This article deals with the dynamic behavior during filtration and wet pressing
The program has also been used to calculate the flow and concentration variations during mechanical impulse loading ( that is, a press pulse).
IntroductionThe fundamental aspects of flow in porous media have been discussed in a vast number of articles. However, most describe the fluid flow in rigid materials. When fluid flow in compressible media is described the difficulty lies in that mechanical loads, as well as drag forces, deform the solid matrix. This mechanical and hydraulic pressure-induced compression of the matrix results in an increased resistance to liquid flow due to a decrease in the interstitial space.A theoretical flow model relating pressure and steady-state fluid flow in a compressible porous media was derived in a previous article (Jonsson and Jonsson, 1992). In this article a flow equation is presented which allows the derivation of the time dependency of porosity and flow at varying locations in the medium. The presented equation allows the dynamics of media subjected to a compressive stress induced by hydraulic pressure and/or a mechanical load to be studied.Knowledge about the dynamic flow conditions of porous media is of the utmost importance in many industrial applications; papermaking being probably the one of greatest economic importance. Increasing the efficiency of the press section of paper machines is an attractive route to achieving energy savings. Hence, great efforts have been made to develop tools for papermakers to predict and control the water removal during wet pressing of paper webs (Nilsson and Larsson, 1968 Westra, 1975;Jewett et al., 1982;Caulfield et al., 1982;Ceckler et al., 1982;Vincent et al., 1988;Burns et al., 1990;Roux and Vincent, 1991). A comprehensive review of articles treating the dynamics of water flow during wet pressing has recently been published by El-Hosseiny (1991).The use of the numerical program, developed in conjunction with this work, is illustrated by following flow and porosity variations during filtration and during wet pressing of compressible porous media. The influence of pressure and compressibility on porosity and the dynamic behavior of a medium during a press pulse are also discussed.
Dynamic Fluid Flow EquationIn a previous article (Jonsson and Jonsson, 1992) an expression describing fluid flow through compressible porous media under stationary conditions was derived. The description of the dynamic behavior derived in this paper is based on the same basic assumptions:The total volume of the porous medium can be divided into the volume of solid material, V,, the volume of adsorbed water, Vo, and the void volume, V,. The volume that the solid material and adsorbed water occupy, Vsa, is regarded as an incompressible part of the medium and thus, deformation of the medium affects only the void volume, V,.There is no mixing of solid material between different layers in the solid matrix. A layer may be compressed, or
AIChE JournalSeptember 1992 Vol. 38, No. 9 1349exp...