Analysis of efficiency of convection in porous geometries (square vs triangular) with multiple discrete heaters on walls

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (9) ◽  
pp. 3305-3346 ◽  
Author(s):  
Debayan Das ◽  
Leo Lukose ◽  
Tanmay Basak

PurposeThe purpose of the paper is to study natural convection within porous square and triangular geometries (design 1: regular isosceles triangle, design 2: inverted isosceles triangle) subjected to discrete heating with various locations of double heaters along the vertical (square) or inclined (triangular) arms.Design/methodology/approachGalerkin finite element method is used to solve the governing equations for a wide range of modified Darcy number,Dam= 10−5–10−2with various fluid saturated porous media,Prm= 0.015 and 7.2 at a modified Rayleigh number,Ram= 106involving the strategic placement of double heaters along the vertical or inclined arms (types 1-3). Adaptive mesh refinement is implemented based on the lengths of discrete heaters. Finite element based heat flow visualization via heatlines has been adopted to study heat distribution at various portions.FindingsThe strategic positioning of the double heaters (types 1-3) and the convective heatline vortices depict significant overall temperature elevation at bothDam= 10−4and 10−2compared to type 0 (single heater at each vertical or inclined arm). Types 2 and 3 are found to promote higher temperature uniformity and greater overall temperature elevation atDam= 10−2. Overall, the triangular design 2 geometry is also found to be optimal in achieving greater temperature elevation for the porous media saturated with various fluids (Prm).Practical implicationsMultiple heaters (at each side [left or right] wall) result in enhanced temperature elevation compared to the single heater (at each side [left or right] wall). The results of the current work may be useful for the material processing, thermal storage and solar heating applications.Originality/valueThe heatline approach is used to visualize the heat flow involving double heaters along the side (left or right) arms (square and triangular geometries) during natural convection involving porous media. The heatlines depict the trajectories of heat flow that are essential for thermal management involving larger thermal elevation. The mixing cup or bulk average temperature values are obtained for all types of heating (types 0-3) involving all geometries, and overall temperature elevation is examined based on higher mixing cup temperature values.

2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (7) ◽  
pp. 1506-1538 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pratibha Biswal ◽  
Tanmay Basak

Purpose This paper is aimed to study natural convection in enclosures with curved (concave and convex) side walls for porous media via the heatline-based heat flow visualization approach. Design/methodology/approach The numerical scheme involving the Galerkin finite element method is used to solve the governing equations for several Prandtl numbers (Prm) and Darcy numbers (Dam) at Rayleigh number, Ram = 106, involving various wall curvatures. Finite element method is advantageous for curved domain, as the biquadratic basis functions can be used for adaptive automated mesh generation. Findings Smooth end-to-end heatlines are seen at the low Dam involving all the cases. At the high Dam, the intense heatline cells are seen for the Cases 1-2 (concave) and Cases 1-3 (convex). Overall, the Case 1 (concave) offers the largest average Nusselt number ( Nur¯) at the low Dam for all Prm. At the high Dam, Nur¯ for the Case 1 (concave) is the largest involving the low Prm, whereas Nur¯ is the largest for Case 1 (convex) involving the high Prm. Practical implications Thermal management for flow systems involving curved surfaces which are encountered in various practical applications may be complicated. The results of the current work may be useful for the material processing, thermal storage and solar heating applications Originality/value The heatline approach accompanied by energy flux vectors is used for the first time for the efficient heat flow visualization during natural convection involving porous media in the curved walled enclosures involving various wall curvatures.


Author(s):  
Abdelraheem M. Aly

Purpose This paper aims to adopt incompressible smoothed particle hydrodynamics (ISPH) method to simulate MHD double-diffusive natural convection in a cavity containing an oscillating pipe and filled with nanofluid. Design/methodology/approach The Lagrangian description of the governing partial differential equations are solved numerically using improved ISPH method. The inner oscillating pipe is divided into two different pipes as an open and a closed pipe. The sidewalls of the cavity are cooled with a lower concentration C_c and the horizontal walls are adiabatic. The inner pipe is heated with higher concentration C_h. The analysis has been conducted for the two different cases of inner oscillating pipes under the effects of wide range of governing parameters. Findings It is found that a suitable oscillating pipe makes a well convective transport inside a cavity. Presence of the oscillating pipe has effects on the heat and mass transfer and fluid intensity inside a cavity. Hartman parameter suppresses the velocity and weakens the maximum values of the stream function. An increase on Hartman, Lewis and solid volume fraction parameters leads to an increase on average Nusselt number on an oscillating pipe and left cavity wall. Average Sherwood number on an oscillating pipe and left cavity wall decreases as Hartman parameter increases. Originality/value The main objective of this work is to study the MHD double-diffusive natural convection of a nanofluid in a square cavity containing an oscillating pipe using improved ISPH method.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chongbin Zhao ◽  
B.E. Hobbs ◽  
Alison Ord

PurposeThe objective of this paper is to develop a semi-analytical finite element method for solving chemical dissolution-front instability problems in fluid-saturated porous media.Design/methodology/approachThe porosity, horizontal and vertical components of the pore-fluid velocity and solute concentration are selected as four fundamental unknown variables for describing chemical dissolution-front instability problems in fluid-saturated porous media. To avoid the use of numerical integration, analytical solutions for the property matrices of a rectangular element are precisely derived in a purely mathematical manner. This means that the proposed finite element method is a kind of semi-analytical method. The column pivot element solver is used to solve the resulting finite element equations of the chemical dissolution-front instability problem.FindingsThe direct use of horizontal and vertical components of the pore-fluid velocity as fundamental unknown variables can improve the accuracy of the related numerical solution. The column pivot element solver is useful for solving the finite element equations of a chemical dissolution-front instability problem. The proposed semi-analytical finite element method can produce highly accurate numerical solutions for simulating chemical dissolution-front instability problems in fluid-saturated porous media.Originality/valueAnalytical solutions for the property matrices of a rectangular element are precisely derived for solving chemical dissolution-front instability problems in fluid-saturated porous media. The proposed semi-analytical finite element method provides a useful way for understanding the underlying dynamic mechanisms of the washing land method involved in the contaminated land remediation.


2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (7) ◽  
pp. 3535-3583 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leo Lukose ◽  
Tanmay Basak

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to study thermal (natural) convection in nine different containers involving the same area (area= 1 sq. unit) and identical heat input at the bottom wall (isothermal/sinusoidal heating). Containers are categorized into three classes based on geometric configurations [Class 1 (square, tilted square and parallelogram), Class 2 (trapezoidal type 1, trapezoidal type 2 and triangle) and Class 3 (convex, concave and triangle with curved hypotenuse)]. Design/methodology/approach The governing equations are solved by using the Galerkin finite element method for various processing fluids (Pr = 0.025 and 155) and Rayleigh numbers (103 ≤ Ra ≤ 105) involving nine different containers. Finite element-based heat flow visualization via heatlines has been adopted to study heat distribution at various sections. Average Nusselt number at the bottom wall ( Nub¯) and spatially average temperature (θ^) have also been calculated based on finite element basis functions. Findings Based on enhanced heating criteria (higher Nub¯ and higher θ^), the containers are preferred as follows, Class 1: square and parallelogram, Class 2: trapezoidal type 1 and trapezoidal type 2 and Class 3: convex (higher θ^) and concave (higher Nub¯). Practical implications The comparison of heat flow distributions and isotherms in nine containers gives a clear perspective for choosing appropriate containers at various process parameters (Pr and Ra). The results for current work may be useful to obtain enhancement of the thermal processing rate in various process industries. Originality/value Heatlines provide a complete understanding of heat flow path and heat distribution within nine containers. Various cold zones and thermal mixing zones have been highlighted and these zones are found to be altered with various shapes of containers. The importance of containers with curved walls for enhanced thermal processing rate is clearly established.


2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (8) ◽  
pp. 2792-2808 ◽  
Author(s):  
Behnam Rafiei ◽  
Hamed Masoumi ◽  
Mohammad Saeid Aghighi ◽  
Amine Ammar

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyze the effects of complex boundary conditions on natural convection of a yield stress fluid in a square enclosure heated from below (uniformly and non-uniformly) and symmetrically cooled from the sides. Design/methodology/approach The governing equations are solved numerically subject to continuous and discontinuous Dirichlet boundary conditions by Galerkin’s weighted residuals scheme of finite element method and using a non-uniform unstructured triangular grid. Findings Results show that the overall heat transfer from the heated wall decreases in the case of non-uniform heating for both Newtonian and yield stress fluids. It is found that the effect of yield stress on heat transfer is almost similar in both uniform and non-uniform heating cases. The yield stress has a stabilizing effect, reducing the convection intensity in both cases. Above a certain value of yield number Y, heat transfer is only due to conduction. It is found that a transition of different modes of stability may occur as Rayleigh number changes; this fact gives rise to a discontinuity in the variation of critical yield number. Originality/value Besides the new numerical method based on the finite element and using a non-uniform unstructured grid for analyzing natural convection of viscoplastic materials with complex boundary conditions, the originality of the present work concerns the treatment of the yield stress fluids under the influence of complex boundary conditions.


Author(s):  
C.H.H.M. Custers ◽  
J.W. Jansen ◽  
M.C. van Beurden ◽  
E.A. Lomonova

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to describe a semi-analytical modeling technique to predict eddy currents in three-dimensional (3D) conducting structures with finite dimensions. Using the developed method, power losses and parasitic forces that result from eddy current distributions can be computed.Design/methodology/approachIn conducting regions, the Fourier-based solutions are developed to include a spatially dependent conductivity in the expressions of electromagnetic quantities. To validate the method, it is applied to an electromagnetic configuration and the results are compared to finite element results.FindingsThe method shows good agreement with the finite element method for a large range of frequencies. The convergence of the presented model is analyzed.Research limitations/implicationsBecause of the Fourier series basis of the solution, the results depend on the considered number of harmonics. When conducting structures are small with respect to the spatial period, the number of harmonics has to be relatively large.Practical implicationsBecause of the general form of the solutions, the technique can be applied to a wide range of electromagnetic configurations to predict, e.g. eddy current losses in magnets or wireless energy transfer systems. By adaptation of the conductivity function in conducting regions, eddy current distributions in structures containing holes or slit patterns can be obtained.Originality/valueWith the presented technique, eddy currents in conducting structures of finite dimensions can be modeled. The semi-analytical model is for a relatively low number of harmonics computationally faster than 3D finite element methods. The method has been validated and shown to be computationally accurate.


Author(s):  
Lei Wang ◽  
Jian Li ◽  
Pengzhan Huang

Purpose This paper aims to propose a new highly efficient iterative method based on classical Oseen iteration for the natural convection equations. Design/methodology/approach First, the authors solve the problem by the Oseen iterative scheme based on finite element method, then use the error correction strategy to control the error arising. Findings The new iterative method not only retains the advantage of the Oseen scheme but also saves computational time and iterative step for solving the considered problem. Originality/value In this work, the authors introduce a new iterative method to solve the natural convection equations. The new algorithm consists of the Oseen scheme and the error correction which can control the errors from the iterative step arising for solving the nonlinear problem. Comparing with the classical iterative method, the new scheme requires less iterations and is also capable of solving the natural convection problem at higher Rayleigh number.


Author(s):  
Yuan Ping ◽  
Haiyan Su ◽  
Jianping Zhao ◽  
Xinlong Feng

Purpose This paper aims to propose two parallel two-step finite element algorithms based on fully overlapping domain decomposition for solving the 2D/3D time-dependent natural convection problem. Design/methodology/approach The first-order implicit Euler formula and second-order Crank–Nicolson formula are used to time discretization respectively. Each processor of the algorithms computes a stabilized solution in its own global composite mesh in parallel. These algorithms compute a nonlinear system for the velocity, pressure and temperature based on a lower-order element pair (P1b-P1-P1) and solve a linear approximation based on a higher-order element pair (P2-P1-P2) on the same mesh, which shows that the new algorithms have the same convergence rate as the two-step finite element methods. What is more, the stability analysis of the proposed algorithms is derived. Finally, numerical experiments are presented to demonstrate the efficacy and accuracy of the proposed algorithms. Findings Finally, numerical experiments are presented to demonstrate the efficacy and accuracy of the proposed algorithms. Originality/value The novel parallel two-step algorithms for incompressible natural convection problem are proposed. The rigorous analysis of the stability is given for the proposed parallel two-step algorithms. Extensive 2D/3D numerical tests demonstrate that the parallel two-step algorithms can deal with the incompressible natural convection problem for high Rayleigh number well.


Author(s):  
Prabir Barman ◽  
PS Rao

In this piece of work, a numerical investigation of natural convection is carried out on the buoyancy-driven flow of nanofluids and heat transfer through porous media packed inside a wavy cavity. The cavity is placed horizontal, and its right vertical wall is of wavy nature, the bottom and top walls of the cavity are adiabatic, and there is a temperature difference between the left and right vertical wall. The dimensionless governing equations for the flow of nanofluids through the Darcian porous media are solved iteratively by using finite difference method. The study is conducted for wide range of governing parameters, such as Rayleigh-Darcy number [Formula: see text], nanoparticle volume fraction [Formula: see text] for three types of nanofluids [Formula: see text]-[Formula: see text], Cu-[Formula: see text], TiO2-[Formula: see text], the waviness of the vertical wall controlled by dimensionless length of amplitude of the wave [Formula: see text] and number of undulations per unit length ( N = 1, 3, 5). The simulated results reveals that the presence of nanoparticles enhances the convective heat transfer process at low Ra, and the wall affects the local convection rate and it also controls the overall heat transfer rate. For a cavity with N = 3, [Formula: see text] is increased by 33% at Ra = 10, and at [Formula: see text] has a drop by 10% as the a is increased from 0.05 to 0.25 having 20% of nanoparticles.


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