Heat and moisture diffusion in spruce and wood panels computed from 3-D morphologies using the Lattice Boltzmann method

In this paper, the Lattice Boltzmann method is used to simulate heat and mass diffusion in bio-based building materials. The numerical method is presented and the methodology developed to reduce the calculation time is described. The 3-D morphologies of spruce and wood fibers are obtained using synchrotron X-ray micro-tomography. Equivalent macroscopic properties (heat conductivity and mass diffusivity) are therefore determined from the real micro-structure of the materials. The results reveal the anisotropy of the studied materials. The computed equivalent heat conductivity varies from 0.036Wm−1K−1 to 0.52Wm−1K−1 and the computed dimensionless mass diffusivity varies from 0.0088 to 0.78 depending on the materials and on the diffusion directions. Using these results, morphology families are identified and simple expressions are proposed to predict the equivalent properties as a function of phase properties and solid fraction.