Wetting of porous solids

Area of Science:

• Computational physics
• Material science
• Fluid dynamics

Background:

• Simulating fluid-porous solid interactions is crucial for understanding phenomena like wetting.
• Existing methods may lack efficiency or comprehensive modeling of complex behaviors.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present a novel, efficient, three-stage computational method for simulating fluid wetting in porous solids.
• To model key physical processes including absorption, internal fluid transport, and dripping.

Main Methods:

• A three-stage simulation approach: 1. Fluid absorption upon contact. 2. Diffusion-driven fluid transport in a deforming mesh. 3. Dripping from oversaturated regions.
• The model incorporates physics of imbibition, gravity, and body forces.
• Applicable to both 2D (cloth) and 3D (sponges) objects.

Main Results:

• The simulation method accurately models wicking, imbibition, dripping, and surface flows.
• It accounts for material weakening and volume expansion due to wetting.
• The model is mass-conserving and computationally efficient.

Conclusions:

• The proposed method offers a robust and efficient simulation of fluid wetting in porous materials.
• It can be readily integrated into existing simulation pipelines for cloth, soft bodies, and fluids.
• This work advances the computational modeling of fluid-porous solid interactions.