Simulations of water flow through bordered pits of conifer xylem

Bordered pits between tracheids play an important role in the water conductivity of conifer xylem. There have been many attempts to model xylem as a water conducting medium, and to estimate its permeability. As the microscopic structure of xylem is highly complex, it is however very difficult to numerically solve the flow equations. New methods have recently been developed by which the flow is simulated rather than found by solving appropriate equations. In this work the lattice-Boltzmann method was used to simulate the flow in bordered pits of conifer xylem, and their permeability was thereby determined. To this end the permeability of two-dimensional screens was also analyzed.