Thermal dispersion effects on heat transfer of laminar gas flow in a microtube filled with porous medium

Abstract

In this paper, dispersion effects on forced convection heat transfer in a gaseous slip flow through a microtube filled with anisotropic porous medium are investigated semi-numerically. Microtube is subjected to constant heat flux and a local thermal non-equilibrium condition is assumed. Rarefaction effects are taken into account by applying first-order velocity slip and temperature jump boundary conditions. Dispersion is proven to have a significant impact on heat transfer in rarefied gases. Temperature distributions for both solid and fluid phases are obtained. Nusselt number variation with respect to porous shape factor and Biot number is illustrated, indicating enhancement up to 10% in predicted heat transfer due to dispersion. The influence of Reynolds number on thermal dispersion is proven to be insignificant. Dispersion plays a significant role as gas becomes more rarefied. It is seen that an increase in shape factor of a porous media can improve Nu for a non-rarefied gas, but as rarefaction effects grow, this can affect heat transfer negatively. Also, effects of dispersion on heat transfer diminishes for higher values of Biot Number due to the overcoming of interstitial heat transfer to thermal dispersion effect.