Classification and characterization of porous media
Heat Transfer in Porous Media. Conduction, Convection, Radiation Heat Transfer

Porous media are very diverse in nature, as illustrated by a few examples in figure 1, both in terms of the chemical composition of the materials that make them up, and in terms of the geometric structure delimiting the pore space. They are used in a wide range of applications. Without seeking to be exhaustive, the following examples illustrate this diversity:

• natural porous media of geological origin, such as sands, reservoir rocks, argillites encountered in waste storage or as hydrocarbon reservoirs, and fractured media;

• biological media: wood, plant and animal tissues, biofilms ;

• manufactured porous media: chemical engineering materials (catalytic beds, structured materials), civil engineering materials (concrete, etc.), composite materials, filters and masks, fabrics...