Simultaneous heat and moisture transfer with moisture sorption, condensation, and capillary liquid diffusion in porous textiles

A dynamic model of liquid water transfer coupled with moisture sorption, condensation, and heat transfer in porous textiles is developed by incorporating the physical mechanism of liquid diffusion in porous textiles into a coupled heat and moisture transfer model developed previously. An equation describing liquid diffusion behavior is developed in the form of the diffusion coefficient, and a numerical computational scheme to solve the coupled equations involves a fractional volume of fluid method. Experiments measuring fabric surface temperature are conducted to validate the model, and there is reasonable agreement between the predictions and the measurements.