Computational study of the relationship between the flow resistance and the microscopic structure of polymer monoliths

The present article reports on a numerical study of the permeability and flow resistance of ordered and random-structured polymer monolith mimics with different structures. Comparing the permeability of the different monolith structures with the same domain size and the same external porosity, it is found that the larger the degree of globule clustering, the lower is the resulting permeability. More or less independently of the external porosity, a 40% decrease in permeability is observed when comparing a purely cylindrical branch-type skeleton with a strongly clustered globular skeleton with the same external porosity. Correlations allowing to estimate the flow resistance as a function of the external porosity are presented for each considered degree of globule clustering.