Free convection in a square cavity filled with a bidisperse porous medium

The classical problem of steady Darcy free convection in a square cavity filled with a porous medium has been extended to the case of a bidisperse porous medium (BDPM) by following the recent model proposed by Nield and Kuznetsov [D.A. Nield, A.V. Kuznetsov, Natural convection about a vertical plate embedded in a bidisperse porous medium, Int. J. Heat Mass Transfer 51 (2008) 1658–1664] and Rees et al. [D.A.S. Rees, D.A. Nield, A.V. Kuznetsov, Vertical free convective boundary-layer flow in a bidisperse porous medium, ASME J. Heat Transfer 130 (2008) 1–9]. The transformed partial differential equations in terms of the dimensionless stream function and temperature are solved numerically using a finite-difference method for some values of the governing parameters when the Rayleigh number Ra is equal to 10² and 10³. Results are presented for the flow field with streamlines, temperature field by isotherms and heat transfer by local and mean Nusselt numbers are presented for both the f- and p-phases. It is found that the most important parameters that influence the fluid flow and heat transfer are the inter-phase heat transfer parameter H and the modified thermal conductivity ratio parameter γ.     

Finite element based heatline approach to study mixed convection in a porous square cavity with various wall thermal boundary conditions

A penalty finite element method based simulation is performed to analyze the influence of various walls thermal boundary conditions on mixed convection lid driven flows in a square cavity filled with porous medium. The relevant parameters in the present study are Darcy number (Da = 10^?5 ? 10^?3), Grashof number (Gr = 10³ ? 10⁵), Prandtl number (Pr = 0.7–7.2), and Reynolds number (Re = 1–10²). Heatline approach of visualizing heat flow is implemented to gain a complete understanding of complex heat flow patterns. Patterns of heatlines and streamlines are qualitatively similar near the core for convection dominant flow for Da = 10^?3. Symmetric distribution in heatlines, similar to streamlines is observed irrespective of Da at higher Gr in natural convection dominant regime corresponding to smaller values of Re. A single circulation cell in heatlines, similar to streamlines is observed at Da = 10^?3 for forced convection dominance and heatlines are found to emanate from a large portion on the bottom wall illustrating enhanced heat flow for Re = 100. Multiple circulation cells in heatlines are observed at higher Da and Gr for Pr = 0.7 and 7.2. The heat transfer rates along the walls are illustrated by the local Nusselt number distribution based on gradients of heatfunctions. Wavy distribution in heat transfer rates is observed with Da ? 10^?4 for non-uniformly heated walls primarily in natural convection dominant regime. In general, exponential variation of average Nusselt numbers with Grashof number is found except the cases where the side walls are linearly heated. Overall, heatlines are found to be a powerful tool to analyze heat transport within the cavity and also a suitable guideline on explaining the Nusselt number variations.     

Effects of thermal boundary conditions on natural convection flows within a square cavity

A numerical study to investigate the steady laminar natural convection flow in a square cavity with uniformly and non-uniformly heated bottom wall, and adiabatic top wall maintaining constant temperature of cold vertical walls has been performed. A penalty finite element method with bi-quadratic rectangular elements has been used to solve the governing mass, momentum and energy equations. The numerical procedure adopted in the present study yields consistent performance over a wide range of parameters (Rayleigh number Ra, 10³ ⩽ Ra ⩽ 10⁵ and Prandtl number Pr, 0.7 ⩽ Pr ⩽ 10) with respect to continuous and discontinuous Dirichlet boundary conditions. Non-uniform heating of the bottom wall produces greater heat transfer rates at the center of the bottom wall than the uniform heating case for all Rayleigh numbers; however, average Nusselt numbers show overall lower heat transfer rates for the non-uniform heating case. Critical Rayleigh numbers for conduction dominant heat transfer cases have been obtained and for convection dominated regimes, power law correlations between average Nusselt number and Rayleigh numbers are presented.     

Free convection in a wavy cavity filled with a porous medium

The steady-state free convection inside a cavity made of two horizontal straight walls and two vertical bent-wavy walls and filled with a fluid-saturated porous medium is numerically investigated in the present paper. The wavy walls are assumed to follow a profile of cosine curve. The horizontal walls are kept adiabatic, while the bent-wavy walls are isothermal but kept at different temperatures. The Darcy and energy equations (in non-dimensional stream function and temperature formulation) are solved numerically using the Galerkin Finite Element Method (FEM). Flow and heat transfer characteristics (isothermal, streamlines and local and average Nusselt numbers) are investigated for some values of the Rayleigh number, cavity aspect ratio and surface waviness parameter. The present results are compared with those reported in the open literature for a square cavity with straight walls. It was found that these results are in excellent agreement.     

Mixed convection in a square vented enclosure filled with a porous medium

Steady mixed convection flow in a vented enclosure with an isothermal vertical wall and filled with a fluid-saturated porous medium is investigated numerically. The forced flow conditions are imposed by providing an inlet at the bottom surface, and a vent at the top, facing the inlet. The nature and the basic characteristics of the mixed aiding as well as mixed opposing flows that arise are investigated using the Darcy law model. The governing parameters are the Rayleigh number, Péclet number, and the width of the inlet as a fraction of the height of the square enclosure. These parameters are varied over wide ranges and their effect on the heat transfer characteristics is studied in detail.     

Unsteady conjugate natural convection in a square enclosure filled with a porous medium

Mathematical simulation of unsteady natural convection modes in a square cavity filled with a porous medium having finite thickness heat-conducting walls with local heat source in conditions of heterogeneous heat exchange with an environment at one of the external boundaries has been carried out. Numerical analysis was based on Darcy–Forchheimer model in dimensionless variables such as a stream function, a vorticity vector and a temperature. The special attention was given to analysis of Rayleigh number effect Ra = 10⁴, 10⁵, 10⁶, of Darcy number effect Da = 10^?5, 10^?4, 10^?3, ∞, of the transient factor effect 0 < τ < 1000 and of the heat conductivity ratio k_2,1 = 3.7 × 10^?2, 5.7 × 10^?4, 6.8 × 10^?5 on the velocity and temperature fields. The influence scales of the defining parameters on the average Nusselt number have been detected.     

Natural convection and its fractal for liquid freezing in a vertical cavity filled with porous medium

The numerical simulation for a freezing liquid-saturated porous media in a vertical cylindrical cavity under the third kind of thermal boundary condition is reported in this paper. It shows that the effect of natural convection in the liquid phase decreases the freezing layer thickness and the freezing front has a wave shape instead of a stable plane, with one or more pair of eddy cells. This indicates a fractal existence. © 1999 Scripta Technica, Heat Trans Asian Res, 28(3): 165–171, 1999     

Natural convection in partially divided square enclosures: Effects of thermal boundary conditions and thermal conductivity of the partitions

Natural convection in partitioned square enclosures filled with air is numerically studied, trying to characterize these enclosures mainly in what concerns its overall heat transfer performance. Two partitions of finite thickness are considered, placed in the enclosure following an ordered arrangement, which position, length and thermal conductivity are varied for some values of Rayleigh number and for different thermal boundary conditions. Study starts considering the simplest enclosures with two adiabatic partitions, after the more realistic enclosures of heat conductive walls and partitions are considered, and finally the even more realistic situation of enclosures with heat conductive partitions and walls subjected to cyclic thermal boundary conditions in the vertical direction is also considered. Position and length of the enclosures’ effects depend on the thermal boundary conditions prescribed for the enclosure, and different thermal boundary conditions (corresponding to the heating or cooling operations or seasons) are considered to capture this effect. Fluid flow field, thermal field and heat transfer are analyzed for some particular situations through the streamlines, isotherms, and heatlines. The overall thermal performance of the enclosure is analyzed through the overall Nusselt number, and many data are compactly presented for different placements and lengths of the partitions, for different thermal conductivity of the walls and partitions of the enclosure, for different Rayleigh numbers and for different thermal boundary conditions imposed to the enclosure. Considered boundary conditions and the enclosure walls and partitions of finite thickness and finite thermal conductivity are much more realistic conditions than simply the single cavity without walls and with perfectly adiabatic partitions usually considered in many studies of this kind.     

Natural convection investigation in square cavity filled with nanofluid using dispersion model

A cooling achieved with compact and efficient device is one of the major challenges encountered in the promising technique of fuel cell stacks. The safe and reliable use of such a system is highly dependent on the efficiency of the assured heat transfer and consequently on the quality of the coolant used. To test the possible improvement of the coolant performances, laminar natural convection in square cavity filled with copper-water nanofluid is numerically carried out taking into account the thermal dispersion effect on the heat transfer intensity. The finite element method is used to solve the governing equations. The hydrodynamic structure of the flow and its thermal behavior are studied for a wide range of Rayleigh numbers. The obtained results showed an enhancement of heat transfer with an increase in nanoparticle volume fraction for all examined Rayleigh numbers. However, it is found that an increase in nanoparticle diameter enhances heat transfer only when thermal dispersion is significant. Correlation with 99.94% confidence coefficient is proposed to quantify the heat transfer intensity according to the Rayleigh number and particle diameter and concentration.     

Natural convection heat transfer in a partially opened cavity filled with porous media

This paper examines the steady natural convection in a partially opened enclosure filled with porous media using the Brinkman–Forchheimer model. Whilst the part of the left vertical wall of the cavity is heated, the other walls are adiabatic or thermally insulated Based upon numerical predictions, the effects of pertinent parameters such as Grashof number, Darcy number, porosity, length of the heated wall and the location center of the opened cavity are examined. It is found that as the Grashof number increases, due to strengthening buoyancy driven flows, the local Nusselt number from partially heated vertical wall, at a given position on this wall increases. This, in turn, increases the temperature of the heated wall. The results of this study can be used in the design of an effective cooling system for electronic components to help ensure effective and safe operational conditions.     

Numerical simulation of natural convection in an open-ended square cavity filled with porous medium by lattice Boltzmann method

In the present work, natural convection in an open-ended square cavity packed with porous medium is simulated. The double-population approach is used to simulate hydrodynamic and thermal fields, and the Taylor series expansion and the least-squares-based lattice Boltzmann method has been implemented to extend the thermal model. The effect of a porous medium is taken into account by introducing the porosity into the equilibrium distribution function and adding a force term to the evolution equation. The Brinkman–Forchheimer equation, which includes the viscous and inertial terms, is applied to predict the heat transfer and fluid dynamics in the non-Darcy regime. The present model is validated with the previous literature. A comprehensive parametric study of natural convective flows is performed for various values of Rayleigh number and porosity. It is found that these two parameters have considerable influence on heat transfer.     

Steady natural convection flow in a square cavity filled with a porous medium for linearly heated side wall(s)

In this paper natural convection flows in a square cavity filled with a porous matrix has been investigated numerically when the bottom wall is uniformly heated and vertical wall(s) are linearly heated whereas the top wall is well insulated. Darcy–Forchheimer model without the inertia term is used to simulate the momentum transfer in the porous medium. Penalty finite element method with bi-quadratic rectangular elements is used to solve the non-dimensional governing equations. Numerical results are presented for a range of parameters (Rayleigh number Ra, 10³ ⩽ Ra ⩽ 10⁶, Darcy number Da, 10⁻⁵ ⩽ Da ⩽ 10⁻³, and Prandtl number Pr, 0.2 ⩽ Pr ⩽ 100) in terms of stream functions and isotherm contours, and local and average Nusselt numbers.     

Magnetic field effect on the unsteady free convection flow in a square cavity filled with a porous medium with a constant heat generation

The effects of an inclined magnetic field and heat generation on unsteady free convection within a square cavity filled with a fluid-saturated porous medium have been investigated numerically. The top and bottom horizontal walls of the enclosure are adiabatic whereas the vertical walls are kept at constant but different temperatures. The physical problems are represented mathematically by a set of partial differential equations along with the corresponding boundary conditions. By using an implicit finite-difference scheme, namely the ADI method (Alternative Direction Implicit), the non-dimensional governing equations are numerically solved. The influential parameters are the Rayleigh number Ra, the inclination angle γ of the magnetic field relative to the gravity vector g, the Hartmann number Ha and the heat generation parameter Q. In the present study, the obtained results are presented in terms of streamlines, isotherms and average Nusselt number along the hot wall. The result shows that with increasing Ha, the diffusive heat transfer become prominent even though the Rayleigh number increases.     

Natural convection in a square porous annulus

The current study is focused to investigate the natural convective heat transfer characteristics in a porous square annulus. Finite element method is used as a tool to simplify the partial differential equations that govern the heat and fluid flow characteristics inside the porous medium. A simple three noded triangular element is used to divide the porous domain into smaller segments known as elements. The algebraic set of equations resulting from the finite element equation are assembled into a global matrix and then solved iteratively to get the solution variables. Thermal equilibrium as well as non equilibrium in porous domain is considered. The effect of various geometric and physical parameters are investigated. The boundary conditions are such that the inner walls of the annulus are heated isothermally to temperature T_h, and the outer surfaces are exposed to cool temperature T_c. The width ratio defined as the ratio of hollow portion to the length of the cavity is varied from 0.125 to 0.875. Results are discussed with respect to width ratio, Rayleigh number, radiation parameter and viscous dissipation parameter.     

Natural convection boundary layer with suction and mass transfer in a porous medium

The free convection boundary layer flow with simultaneous heat and mass transfer in a porous medium is studied when the boundary wall moves in its own plane with suction. The study also incorporates chemical reaction for the very simple model of a binary reaction with Arrhenius activation energy. For large suction, asymptotic approximate solutions are obtained for the flow variables for various values of the activation energy.