowing in a narrow space without the assistance of, or even in opposition to, any external forces like gravity.

The present model is designed in three dimensions using the Design Modeler software. The geometry consists three-section, the lower section is resident water, and the upper section contains resident air; the pipe in the middle is considered a porous zone.

The meshing of the model was done using ANSYS Meshing software. The element number is equal to 178325.

Capillary Methodology

In this project, we simulated the water flows in porous media. This simulation aims to model a simple porous and capillary action through vertical pipe-like Plant vessels in Ansys Fluent Software.

The porous media model can be used for a wide variety of single-phase and multiphase problems, including flow through packed beds, filter papers, perforated plates, flow distributors, and tube banks.

When using this model, a cell zone in which the porous media model is applied and the pressure loss in the flow should be determined. The porous media model incorporates an empirically determined flow resistance in a region of the model defined as “porous.”

The porous media model is nothing more than an added momentum sink in the governing momentum equations.

The Eulerian multiphase model has been used applying the Brooks-Corey model to simulate air and water phases. Gravity is considered as -9.81 m/s2 on the y-axis.

Capillary Conclusion

At the end of the solution process, three-dimensional velocity, air and water volume fraction, and animation are obtained. The result shows that the resident water starts to flow upward through a vessel to reach the top of the vessel due to the capillary effect.