Thermal analysis of a 2-D heat recovery system using porous media including lattice Boltzmann simulation of fluid flow

The present work deals with the fluid flow simulation and thermal analysis of a two-dimensional heat recovery system using porous media. A basic high-temperature flow system is considered in which a high-temperature non-radiating gas flows through a random porous matrix. The porous medium, in addition to its convective heat exchange with the gas, may absorb, emit and scatter thermal radiation. It is desirable to have large amount of radiative heat flux from the porous segment in the upstream direction (towards the thermal system). The lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) is used to simulate fluid flow in the porous medium. The gas and solid phases are considered in non-local thermal equilibrium, and separate energy equations are applied to these phases. Convection, conduction and radiation heat transfers take place simultaneously in solid phase, but in the gas flow, heat transfer occurs by conduction and convection. In order to analyze the thermal characteristics of the heat recovery system, volume-averaged velocities through the porous matrix obtained by LBM are used in the gas energy equation and then the coupled energy equations for gas and porous medium are numerically solved using finite difference method. For computing of radiative heat flux in the porous medium, discrete ordinates method is used to solve the radiative transfer equation. Finally the effect of various parameters on the performance of porous heat recovery system is studied.     

Fully developed natural convection heat and mass transfer in a vertical annular porous medium with asymmetric wall temperatures and concentrations

This work examines the effects of the modified Darcy number, the buoyancy ratio and the inner radius-gap ratio on the fully developed natural convection heat and mass transfer in a vertical annular non-Darcy porous medium with asymmetric wall temperatures and concentrations. The exact solutions for the important characteristics of fluid flow, heat transfer, and mass transfer are derived by using a non-Darcy flow model. The modified Darcy number is related to the flow resistance of the porous matrix. For the free convection heat and mass transfer in an annular duct filled with porous media, increasing the modified Darcy number tends to increase the volume flow rate, total heat rate added to the fluid, and the total species rate added to the fluid. Moreover, an increase in the buoyancy ratio or in the inner radius-gap ratio leads to an increase in the volume flow rate, the total heat rate added to the fluid, and the total species rate added to the fluid.     

Enhancement of heat transfer: Combined convection and radiation in the entrance region of circular ducts with porous inserts

Using porous ceramic inserts in high temperature equipment has been proven to be an effective means to enhance combined convective–radiative heat transfer. The porous ceramic insert was referred to as a convection-to-radiation converter (CRC) by previous investigators. We consider a novel application of CRC cores in a partial by pass flow system for heat transfer enhancement. Both hydrodynamically and thermally developing laminar flow is considered in the entrance region of a circular pipe with a porous insert located at the center. The momentum and Darcy–Brinkman equations are applied to the flow field in the annular gas layer and central porous layer respectively. The energy equation is coupled with the radiative transfer equation by the radiation source term. The radiative transfer is simulated by the newly developed integral equations [X.L. Chen, W. Sutton, Radiative transfer in finite cylindrical media using transformed integral equations, J. Quant. Spectrosc. Radiat. Transfer 77 (3) (2003) 233–271; W. Sutton, X.L. Chen, A general integration method for radiative transfer in 3-D non-homogeneous cylindrical media with anisotropic scattering, J. Quant. Spectrosc. Radiat. Transfer 84 (2004) 65–103] to avoid singularity problem and give high accuracy. The working fluid and porous medium are both considered as participating media. Finally, this highly non-linear system of equations is solved by a mixed iteration method. The results are compared between the cases with and without the porous insert. The porous insert enhances both convective and radiative transfer by about 35% and 105% respectively at the most. The effects of important parameters on this enhancement are discussed in detail.     

Enhancement of forced-convection cooling of multiple heated blocks in a channel using porous covers

A numerical study was carried out for enhanced heat transfer from multiple heated blocks in a channel by porous covers. The flow field is governed by the Navier–Stokes equation in the fluid region, the Darcy–Brinkman–Forchheimer equation in the porous region, and the thermal field by the energy equation. Solution of the coupled governing equations is obtained using a stream function-vorticity analysis. This study details the effects of variations in the Darcy number, Reynolds number, inertial parameter, and two pertinent geometric parameters, to illustrate important fundamental and practical results. The results show that the recirculation caused by porous-covering block will significantly enhance the heat transfer rate on both top and right faces of second and subsequent blocks.     

Thermosolutal convection from a discrete heat and solute source in a vertical porous annulus

Double-diffusive convection in a vertical annulus filled with a fluid-saturated porous medium is numerically investigated with the aim to understand the effects of a discrete source of heat and solute on the fluid flow and heat and mass transfer rates. The porous annulus is subject to heat and mass fluxes from a portion of the inner wall, while the outer wall is maintained at uniform temperature and concentration. In the formulation of the problem, the Darcy–Brinkman model is adopted to the fluid flow in the porous annulus. The influence of the main controlling parameters, such as thermal Rayleigh number, Darcy number, Lewis number, buoyancy ratio and radius ratio are investigated on the flow patterns, and heat and mass transfer rates for different locations of the heat and solute source. The numerical results show that the flow structure and the rates of heat and mass transfer strongly depend on the location of the heat and solute source. Further, the buoyancy ratio at which flow transition and flow reversal occur is significantly influenced by the thermal Rayleigh number, Darcy number, Lewis number and the segment location. The average Nusselt and Sherwood numbers increase with an increase in radius ratio, Darcy and thermal Rayleigh numbers. It is found that the location for stronger flow circulation is not associated with higher heat and mass transfer rates in the porous annular cavity.     

Using porous inserts to enhance heat transfer in laminar fully-developed flows

The objective of this work is to investigate if it is possible to use porous inserts to enhance heat transfer in rectangular channels. A mathematical model that includes inertia and viscous effects is used to determined the velocity profile in the porous region. For the fluid region, momentum transfer is modeled using the Navier-Stokes equation. These equations and the energy equations are solved numerically via a finite-difference method. Heat transfer between the channel walls and the fluid is determined as a function of Darcy number, inertia parameter, ratio of the fluid and porous medium thermal conductivities, and the porous insert thickness. It is shown that heat transfer could be enhanced by placing a porous insert in the channel. Moreover, for some conditions heat transfer is maximized by using a porous insert thinner than the channel height while a porous insert that completely fills the channel is needed for other conditions.     

A study on entropy generation and heat transfer in a magnetohydrodynamic flow of a couple-stress fluid through a thermal nonequilibrium vertical porous channel

The effect of local thermal nonequilibrium (LTNE) on the entropy generation and heat transfer characteristics in the magnetohydrodynamic flow of a couple-stress fluid through a high-porosity vertical channel is studied numerically using the higher-order Galerkin technique. The Boussinesq approximation is assumed to be valid and the porous medium is considered to be isotropic and homogeneous. Two energy equations are considered one each for solid and fluid phases. The term involving the heat transfer coefficient in both equations renders them mutually coupled. Thermal radiation and an internal heat source are considered only in the fluid phase. The influence of inverse Darcy number, Hartmann number, couple-stress fluid parameter, Grashof number, thermal radiation parameter, and interphase heat transfer coefficient on velocity and temperature profiles is depicted graphically and discussed. The entropy generation, friction factor, and Nusselt number are determined, and outcomes are presented via plots. The effect of LTNE on the temperature profile is found to cease when the value of the interphase heat transfer coefficient is high, and in this case, we get the temperature profiles of fluid and solid phases are uniform. The physical significance of LTNE is discussed in detail for different parameters' values. It is found that heat transport and friction drag are maximum in the case of LTNE and minimum in the case of local thermal equilibrium. We observe that LTNE opposes the irreversibility of the system. The corresponding results of a fluid-saturated densely packed porous medium can be obtained as a limiting case of the current study.     

Natural Convection in a Non-Darcy Porous Cavity Filled with Cu–Water Nanofluid Using the Characteristic-Based Split Procedure in Finite-Element Method

Natural convection of Cu–water nanofluid in a differentially heated non-Darcy porous cavity was numerically investigated by using the characteristic-based split algorithm in finite element method. Effects of the various thermophysical parameters and the solid volume fraction of nanoparticle on heat transfer and fluid flow in different flow regimes were demonstrated. Although the addition of nanoparticles in the porous medium generally resulted in the higher average Nusselt number in most flow regimes, the average Nusselt number appears to decrease or stay nearly the same with increased solid volume fraction in Darcy flow regime at a high Rayleigh number and low Darcy number.     

Investigations of Heat Transfer Enhancement in a Channel with Staggered Porous Ribs by the Preconditioned Density-Based Algorithm

The preconditioned density-based algorithm and two-domain approach were used to investigate the fluid flow and heat transfer characteristics in a channel with staggered porous/solid ribs. In the porous zone, the momentum equations were formulated by the Darcy–Brinkman–Forchheimer model; and the local thermal equilibrium (LTE) model was adopted for energy equation. At the porous/fluid interface, the stress–continuity interfacial condition was utilized. The governing equations are solved by the preconditioned density-based control-volume method, with preconditioning matrix for equations of porous domain adopted, aiming to eliminate the equation stiffness of the porous seepage flow. The effects of Reynolds number, geometry parameters of ribs (rib length and thickness), and physical property of porous media (permeability and porosity) on the flow pattern and heat transfer performance were analyzed. Results indicate that, compared with that of solid ribs, the recirculating bubble behind the porous ribs is completely detached from it because of the permeability of porous media, and the size of the recirculating bubble is suppressed. The parameters that would affect the mass flow of fluid penetrating the porous ribs, including permeability, Reynolds number, baffle length and thickness, have remarkable influence on the flow pattern. All the aforementioned parameters would affect the local heat transfer performance.     

Study of heat transfer enhancement in a nanofluid-cooled miniature heat sink

This paper reports numerical solution for thermally developing temperature profile and analytical solution for fully developed velocity profile in a miniature plate fin heat sink with SiO₂–water nanofluid as coolant. The flow regime is laminar and Reynolds number varies between 0 and 800. The heat sink is modeled using porous medium approach. Modified Darcy equation for fluid flow and the two-equation model for heat transfer between the solid and fluid phases are employed to predict the local heat transfer coefficient in heat sink. Results show that the nanofluid-cooled heat sink outperforms the water-cooled one, having a considerable higher heat transfer coefficient. The effects of channel aspect ratio and porosity on heat transfer coefficient of the heat sink are studied in detail. Based on the results of our analysis, it is found that an increase in the aspect ratio or the porosity of the plate fin heat sink enhances the heat transfer coefficient.     

Study on fluid–solid coupling heat transfer in fractal porous medium by lattice Boltzmann method

A lattice Boltzmann model is applied to simulate fluid–solid coupling heat transfer in fractal porous medium. The numerical simulation is conducted to investigate the influences of pressure drop and porosity on fluid flows and the effect of thermal conductivity ratio of solid matrix to fluid on heat transfer. The simulation results indicate that fluid flows still obey Darcy’s Law in the range of flow and pressure level in this paper, and that both velocity field and temperature evolution conform to the local structural characteristics of porous medium. The comparison of temperature results from lattice Boltzmann model against those from the finite-volume method (FVM, one of the conventional CFD methods) is also presented to demonstrate the reliability of LBM. The present results agree well with those from FVM, All these indicate the feasibility and the reliability for the lattice Boltzmann model to be used to reveal the phenomenon and rules of fluid–solid coupling heat transfer in complex porous structures.     

Double-diffusive natural convection in a fluid saturated porous cavity with a freely convecting wall

Double — diffusive natural convection in fluid saturated porous medium has been investigated using a generalised porous medium model. One of the vertical walls of the porous cavity considered is subjected to convective heat and mass transfer conditions. The results show that the flow, heat and mass transfer become sensitive to applied mass transfer coefficient in both the Darcy and non-Darcy flow regimes. It is also observed that the Sherwood number approaches a constant value as the solutal Biot number increases.     

Analysis of fluid flow and heat transfer in a channel with staggered porous blocks

Fluid flow and heat transfer characteristics in a channel with staggered porous blocks were numerically studied in this paper. The Navier–Stokes and Brinkman–Forchheimer equations were used to model the fluid flow in the open and porous regions, respectively. Coupling of the pressure and velocity fields was resolved using the SIMPLER algorithm. The local thermal equilibrium model was adopted in the energy equation to evaluate the solid and fluid temperatures. The effect of Darcy number, Reynolds number, porous block height and width on the velocity field were studied. In addition, the effects of the above parameters as well as the thermal conductivity ratio between the porous blocks and the fluid on the local heat transfer were analyzed. The pressure drops across the channel for different cases were discussed. The results show that the flow behavior and its associated local heat transfer are sensitive to the variation of the above parameters. It is predicted by the present study that an increase in the thermal conductivity ratio between the porous blocks and the fluid results in significant enhancement of heat transfer at the locations of the porous blocks.     

Analytical investigation of heat transfer enhancement in a channel partially filled with a porous material under local thermal non-equilibrium condition

Forced convection through a channel partially filled with a porous medium is investigated analytically in the present work. Thermally developed condition is considered and the local thermal non-equilibrium model is utilized to obtain the exact solutions of both fluid and solid temperature fields for flow inside the porous material as well as for flow in the clear region. Nusselt number is obtained in terms of the porous insert thickness (S), porosity (?) as well as pertinent parameters such as thermal conductivity ratio (k), Biot number (Bi), and Darcy number (Da). The values of S by which the temperature difference between the two phases approach to zero, for different values of Bi, k, and Da number are obtained. It is found that three mechanisms affect the Nu number i: clear fluid conduction ii: internal heat exchange in the porous medium iii: channeling effect in the clear flow. The value of S, which yields the highest Nu number is found to vary linearly from 0.8 to 0.97 as the value of Da decreases from 10⁻³ to 10⁻⁷. At the expense of reasonable pressure drop the optimum thickness of porous material in order to enhance the heat transfer rate is found S = 0.8.     

Transient natural convection of non-Newtonian fluids about a vertical surface embedded in an anisotropic porous medium

An analytical method is carried out to investigate transient free convection boundary layer flow along a vertical surface embedded in an anisotropic porous medium saturated by a non-Newtonian fluid. The porous medium is anisotropic in permeability with its principal axes oriented in a direction that is non-coincident with the gravity force. A step increase in wall temperature or in surface heat flux is considered. On the basis of the modified Darcy power-law model proposed by Pascal [H. Pascal, Rheological behaviour effect of non-Newtonian fluids on steady and unsteady flow through porous media, Int. J. Numer. Anal. Methods in Geomech. 7 (1983) 207–224] and the generalized Darcy’s law described by Bear [J. Bear, Dynamics of fluids in porous media. Dover Publications, Elsevier, New York (1972)], boundary-layer equations are solved exactly by the method of characteristics. Scale analysis is applied to predict the order-of-magnitudes involved in the boundary layer regime. Analytical expressions are obtained for the limiting time required to reach steady-state, the boundary-layer thickness and the local Nusselt number in terms of the modified-Darcy Rayleigh number, the power-law index, the anisotropic permeability ratio, and the orientation angle of the principal axes. It is demonstrated that both the power-law index and the anisotropic properties have a strong influence on the heat transfer rate.     

Forced convection heat transfer in microchannel heat sinks

This paper presents an analysis of forced convection heat transfer in microchannel heat sinks for electronic system cooling. In view of the small dimensions of the microstructures, the microchannel is modeled as a fluid-saturated porous medium. Numerical solutions are obtained based on the Forchheimer–Brinkman-extended Darcy equation for the fluid flow and the two-equation model for heat transfer between the solid and fluid phases. The velocity field in the microchannel is first solved by a finite-difference scheme, and then the energy equations governing the solid and fluid phases are solved simultaneously for the temperature distributions. Also, analytical expressions for the velocity and temperature profiles are presented for a simpler flow model, i.e., the Brinkman-extended Darcy model. This work attempts to perform a systematic study on the effects of major parameters on the flow and heat transfer characteristics of forced convection in the microchannel heat sink. The governing parameters of engineering importance include the channel aspect ratio (α_s), inertial force parameter (Γ), porosity (ε), and the effective thermal conductivity ratio (k_r). The velocity profiles of the fluid in the microchannel, the temperature distributions of the solid and fluid phases, and the overall Nusselt number are illustrated for various values of the problem parameters. It is found that the fluid inertia force alters noticeably the dimensionless velocity distribution and the fluid temperature distribution, while the solid temperature distribution is almost insensitive to the fluid inertia. Moreover, the overall Nusselt number increases with increasing the values of α_s and ε, while it decreases with increasing k_r.     

Experimental study of mixed convection heat transfer in a vertical duct filled with metallic porous structures

This paper reports the results of an experimental investigation to examine the potential of a simple and inexpensive porous insert developed specifically for augmenting heat transfer from the heated wall of a vertical duct under forced flow conditions. The porous insert used in the study consists of a stack of metallic perforated plates filled inside the duct. The characteristic features of the porous medium model on the hydrodynamic and heat transfer behavior have been investigated. The porous medium model developed in the present study shows thermo- hydrodynamic performance similar to those seen in metal foams. A correlation has been developed for predicting the Nusselt number from the geometry under consideration. The key novelty in the present work is the development of a new correlation for the Nusselt number that does not require any information from hydrodynamic studies. Over the range of parameters considered, the largest increase in the average Nusselt number of 4.52 times that for clear flow is observed with a porous material of porosity of 0.85.     

Transient and non-Darcian effects on natural convection flow in a vertical channel partially filled with porous medium: Analysis with Forchheimer–Brinkman extended Darcy model

The present study addresses the transient as well as non-Darcian effects on laminar natural convection flow in a vertical channel partially filled with porous medium. Forchheimer–Brinkman extended Darcy model is assumed to simulate momentum transfer within the porous medium. Two regions are coupled by equating the velocity and shear stress in the case of momentum equation while matching of the temperature and heat flux is taken for thermal energy equation. Approximate solutions are obtained using perturbation technique. Variations in velocity field with Darcy number, Grashof number, kinematic viscosity ratio, distance of interface and variations in temperature distribution with thermal conductivity ratio, distance of interface are obtained and depicted graphically. The skin-friction and rate of heat transfer at the channel walls are also derived and the numerical values for various physical parameters are tabulated.     

Investigation of a Confined Laminar Impinging Jet on a Plate with a Porous Layer Using the Preconditioned Density-Based Algorithm

The preconditioned density-based algorithm and two-domain approach were used to investigate the fluid flow and heat transfer characteristics of a confined laminar impinging jet on a plate covered with porous layer. In the porous zone, the momentum equations were formulated by the Darcy-Brinkman-Forchheimer model; the thermal nonequilibrium model was adopted for the energy equation. At the porous/fluid interface, the applicability and influence of different hydrodynamic and thermal interfacial conditions were analyzed for the problem. The governing equations were solved by the preconditioned density-based finite-volume method, with preconditioning matrix for equations of porous domain adopted, aiming to eliminate the equation stiffness of porous seepage flows. The effects of Reynolds number, porosity, Darcy number, thermal conductivity ratio, Biot number, and porous layer thickness on the flow pattern and local heat transfer performance were studied. Results indicate that the Reynolds number and porosity don't strongly influence the flow pattern of porous channel, while the Darcy number and porous layer thickness have obvious influence on the flow pattern. The heat transfer performance are greatly influenced by the parameters studied.     

Numerical study of natural convection in a vertical porous annulus with discrete heating

In this paper natural convection flows in a vertical annulus filled with a fluid-saturated porous medium has been investigated when the inner wall is subject to discrete heating. The outer wall is maintained isothermally at a lower temperature, while the top and bottom walls, and the unheated portions of the inner wall are kept adiabatic. Through the Brinkman-extended Darcy equation, the relative importance of discrete heating on natural convection in the porous annulus is examined. An implicit finite difference method has been used to solve the governing equations of the flow system. The analysis is carried out for a wide range of modified Rayleigh and Darcy numbers for different heat source lengths and locations. It is observed that placing of the heater in lower half of the inner wall rather than placing the heater near the top and bottom portions of the inner wall produces maximum heat transfer. The numerical results reveal that an increase in the radius ratio, modified Rayleigh number and Darcy number increases the heat transfer, while the heat transfer decreases with an increase in the length of the heater. The maximum temperature at the heater surface increases with an increase in the heater length, while it decreases when the modified Rayleigh number and Darcy number increases. Further, we find that the size and location of the heater effects the flow intensity and heat transfer rate in the annular cavity.