Macroscopic thermodynamics of porous media (Q1204020)

A macroscopic thermodynamical theory of unsaturated porous media is studied. The porous media under consideration contain air, liquid water and its vapour encountering phase changes. To the classical state quantities, viz. temperature and densities, we add the volume fractions. These fractions are submitted to constraints, for instance their values lie between \(0\) and \(1\). The contraints are taken into account by the free energies which become non-smooth functions. The constitutive laws are obtained by classical thermodynamics and a careful treatment of the non-smooth functions.