Numerical simulation of thermal convection of viscoelastic fluids in an open-top porous medium with constant heat flux

Abstract

This paper makes a numerical study of the buoyancy-driven convection of a viscoelastic fluid saturated in an open-top porous square box under the constant heat flux boundary condition. The effects of the relaxation and retardation times on the onset of the oscillatory convection, the convection heat transfer rate and the flow pattern transition are investigated. It is shown that a large relaxation time can destabilize the fluid flow leading to an early onset of the thermal convection and a high heat transfer rate, while a large retardation time tends to stabilize the flow and suppress the convection onset and the heat transfer. After the convection sets in, the flow bifurcation appears earlier with the increase of the relaxation time and the decrease of the retardation time, resulting in more complicated flow patterns in the porous medium. Furthermore, with the increase of the ratio of the relaxation time to the retardation time, the fluid may be blocked from flowing through the open-top boundary, which may be caused by the viscoelastic effect. Finally, the comparison of our results with those under isothermal heating boundary conditions reveals that the heat transfer rate corresponding to a constant heat flux boundary is always higher.