Coupled heat and mass transfer by free convection over a truncated cone in porous media: VWT/VWC or VHF/VMF

Abstract

The heat and mass transfer characteristics of natural convection about a truncated cone embedded in a saturated porous medium subjected to the coupled effects of thermal and mass diffusion is numerically analyzed. The surface is maintained at variable wall temperature/concentration (VWT/VWC) or variable heat/mass flux (VHF/VMF). The transformed governing equations are solved by Keller box method. Numerical data for the dimensionless temperature profiles, the dimensionless concentration profiles, the local Nusselt number and the local Sherwood number are presented for wide range of dimensionless distance ξ, the Lewis number Le, the exponent λ, and buoyancy ratioN (orN*). In general, it has been found that when the buoyancy ratio is increasing both the local Nusselt number and the local Sherwood number increase. Increasing the value of λ and ξ increases the local surface heat and mass transfer rates. The local Nusselt (Sherwood) number increases (decreases) with decreasing the Lewis number. Furthermore, it is shown that the local Nusselt number and the local Sherwood number of the truncated cone approach those of inclined plate (full cone) for the case of ξ=0 (ξ→∞).