Time-dependent gas flows through axisymmetrical porous heat-evolutional bodies

Gas motion in the gravity field through porous heat-evolutional bodies, which can result from natural or man-made disasters (such as the explosion of the reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant), is investigated. A mathematical model and an original numerical method based on a combination of explicit and implicit finite-difference schemes are proposed for studying time-dependent gas flows through axisymmetric porous heat-evolutional bodies. The cooling of axisymmetric porous elements of smoothly converging and stepwise converging shapes, as well as the effect of the geometry of a heat-evolutional element on its cooling process have been investigated. The axisymmetric and plane gas flows through porous heat-evolutional elements were compared and it has been found that the cooling mode of an axisymmetric body may differ from the cooling mode of a plane body not only in quantity but also in quality.