Double Diffusive Natural Convection in a Square Cavity Filled with a Porous Media and a Power Law Fluid Separated by a Wavy Interface

Abstract

This study deals with the influence of a wavy interface separating two layers filled with power law fluid and porous media, respectively. The governing equations are solved using the Finite Element Method (FEM) and the numerical model is validated by comparing with experimental findings. The parameters governing the studied configuration are varied as: Rayleigh number (103 ≤ Ra ≤ 106), power law index (0.6 ≤ n ≤ 1.4), Darcy number (10−2 ≤ Da ≤ 10−6), buoyancy ratio (0.1 ≤ N ≤ 10) and Lewis number (1 ≤ Le ≤ 10). It is inferred that the temperature gradient increases by augmenting the Rayleigh number, as the flow is observed from the vertical to horizontal direction in both layers. Constant enhancement in the heat and mass transfer is also observed by enriching the buoyancy effect. Moreover, the average Nusselt and Sherwood numbers decline by increasing the width of the porous layer.