Estimation of Average and Local Heat Transfer in Parallel Plates and Circular Ducts Filled With Porous Materials

Abstract

Accurate estimation of heat transfer to a fluid passing through a porous medium located between impermeable walls is of practical interest. Generally, the numerical computation of heat transfer to porous media can become time consuming and correlations are needed to enable practitioners to determine this quantity rapidly. In this paper, correlations for two cases are considered: one when porous materials are between two parallel plates and the other when they are within a circular pipe. This presentation includes correlations for both local and average heat transfer coefficients in these two passages for incompressible laminar flow. These correlations require knowledge of local and average heat transfer for unobstructed fluid flowing through these passages with sufficient accuracy. Because existing correlations lack sufficient accuracy, this presentation includes an appendix that emphasizes correlations for heat transfer to fluids passing through unobstructed parallel plate channels and also for circular pipes.