Convective and Radiative Heat Transfer in Porous Media

Abstract

This chapter describes the convective and radiative heat transfer in porous media. Convective and radiative heat transfer and multiphase transport processes in porous media, both with or without phase change, have gained extensive attention. Several applications related to porous media require a detailed analysis of convective heat transfer in different geometrical shapes, orientations, and configurations. Based on the specific application, the flow in the porous medium may be internal or external. Forced convection over external boundaries in the presence of a porous medium constitutes a very important subject area. Analysis of convective heat transfer from this type of external boundary embedded in a porous medium has many important applications. It is shown that for the flow field the boundary effect is confined within a thin momentum boundary layer, which often plays an insignificant role in the overall flow consideration. The models developed for simultaneous heat and mass transfer processes in multiphase porous systems may have differences due to the various assumptions made in developing each model. The thermal radiation characteristics of porous beds are also elaborated.