Non-darcy free convection inside a wavy enclosure

Buoyancy induced flow and thermal fields characteristics inside a porous wavy walled enclosure have been numerically solved and analyzed. The enclosure consists of two isothermal wavy walls. The two parallel straight walls at the top and the bottom are flat and kept adiabatic. Governing equations are discretized using the Finite Element Method. Simulation was carried out for a range of surface waviness ratios, a = 0–0.5; aspect ratio, A = 2; inverse Darcy number, Da = 0.01–∞; and Rayleigh numbers, Ra = 10°–10⁷ for a fluid having Prandtl number equal to 1.0. Results are presented in the form of streamlines and isothermal lines for different values of surface waviness and porosity.