Analytical model for laser cutting in porous media

Laser cutting in porous media presents both challenges and opportunities for various applications. Laser cutting requires a deep understanding of heat transfer, materials, and laser physics, and can involve nonlinear and transient effects. There is a lack of literature regarding modelling laser cutting in porous media. Using conservation of energy principle, an analytical model has been developed to calculate the total laser power required to cut a porous media without the need for complex numerical simulations. The model incorporates a new correlation for calculating waste power due to heat transfer into the surrounding during laser cutting as well as modifications to the energy balance equation to incorporate the effect of porosity and fluid saturation. The model has been validated with experimental data of cutting porous media (carbonate rock) and corroborated well. Model validation showed around 10 % accuracy for fluid saturated rock samples and around 17 % accuracy for dry rock samples. Also it has been observed that the level of accuracy improves with lower Peclet number (i.e. lower cutting speed). The proposed analytical model has been used to examine the effect of Peclet number, porosity, fluid saturation, rock type and material thickness on laser cutting performance. The methodology described in this article can be used as a guideline to calculate laser power requirements and size the laser equipment at an early stage prior to the manufacturing process.