Heat Transfer Between a Porous Layer and a Forced Flow: Influence of Layer Thickness

The heat transfer between a forced flow of a pure fluid phase and a porous medium is theoretically studied. A unified enthalpy model is used to investigate the transient temperature field in the pure fluid phase and in the porous medium. Possible transition from saturated to nonsaturated porous medium is considered. From the temperature field obtained, the time variation of the local temperature and convective heat transfer coefficient at the interface porous-pure fluid regions are studied. Numerical results provide also the parametric information concerning effects of the thickness of the porous layer on theses parameters at the transient and the steady regimes.