Flow transition for natural convective heat transfer in a porous medium saturated with water near 4°C

In this paper, the problem of buoyancy-induced convection flow in water-saturated porous media near 4°C is examined using a numerical model. Darcy's law is used to model flow behavior and a single equation convective heat transfer model is used for the energy equation. As the Boussinesq approximation is not valid for this case, a parabolic dependence of density on the temperature is used. Natural convection is generated and sustained by a uniform heat source. Flow behavior is governed by three natural parameters appearing in the model. They are: (i) dynamical parameter, (ii) geometric parameter, γ = b/a; and (iii) wall temperature, in relation to the reference temperature at the density extremum. For certain ranges of θ_w (<0) and Gr, interesting density inversion effects are possible. Transient solutions are obtained for various aspect ratios and modified Grashof number values. For a wide range of Grashof number, steady state solutions could not be obtained. Flow mutations into periodic and chaotic solutions are investigated for a range of Grashof number (100 to 40,000) and aspect ratio values (1 to 10).