MODELING A CLASS OF STOCHASTIC POROUS-MEDIA

This note extends E. H. Lloyd's model of pore structure in random fibr e networks to a large class of stochastic fibre networks containing th e random model as a special case. The key to the generalization is the substitution of a family of gamma distributions for the negative expo nential family used for intercrossing distances on fibres. This allows closed expressions to be obtained for the variance and mean of the eq uivalent pore size distributions in a planar array of line elements re presenting fibres. The analytical details have been made available in a Mathematica notebook, via the World Wide Web. The result has applica tion in modeling the forming of nonwoven textiles and paper from fibre suspensions, and in modeling their void structures and transmission o f fluids.