Method for evaluation of absorption behaviour of absorbent articles

摘要

An improved method and computer system is provided, for analyzing the two- or three-dimensional movement of a fluid in an absorbent article that comprises fluid-swellable composite material, which comprises a fluid-swellable solid material, and that comprises void spaces in said fluid-swellable composite material, said fluid-swellable composite material being defined by a virtual two-dimensional or three-dimensional mesh, to determine the performance or property of at least one feature of said fluid-swellable composite material thereof, or said absorbent article, said method comprising: inputting one or more properties for said fluid-swellable (composite) material into the model and evaluating this to determine the performance of a feature of the absorbent article or fluid-swellable composite material thereof, said virtual model comprising a solution of the following equations:
i) an equation for determining the liquid movement in said void spaces, at a given location of said fluid-swellable composite material and/ or at a given time;
ii) an equation for determining the amount of liquid present in said fluid-swellable solid material, at a given location of said fluid-swellable composite material and/ or at a given time; and
iii) an equation for determining the displacement of one or more locations or said mesh of the fluid-swellable composite material, due to swelling of said material, at a given time, preferably including an equation for determining displacement of said mesh over time and preferably an equation for determining a refinement of said mesh over time.