A Lattice-Gas Model of Fluid Flow through Tortuous Channels of Hydrophilous and Hydrophobic Porous Materials

A cellular automata (CA) approach is proposed for simulating a fluid flow through the porous material with tortuous channels and different wetting properties of pore walls. The approach aims to combine CA methods both for construction the structure of porous material model and to simulate the fluid flow through it. It is shown that any kind of tortuous structure may be obtained by pattern formation CA evolution, which is then used as a medium for Lattice Gas CA model application. The model is provided by special boundary conditions to account for additional tension forces between solid and liquid substances, determining the hydrophobic and hydrophilous properties of the material. The model has been tested on a small 2D array to obtain some dependencies of flow velocity on the tortuosity and wetting properties of pore walls. Parallel implementation of flow simulation through a carbon electrode of a hydrogen fuel cell is also performed, demonstrating high efficiency (>70%) of parallelization.