Freezing of a porous medium in contact with a concentrated aqueous freezant: numerical modelling of coupled heat and mass transport

The authors have developed a model of coupled heat and mass transport within a porous medium (sheet) saturated with an aqueous solution of initial non-zero solute concentration. The novel contribution of the present work is the resolution of the equations for simultaneous heat and mass flows at one of the interfaces for a wide range of temperatures and concentrations. Good agreement was noted between the simulated and the experimental data. The results presented also underline the fact that this knowledge model helps to clarify our understanding of the interaction mechanisms between heat and mass transport during the immersion freezing process.