Combined effect of thermal dispersion and radiation on free convection in a fluid saturated, optically thick porous medium

Abstract

The present article considers a numerical study on the combined effect of thermal dispersion and thermal radiation on the non-Darcy natural convection flow over a vertical flat plate kept at higher and constant temperature in a fluid saturated porous medium. Forchheimer extension is used in the flow equations. The coefficient of thermal diffusivity has been assumed to be the sum of molecular diffusivity and the dispersion thermal diffusivity due to mechanical dispersion. Rosseland approximation is used to describe the radiative heat flux in the energy equation. The non-dimensional governing equations are solved by the finite element method (FEM). The resulting non-linear integral equations are linearized and solved by the Newton–Raphson iteration. The finite element implementations are prepared using Matlab software packages. Numerical results for the details of the stream function, velocity and temperature contours as well as heat transfer rates in terms of Nusselt number are presented and discussed.