Tailored Wicking Performance in Porous Media Attained with Additive Manufacturing

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dc.contributor.advisorPreston, Daniel J
dc.creatorNoce, Evan
dc.date.accessioned2024-05-21T21:49:57Z
dc.date.created2024-05
dc.date.issued2024-04-18
dc.date.submittedMay 2024
dc.date.updated2024-05-21T21:49:57Z
dc.descriptionEMBARGO NOTE: This item is embargoed until 2025-05-01
dc.description.abstractAdditive manufacturing (AM) has improved the ability and accessibility of manufacturing wicking materials. With lower manufacturing costs than traditional methods, AM is of particular value to fields such as thermal management and microfluidics to decrease the unit price of devices. Due to the limited control of the flow rate of wicking in porous media, designing these materials is a significant challenge. As a result, there is a need for easy-to-produce materials with tailorable wicking performance. In this work, we present a method of predicting wicking in porous media, achieved through the use of AM to create porous structures with simple geometries. Layers of parallel lines, each successive layer rotated 90° from the last, formed a gridded structure for which analytical models for the capillary pressure and solid fraction and a semi-analytical model for permeability were found. These models were then verified with capillary rise experiments against gravity using an area-independent form of Darcy’s law. The experiments validated the models over a range of solid fractions from 0.4 to 0.9. Finally, by representing porous media as a series of Ohmic fluidic resistors, we designed wicking material with spatially varying parameters. These materials achieved non-intuitive wicking performances, such as progressions that were linear or piecewise functions of time rather than the traditional exponential Washburn relationship.
dc.embargo.lift2025-05-01
dc.embargo.terms2025-05-01
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdf
dc.identifier.citationNoce, Evan. Tailored Wicking Performance in Porous Media Attained with Additive Manufacturing. (2024). Masters thesis, Rice University. https://hdl.handle.net/1911/116136
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1911/116136
dc.language.isoeng
dc.rightsCopyright is held by the author, unless otherwise indicated. Permission to reuse, publish, or reproduce the work beyond the bounds of fair use or other exemptions to copyright law must be obtained from the copyright holder.
dc.subjectcapillary flow
dc.subjectporous media
dc.subject3D printing
dc.subjectpermeability
dc.titleTailored Wicking Performance in Porous Media Attained with Additive Manufacturing
dc.typeThesis
dc.type.materialText
thesis.degree.departmentMechanical Engineering
thesis.degree.disciplineEngineering
thesis.degree.grantorRice University
thesis.degree.levelMasters
thesis.degree.nameMaster of Science
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