Pore size distribution, survival probability, and relaxation time in random and ordered arrays of fibers

We present a random walk based investigation of the pore size probability distribution and its moments, the survival probability and mean survival time, and the principal relaxation time, for random and ordered arrays of cylindrical fibers of various orientation distributions. The dimensionless mean survival time, principal relaxation time, mean pore size, and mean square pore size are found to increase with porosity, remain practically independent of the directionality of random fiber beds, and attain lower values for ordered arrays. Wide pore size distributions are obtained for random fiber structures and relatively narrow for ordered square arrays, all in very good agreement with theoretically predicted limiting values. Analytical results derived for the pore size probability and its lower moments for square arrays of fibers practically coincide with the corresponding simulation results. Earlier variational bounds on the mean survival time and principal relaxation time are obeyed by our numerical results in all cases, and are found to be quite sharp up to very high porosities. Dimensionless groups representing the deviation of such bounds from our simulation results vary in practically the same range as the corresponding values reported earlier for beds of spherical particles. A universal scaling expression of the literature relating the mean survival time to the mean pore size [S. Torquato and C. L. Y. Yeong, J. Chem. Phys. 106, 8814 (1997)] agrees very well with our results for all types of fiber structures, thus validated for the first time for anisotropic porous media

The effects of compression on single and multiphase flow in a model polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell gas diffusion layer

A two-dimensional study of an idealised fibrous medium representing the gas diffusion layer of a PEMFC is conducted using computational fluid dynamics. Beginning with an isotropic case the medium is compressed uni-directionally to observe the effects on single and multiphase flow. Relations between the compression ratio and the permeability of the medium are deduced and key parameters dictating the changes in flow are elucidated. The main conclusions are that whilst compression reduces the absolute permeability of an isotropic medium, the creation of anisotropic geometry results in preferential liquid water pathways. The most important parameter for capillary flow, in uniformly hydrophobic media, is the minimum fibre spacing normal to the flow path. The effect is less pronounced with decreasing contact angle and non-existent for neutrally wettable media

Hydrodynamic slip can align thin nanoplatelets in shear flow

The large-scale processing of nanomaterials such as graphene and MoS2 relies on understanding the flow behaviour of nanometrically-thin platelets suspended in liquids. Here we show, by combining non-equilibrium molecular dynamics and continuum simulations, that rigid nanoplatelets can attain a stable orientation for sufficiently strong flows. Such a stable orientation is in contradiction with the rotational motion predicted by classical colloidal hydrodynamics. This surprising effect is due to hydrodynamic slip at the liquid-solid interface and occurs when the slip length is larger than the platelet thickness; a slip length of a few nanometers may be sufficient to observe alignment. The predictions we developed by examining pure and surface-modified graphene is applicable to different solvent/2D material combinations. The emergence of a fixed orientation in a direction nearly parallel to the flow implies a slip-dependent change in several macroscopic transport properties, with potential impact on applications ranging from functional inks to nanocomposites.Energy Technolog