Second law analysis of laminar flow in a channel filled with saturated porous media

Abstract

The entropy generation rate in a laminar flow through a channel filled with saturated porous media is investigated. The upper surface of the channel is adiabatic and the lower wall is assumed to have a constant heat flux. The Brinkman model is employed. Velocity and temperature profiles are obtained for large Darcy number (Da) and used to obtain the entropy generation number and the irreversibility ratio. Generally, our result shows that heat transfer irreversibility dominates over fluid friction irreversibility (i.e. 0 ≤ 0 < 1), and viscous dissipation has no effect on the entropy generation rate at the centerline of the channel. © 2005 by MDPI.