Boundary-layer flow and heat transfer in porous beds

Abstract

This paper describes the transport phenomenon for boundary-layer flow and heat transfer in packed beds. It focuses on both natural and forced convection studies, and also emphasizes boundary-layer applications for chemical reactors. Transport in porous beds often involves non-Darcian flow effects such as the solid-boundary resistance, high flow rate inertial losses, near-wall porosity variation, and thermal anomalies such as dispersion or inter-pore mixing. These effects significantly alter velocity and temperature profiles in boundary-layer and confined flows. This work discusses these effects and demonstrates the variation in heat transfer predictions found when using theoretical models which include these non-Darcian effects.