Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-p9bg8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T08:16:06.167Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Natural convection in vertical enclosures containing simultaneously fluid and porous layers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 April 2006

C. Beckermann
Affiliation:
Heat Transfer Laboratory, School of Mechanical Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA
R. Viskanta
Affiliation:
Heat Transfer Laboratory, School of Mechanical Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA
S. Ramadhyani
Affiliation:
Heat Transfer Laboratory, School of Mechanical Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA

Abstract

A numerical and experimental study is reported of natural convection in a vertical rectangular fluid enclosure that is partially filled with a fluid-saturated porous medium. Velocities, stresses, temperatures, and heat fluxes are assumed to be continuous across the fluid/porous-medium interface, and the conservation equations for the fluid and the porous regions are combined into a single set of equations for numerical solution. Thermocouples as well as a Mach-Zehnder interferometer are used to measure temperature distributions and infer fluid flow patterns within the fluid and the porous medium. For various test cells, porous-layer configurations and fluid-solid combinations, the model predictions show excellent agreement with the experimental measurements. It is found that the intensity of natural convection is always much stronger in the fluid regions, while the amount of fluid penetrating into the porous medium increases with increasing Darcy and Rayleigh numbers. The degree of penetration of fluid into the porous medium depends strongly on the porous-layer geometry and is less for a horizontal porous layer occupying the lower half of the test cell. If penetration takes place, the flow patterns in the fluid regions are significantly altered and the streamlines show cusps at the fluid/porous-medium interfaces. For a high effective-thermal-conductivity porous medium, natural convection in the medium is suppressed, while the isotherms bend sharply at the fluid/porous-medium interface.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 1988 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Arquis, E. & Caltagirone, J. P. 1984 C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris 299, 1.
Arquis, E., Caltagirone, J. P. & Langlais, C. 1986 In Heat Transfer 1986, pp. 26532658. Hemisphere.
Beavers, G. S. & Joseph, D. D. 1967 J. Fluid Mech. 30, 197.
Beckermann, C., Ramadhyani, S. & Viskanta, R. 1986a In Natural Convection in Porous Media (ed. V. Prasad & N. A. Hussain), pp. 113. ASME.
Beckermann, C., Viskanta, R. & Ramadhyani, S. 1986b Numer. Heat Transfer 10, 557.
Brinkman, H. C. 1949 Appl. Sci. Res. Suppl. 2–4, 190.
Catton, I. 1985 In Natural Convection: Fundamentals and Applications (ed. W. Aung, S. Kakac & R. Viskanta), pp. 514547. Hemisphere.
Combarnous, M. A. & Bories, S. A. 1975 In Advances in Hydroscience 10 (ed. V. T. Chow), pp. 231307. Academic.
Derjani, G., Taslim, M. E. & Narusawa, U. 1986 In Natural Convection in Enclosures-1986 (ed. R. S. Figliola & I. Catton), pp. 8389. ASME.
Ergun, S. 1952 Chem. Engng Prog. 48, 98.
Forchheimer, P. 1901 Z. Ver. Deutsch. Ing. 45, 1782.
Gjerde, K. M. & Tyvand, P. A. 1984 Intl J. Heat Mass Transfer 27, 2289.
Kim, S. & Russel, W. B. 1985 J. Fluid Mech. 154, 269.
Koplik, J., Levine, H. & Zee, A. 1983 Phys. Fluids 26, 2864.
Lundgren, T. S. 1972 J. Fluid Mech. 51, 273.
Masuoka, T. 1974 Bull. Japan Soc. Mech. Engrs 17, 232.
Mckibbin, R. & O'Sullivan, M. J. 1981 J. Fluid Mech. 111, 141.
Neale, G. & Nader, W. 1974 Can. J. Chem. Engng 52, 475.
Nield, D. A. 1977 J. Fluid Mech. 81, 513.
Nield, D. A. 1983 J. Fluid Mech. 128, 37.
Nishimura, T., Takumi, T., Shiraishi, M., Kawamura, Y. & Ozoe, H. 1986 Intl J. Heat Mass Transfer, 29, 889.
Patankar, S. 1980 Numerical Heat Transfer and Fluid Flow. Hemisphere.
Poulikakos, D. & Bejan, A. 1983 Intl J. Heat Mass Transfer 26, 1805.
Rana, R., Horne, R. N. & Cheng, P. 1979 Trans. ASME C: J. Heat Transfer 101, 411.Google Scholar
Reda, D. C. 1985 In Heat Transfer in Porous Media and Particulate Flows (ed. L. S. Yao et al.), pp. 3139. ASME.
Somerton, C. W. & Catton, I. 1982 Trans. ASME C: J. Heat Transfer 104, 160.Google Scholar
Somerton, C. W. & Goff, J. D. 1985 In Heat Transfer in Porous Media and Particulate Flows (ed. L. S. Yao et al.), pp. 111119. ASME.
Weaver, J. A. 1985 Solid-liquid phase change heat transfer in porous media. MSME thesis, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN.