Simulation of free convection in a porous enclosure using the one-temperature approach

Abstract

Copyright © 2014 by ASME.This article investigates the influence of porosity and thermal conductivity ratio on the Nusselt number in a heated vertical cavity. Heat transfer modeling across the enclosure assumed the hypothesis of thermal equilibrium between the solid matrix and the fluid phase. Transport equations were discretized using the control-volume method and the system of algebraic equations was relaxed via the SIMPLE algorithm. Results showed that, when using the one temperature model under the turbulent regime, the cavity Nusselt number is reduced for higher values of the ratio ks/kf as well as when the material porosity is increased. In both cases, conduction through the solid material overwhelms convection across the medium.