A NUMERICAL ANALYSIS FOR HIGH MODIFIED RAYLEIGH NUMBER NATURAL CONVECTION IN ENCLOSURES CONTAINING A POROUS MEDIUM

Author(s):  
Timothy W. Tong ◽  
S. Orangi
Author(s):  
Degan Gerard ◽  
Sokpoli Amavi Ernest ◽  
Akowanou Djidjoho Christian ◽  
Vodounnou Edmond Claude

This research was devoted to the analytical study of heat transfer by natural convection in a vertical cavity, confining a porous medium, and containing a heat source. The porous medium is hydrodynamically anisotropic in permeability whose axes of permeability tensor are obliquely oriented relative to the gravitational vector and saturated with a Newtonian fluid. The side walls are cooled to the temperature  and the horizontal walls are kept adiabatic. An analytical solution to this problem is found for low Rayleigh numbers by writing the solutions of mathematical model in polynomial form of degree n of the Rayleigh number. Poisson equations obtained are solved by the modified Galerkin method. The results are presented in term of streamlines and isotherms. The distribution of the streamlines and the temperature fields are greatly influenced by the permeability anisotropy parameters and the thermal conductivity. The heat transfer decreases considerably when the Rayleigh number increases.


2011 ◽  
Vol 133 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ramanathan Vishnampet ◽  
Arunn Narasimhan ◽  
V. Babu

Lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) is employed to investigate natural convection inside porous medium enclosures at high Rayleigh numbers. Volume averaged porous medium model is coupled with the lattice Boltzmann formulation of the momentum and energy equations for fluid flow. A parallel implementation of the single relaxation time LBM is used, which allows the porous medium modified Rayleigh number Ram to be as high as 108. Heat transfer results in the form of the enclosure averaged Nusselt number Nu are obtained for higher modified Rayleigh numbers 104≤Ram≤108. The Nu values are compared with values in the absence of the form drag term. The form drag due to the porous medium is found to influence Nu considerably. The effect of the form drag on Nu is studied by using a form drag modified Rayleigh number RaC (extended from Ram). Utilizing the results for Nu in the high Ram range, a correlation is proposed between Nu and RaC for Darcy numbers 10−6≤Da≤10−2, encompassing the non-Darcy flow regime.


1986 ◽  
Vol 108 (3) ◽  
pp. 660-666 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. C. Reda

Natural convection heat transfer from a constant-flux cylinder, immersed vertically through a stratified (two-layer) liquid-saturated porous medium, was investigated experimentally. Measured radial temperature profiles and heat transfer rates agreed well with numerical predictions based on the work of Hickox and Gartling. The 1:6 permeability-ratio interface existing between the two layers was found to effectively trap buoyancy-driven fluid motion within the high-permeability region, beneath the interface. Within this high-permeability region, Nusselt number versus Rayleigh number data were found to correlate with previously measured results, obtained for the same basic geometry, but with a fully permeable upper-surface hydrodynamic boundary condition. In both cases, the vertical and radial extent of the region under study were large compared to the radius of the heat source. Combined results indicate that, for a given Rayleigh number in the Darcy-flow regime, heat transfer rates from cylinders immersed vertically in uniform liquid-saturated porous media of large vertical and radial extent potentially approach limiting values. Variable-porosity effects which occur in unconsolidated porous media adjacent to solid boundaries were investigated numerically for cases where the particle-to-heater diameter ratio was small (≈ 10−2). Results showed variable-porosity effects to have a negligible influence on the thermal field adjacent to such boundaries under conditions of Darcy flow.


1983 ◽  
Vol 105 (1) ◽  
pp. 124-129 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Bejan ◽  
R. Anderson

This paper examines the interaction by natural convection between a fluid-saturated porous medium and a fluid reservoir separated by a vertical impermeable partition. The two fluid systems are maintained at different temperatures. The analysis is simplified by assuming Pr > > 1 in the fluid reservoir. It is shown analytically that the flow and temperature fields in the boundary layer regime consist of two fluid layers in counterflow. The interface temperature is shown to increase monotonically with altitude. The important dimensionless group which governs the fluid mechanics is B = (kRaK1/2) / (k′Ra1/4), where k, k′, RaK and Ra are, respectively, the porous medium conductivity, reservoir fluid conductivity, Darcy-modified Rayleigh number based on partition height, and the reservoir Rayleigh number based on partition height. The effect of parameter, B, on the flow, temperature, and heat transfer is documented in the range 0 < B < ∞.


1985 ◽  
Vol 107 (2) ◽  
pp. 293-298 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Kimura ◽  
A. Bejan

This is a study of the single-cell natural convection pattern that occurs in a “stably heated” corner in a fluid-saturated porous medium, i.e., in the corner formed between a cold horizontal wall and a hot vertical wall situated above the horizontal wall, or in the corner between a hot horizontal wall and a cold vertical wall situated below the horizontal wall. Numerical simulations show that this type of corner flow is present in porous media heated from the side when a stabilizing vertical temperature gradient is imposed in order to suppress the side-driven convection. Based on numerical solutions and on scale analysis, it is shown that the single cell corner flow becomes increasingly more localized as the Rayleigh number increases. At the same time, the mass flow rate engaged in natural circulation and the conduction-referenced Nusselt number increase. Numerical results for the flow and temperature fields and for the net heat transfer rate are reported in the Darcy-Rayleigh number range 10–6000.


1998 ◽  
Vol 120 (1) ◽  
pp. 108-114 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Selver ◽  
Y. Kamotani ◽  
S. Ostrach

An experimental study is made of natural convection in gallium melts enclosed by vertical circular cylinders with localized circumferential heating. Heating is done in an axial band at the mid-height, and both ends of the cylinder are cooled. In the present study, the cylinder aspect (Ar = height/diameter) ratio ranges from 2 to 10, and the Rayleigh number (Ra) ranges from 9.0 × 104 to 3.0 × 107. The Prandtl number is 0.021. Temperature measurements are made at six axial levels around the circumference of the cylinder to study thermal convection in the melt. A numerical analysis is also conducted to supplement the experimental information. When Ra is small, the melt is in steady toroidal motion. Above a certain Ra, the flow becomes nonaxisymmetric as a result of a thermal instability, in the case of Ar larger than 3. With increasing Ra, the motion becomes oscillatory, mainly in the upper half. When Ar is smaller than 3, the toroidal flow becomes nonaxisymmetric and oscillatory at the same time beyond a certain Ra. The conditions for the appearance of oscillations and the oscillation frequencies are investigated in detail.


1993 ◽  
Vol 254 ◽  
pp. 345-362 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carol Braester ◽  
Peter Vadasz

The results of an investigation on the effect of a weak heterogeneity of a porous medium on natural convection are presented. A medium heterogeneity is represented by spatial variations of the permeability and of the effective thermal conductivity. As a general rule the existence of horizontal thermal gradients in heterogeneous porous media provides a sufficient condition for the occurrence of natural convection. The implications of this condition are investigated for horizontal layers or rectangular domains subject to isothermal top and bottom boundary conditions. Results lead to a restriction on the classes of thermal conductivity functions which allow a motionless solution. Analytical solutions for rectangular weak heterogeneous porous domains heated from below, consistent with a basic motionless solution, are obtained by applying the weak nonlinear theory. The amplitude of the convection is obtained from an ordinary non-homogeneous differential equation, with a forcing term representative of the medium heterogeneity with respect to the effective thermal conductivity. A smooth transition through the critical Rayleigh number is obtained, thus removing a bifurcation which usually appears in homogeneous domains with perfect boundaries, at the critical value of the Rayleigh number. Within a certain range of slightly supercritical Rayleigh numbers, a symmetric thermal conductivity function is shown to reinforce a symmetrical flow while antisymmetric functions favour an antisymmetric flow. Except for the higher-order solutions, the weak heterogeneity with respect to permeability plays a relatively passive role and does not affect the solutions at the leading order. In contrast, the weak heterogeneity with respect to the effective thermal conductivity does have a significant effect on the resulting flow pattern.


Author(s):  
E F Kent

In this work, a numerical analysis of laminar natural convection in an isosceles triangular enclosure has been performed for two different thermal boundary conditions. In case 1, the base is heated and the two inclined walls are symmetrically cooled, and in case 2, the base is cooled and the two top inclined walls are symmetrically heated. This configuration is encountered in solar engineering applications such as: solar stills that usually have triangular cavities and triangular built-in-storage-type solar water heaters; and heat transfer in attic spaces in both wintertime and summertime conditions. To perform the computational analysis, the finite-volume method is used for the discretization of the governing equations. Base angles varying from 15 to 75° have been used for different Rayleigh numbers ranging from 103 to 105. The effects of the Rayleigh number and aspect ratio on the flow field and heat transfer are analysed. The detailed streamline patterns and temperature distributions are presented. The variation of the mean Nusselt numbers versus Rayleigh numbers for different base angles is given. It is found that the base angle has a drastic influence on the flow field and isotherms for the two cases. For case 1, at small base angles, as the Rayleigh number increases, a multi-cellular flow structure developed inside the enclosure enhances the heat transfer. For case 2, the temperature profiles are always stable and stratified for all Rayleigh numbers and base angles.


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