Thermal nonequilibrium porous convection in a heat generating medium

Abstract

An internal natural convective flow in a porous medium filled closed square cavity is studied in the presence of thermal nonequilibrium between the fluid and solid phases. The medium is generating heat through its solid phase that induces the flow. A non-Darcian flow obeying the Boussinesq approximation is considered using a two temperature model of heat transfer. This set up is found to modify the flow behaviour and heat transfer significantly when subjected to different sets of symmetric thermal conditions imposed at the cavity walls. The maximum overall heat transfer is found to occur when the vertical walls of the cavity are kept isothermally hot. Bifurcation of the existing cellular pattern is noticed when the system moves towards thermal equilibrium. The results of this study will be of use in nuclear reactor engineering.