Simulation of thin layer drying of a wet porous medium
The process of heating a porous medium which contains liquid and is limited by walls permeable to mass and heat flows on one side and impermeable on the other, is considered. The system of equations describing the heat and mass transfer during thin layer drying of a porous medium is introduced. The numerical solutions showed that drying time for a thin layer is usually less than the time of formation of a dry zone of the same size in an unbounded medium. However, there are two cases when this dependence doesn’t work: if the relative mass concentration of vapor at the outer wall is close to 1, a high temperature is set in due course in the wet zone reducing the heat input from the outside; if the initial temperature of a medium is close to the steam point, the heat input from the depths is promptly cut off.