A synthesis of infiltration effects on an insulation matrix

Abstract--This work presents the effects of air infiltration on heat and mass transfer in a porous matrix. The vertical boundaries of the porous system are partially permeable in order to simulate the holes or the cracks in the porous insulation materials. An efficient numerical scheme accounting for phase change is employed to solve the appropriate governing equations along with the boundary conditions, which describe the complicated transport process. The interactions of the field variables and the influence of the Blot numbers and the opening size are investigated. The effects of the locations of the openings on the Nusselt number are researched through investigating four representative cases. In all cases, it is found that the liquid accumulates heavily in the region which is exposed to the hot and humid environment. It is also found that infiltration plays a very important role in determining the overall heat transfer rates as well as the generated liquid condensate.