Porous and Complex Flow Structures in Modern Technologies represents a new approach to the field, considering the fundamentals of porous media in terms of the key roles played by these materials in modern technology. Intended as a text for advanced undergraduates and as a reference for practicing engineers, the book uses the physics of flows in porous materials to tie together a wide variety of important issues from such fields as biomedical engineering, energy conversion, civil engineering, electronics, chemical engineering, and environmental engineering. Thus, for example, flows of water and oil through porous ground play a central role in energy exploration and recovery (oil wells, geothermal fluids), energy conversion (effluents from refineries and power plants), and environmental engineering (leachates from waste repositories). Similarly, the demands of miniaturization in electronics and in biomedical applications are driving research into the flow of heat and fluids through small-scale porous media (heat exchangers, filters, gas exchangers). Filters, catalytic converters, the drying of stored grains, and a myriad of other applications involve flows through porous media. By providing a unified theoretical framework that includes not only the traditional homogeneous and isotropic media but also models in which the assumptions of representative elemental volumes or global thermal equilibrium fail, the book provides practicing engineers the tools they need to analyze complex situations that arise in practice. This volume includes examples, solved problems and an extensive glossary of symbols.

Heat and fluid flow in fluid-saturated porous media has become increas ingly more attractive to researchers and thus it has become a very pro ductive field for many researchers and practical engineers in very diverse range of fields. The great interest in the topic stems from its widespread number of different practical applications in modern industries and in many environmental issues, such as nuclear waste management, build ing thermal insulators, geothermal power plants, grain storage, etc. In building sciences and thermal insulation engineering, an appreciable in sulating effect has been derived by placing porous material in the gap between the cavity walls and multishield structures of nuclear reactors between the pressure vessel and the reactor. Geophysical applications include modeling of the spread of pollutants (e. g. radioactive mater ial), water movements in geothermal reservoirs, enhanced recovery of petroleum reservoirs, etc. These, and many other, important practical applications have resulted in a rapid expansion of research in the general area of porous media and thus generated a vast amount of both theor etical and experimental research work. It has attracted the attention of industrialists, engineers and scientists from many varying disciplines, such as applied mathematics, chemical, civil, environmental, mechanical and nuclear engineering, geothermal physics, food science, medicine, etc. This book contains some of the contributions to the NATO Advanced Study Institute on Emerging Technologies and Techniques in Porous Media that was held in Neptun-Olimp, Constanta, Black Sea, Romania on 9-20 June, 2003.

This important resource explores recent theoretical advances and modelling on fluids transport in fractal porous systems and presents a systematic understanding of the characterization of complex microstructure and transport mechanism in fractal porous media. Modelling of Flow and Transport in Fractal Porous Media shows how fractal theory and technology, combined with other modern experiments and numerical simulation methods, will assist researchers and practitioners in modelling of transport properties of fractal porous media, such as fluid flow, heat and mass transfer, mechanical characteristics, and electrical conductivity. - Presents the main methods and technologies for transport characterization of fractal porous media, including soils, reservoirs and artificial materials - Provides the most recent theoretical advances in modelling of fractal porous media, including gas and vapor transport in fibrous materials, nonlinear seepage flow in hydrocarbon reservoirs, mass transfer of porous nanofibers, and fractal mechanics of unsaturated soils - Includes multidisciplinary examples of applications of fractal theory to aid researchers and practitioners in characterizing various porous media structures

The purpose of this book, Industrial and Technological Applications of Transport in Porous Materials, is to provide a collection of recent contributions in the field of heat and mass transfer in porous media and their industrial and technological applications. The main benefit of the book is that it discusses some of the most important topics related to transport phenomenon in engineering and their future applications. It includes a set of new technological applications in the field of heat and mass transfer phenomena in a porous medium domain, such as, drying technology, filtration, infrared thermography, energy, recycling, etc. At the same time, these topics will be going to the encounter of a variety of scientific and engineering disciplines, such as chemical, civil, agricultural, mechanical engineering, etc. The book is divided in several chapters that intend to be a resume of the current state of knowledge for benefit of professional colleagues.

This textbook provides a general overview of porous media flow, and introduces various theoretical tools to characterize and predict the flow. It has been written for graduate and advanced graduate students in various engineering disciplines. It includes the topics such as fluid flow, conduction, convection, and radiation in porous media as well as porous medium aspects of biological systems. The concepts are supported by numerous solved examples to aid self-learning in students. The textbook also contains illustrated diagrams for better understanding of the concepts. This textbook will be useful for the core course of "Flow through Porous media" for graduate and advanced graduate students in various engineering disciplines. This textbook will also serve as a refresher course for researchers who are engaged in research related to porous media flow.

The very first major reference text on this topic, this book provides a unique collection of articles reviewing the state of the art in the field. It gives particular emphasis to emerging technologies, from bioengineering and bio-tissues to nanotechnology. The integration of the different topics is presented via a combination of theoretical and applied methodology to provide a self-contained major reference that is appealing to both the scientist and the engineer.