Natural convection on one side of a vertical wall embedded in a Brinkman-porous medium coupled with film condensation on the other side

Abstract

A theoretical study of conjugate natural convection and film condensation in porous media is reported. The natural convection phenomenon takes place along one side of a vertical impermeable wall and the condensation phenomenon along the other side. This wall constitutes the interface between two spaces filled with fluid-saturated porous media. The flow in both porous spaces is modelled on the basis of the Brinkman-modified Darcy momentum equation which satisfies the condition of zero velocity on a solid boundary. The temperature and flow fields in the porous medium are completely determined in the natural convection side as well as in the condensation side of the wall. In addition, the dependence of the wall heat flux and temperature distributions on height and on a number of dimensionless groups relevant to the problem is thoroughly documented. Important results pertinent to the impact of the problem parameters on the overall heat leak from the condensation space to the natural convection space are also reported. These results are presented with the help of the Nusselt number. Finally, the effect of the wall thermal resistance on the heat and fluid flow characteristics of the system is determined.