Buoyancy-induced flows in porous media

Abstract

A steady-state model concerning the buoyancy-induced plane flows in porous media saturated with cold pure water is studied. By applying the finite-difference method, two families of solutions are found which exhibit the behavior of unidirectional flows near the impermeable vertical isothermal surface. A gap, with varying ambient temperature, is found where none of the solutions corresponding to upward or downward flows exists. Without applying the boundary-layer approximation, the results show that the steady-state model gives no indication of the flows when the ambient temperature lies inside the gap.