Forced convective heat transfer for fluid flowing through a porous medium with internal heat generation

Forced convection in channels filled with packed beads with internal heat source was numerically analyzed by using the extended Darcy model for the flow and energy conservation equations with nonthermal equilibrium (NTE). The temperature difference between the matrix and fluid phases was discussed with three dimensionless parameters (Re_p, H/d_p, and k_s/k_f). It is concluded that the thermal equilibrium assumption may be adopted for the situation when the solid conduction dominated over the convection or when the heat transfer coefficient between the two phases is large at large Re_p. The Nusselt number at the wall with the variation of Re_p for different k_s/k_f was also investigated. © 2001 Scripta Technica, Heat Trans Asian Res, 30(3): 213–221, 2001