Conjugate heat and mass transfer in convective drying of porous media

A methodology for the analysis of conjugate problems in the convective drying of porous media is presented. In this study, the interface between porous medium and external convective flow is treated as an internal boundary within a two-phase system rather than a geometric limit. The problems of solid drying and convection boundary layer are connected by expressing the continuity of the state variables and their respective fluxes through the interface. The performance of the proposed methodology is evaluated by applying it to wood-drying problems. The analysis of the drying of porous media as a conjugate problem allows the assessment of the effect of the heat and mass transfer within the solid on the transfer in the adjacent fluid, providing good insight on the complexity of the transfer mechanisms.