Non-equilibrium natural convection flow through a porous medium

Abstract

The problem of conjugate natural convection flow in a layer of porous media confined by two vertical thermally-conductive thick surfaces is studied. The local thermal non-equilibrium approach is employed for modelling the porous layer allowing for a difference in temperature between the porous structure and the fluid inside it. The basic equations for this investigation are transformed into a set of dimensionless equations. Then, the resulting equations are solved numerically by employing the finite element method. The obtained results are compared with published results in the open literature and are found to be in good agreement. The effects of the wall thermal conductivity parameter, fluid and porous interfacial convective heat transfer parameter and the Rayleigh number on the thermal behavior of the cavity are studied and analysed. The results show that increasing all of the above mentioned parameters results in increasing the heat transfer in the cavity.