System Dynamics Modeling of Porous Media

Abstract

A wide range of engineering problems involve porous media modeling. General porous media models are highly nonlinear, geometrically complex, and must account for energy transfer between fluid and solid constituents normally modeled in distinct Lagrangian and Eulerian reference frames. Combining finite element discretization techniques with bond graph methods greatly simplifies the model formulation process, as compared to alternative schemes based on weighted residual solutions of the governing partial differential equations. The result generalizes existing numerical models of porous media and current network thermodynamics/bond graph theory.