Upward and downward conjugate mixed convection heat transfer in a partially porous cavity

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide a numerical study of conjugate heat transfer by mixed convection and conduction in a lid-driven enclosure with thick vertical porous layer. The effect of the relevant parameters: Richardson number (Ri=0.1, 1, 10) and thermal conductivity ratio (Rk=0.1, 1, 10, 100) are investigated. Design/methodology/approach – The studied system is a two dimensional lid-driven enclosure with thick vertical porous layer. The left vertical wall of the enclosure is allowed to move in its own plane at a constant velocity. The enclosure is heated from the right vertical wall isothermally. The left and the right vertical walls are isothermal but temperature of the outside of the right vertical wall is higher than that of the left vertical wall. Horizontal walls are insulated. The governing equations are solved by finite volume method and the SIMPLE algorithm. Findings – From the finding results, it is observed that: for the two studied cases, heat transfer rate along the hot wall is a decreasing function of thermal conductivity ratio irrespective of Richardson numbers contrary to the heat transfer rate along the fluid-porous layer interface which is an increasing function of thermal conductivity ratio. At forced convection dominant regime, the difference between heat transfer rate for upward and downward moving wall is insensitive to the thermal conductivity ratio. For downward moving wall, average Nusselt number is higher than that of upward moving wall. Practical implications – Some applications: building applications, furnace design, nuclear reactors, air solar collectors. Originality/value – From the bibliographic work and the authors’ knowledge, the conjugate mixed convection in lid-driven partially porous enclosures has not yet been investigated which motivates the present work that represent a continuation of the preceding investigations.