Smouldering in fixed beds of oil shale grains. A three-dimensional microscale numerical model

A three-dimensional, microscale numerical model for the simulation of smouldering in fixed beds of solid fuels is presented. It solves the local governing equations, and therefore explicitly accounts for the coupling of the transport and reaction mechanisms on the microscopic scale. This article describes the conceptual and numerical apparatus and provides illustrative examples of calculations. Extensive applications will be presented in two companion papers.