Liquid water transport model in hydrophilic granular : Preliminary validation with drying rate of hierarchical granular
The drying rate profile of granular beds can be divided into the constant rate period (CRP), which is characterized by a nearly constant drying rate, and the falling rate period (FRP), in which the drying rate rapidly decays. In order to explain this behavior quantitatively, we proposed a simple one-dimensional power law model in which the product of the water permeability and the pressure gradient is assumed to be proportional to the cube of the saturation. To test this model, we measured the drying rates of glass beads and hierarchical granular materials produced by sintering and breaking glass beads. Our results and those of previous experiments showed consistency with the power law. The obtained proportional constant of the experimental power law also shows a rough agreement with that estimated from previous studies on water permeability and capillary pressure. Drying behavior in FRP also agrees with our model in some points. The remnant deviation of the model from experimental results may be attributed to the inhomogeneity of granular media, which was qualitatively verified.