Mixed Convection–Radiation Interaction in Power-Law Fluids Along a Nonisothermal Wedge Embedded in a Porous Medium

A boundary layer analysis has been presented for the interaction of mixed convection with thermal radiation in laminar boundary flow from a vertical wedge in a porous medium saturated with a power-law type non-Newtonian fluid. The fluid considered is a gray medium, and the Rosseland approximation is used to describe the radiative heat flux in the energy equation. The transformed conservation laws are solved numerically for the case of variable surface temperature conditions. Results for the details of the velocity and temperature fields as well as the Nusselt number have been presented.     

Gravity Affected Lateral Dispersion and Diffusion in a Stationary Horizontal Porous Medium Shear Flow

Transport of dissolved species by a carrier fluid in a porous medium comprises advection and diffusion/dispersion processes. Hydrodynamic dispersion is commonly characterized by an empirical relationship, in which the dispersion mechanism is described by contributions of molecular diffusion and mechanical dispersion expressed as a function of the molecular Peclét number. Mathematically these two phenomena are modeled by a constant diffusion coefficient and by velocity dependent dispersion coefficients, respectively. Here, the commonly utilized Bear--Scheidegger dispersion model of linear proportionality between mechanical dispersion and velocity, and the more complicated Bear--Bachmat model derived on a streamtube array model porous medium and better describing observed dispersion coefficients in the moderate molecular Peclét number range, will be considered. Analyzing the mixing flow of two parallelly flowing confluent fluids with different concentrations of a dissolved species within the frames of boundary layer theory one has to deal with transverse mixing only. With the Boussinesq approximation being adopted approximate analytical solutions of the corresponding boundary layer system of equations show that there is no effect of density coupling on concentration distributions across the mixing layer in the pure molecular diffusion regime case. With the Peclét number of the oncoming flow growing beyond unity, density coupling has an increasing influence on the mixing zone. When the Peclét number grows further this influence is successively reduced until its disappearance in the pure mechanical dispersion regime.     

The Effect of Double Dispersion on Natural Convection Heat and Mass Transfer in a Non-Newtonian Fluid Saturated Non-Darcy Porous Medium

The effect of power law index parameter of the non-Newtonian fluid on free convection heat and mass transfer from a vertical wall is analyzed by considering double dispersion in a non-Darcy porous medium with constant wall temperature and concentration conditions. The Ostwald–de Waele power law model is used to characterize the non-Newtonian fluid behavior. In this case a similarity solution is possible. The variation of heat and mass transfer coefficients with the governing parameters such as power law index, thermal and solutal dispersion parameters, inertia parameter, buoyancy ratio, and the Lewis number is discussed for a wide range of values of these parameters.     

Mixed Convection-Radiation in Power-Law Fluids Along a NOn-Isothermal Wedge in a Porous Medium with Variable Permeability

A boundary layer analysis has been presented for the interaction of mixed convection with thermal radiation in laminar boundary flow from a vertical wedge in a porous medium saturated with a power-law type non-Newtonian incorporating the variation of permeability and thermal conductivity. The transformed conservation laws are solved numerically for the case of variable surface temperature conditions. The combined convection non-similar parameter we note that =0 and 1 correspond to pure free and forced convection cases. The Rosseland approximation is used to describe the radiative heat flux in energy equation. Velocity and temperature profiles as well as the local Nusselt number are presented.     

Thermal Dispersion Effects on Combined Convection in Non-Newtonian Fluids Along a Nonisothermal Vertical Plate in a Porous Medium

The method of non-similarity solution is used to study the influence of thermal dispersion on combined convection from vertical surfaces in a porous medium saturated with a power-law type non-Newtonian fluid. The coefficient of thermal diffusivity has been assumed to be the sum of molecular diffusivity and the dispersion thermal diffusivity due to mechanical dispersion. The transformed conservation laws are solved numerically for the case of variable surface heat flux conditions. Results for the details of the velocity and temperature fields as well as the Nusselt number have been presented.     

Centrifugal Acceleration Induced Convection in a Magnetic Fluid Saturated Anisotropic Rotating Porous Medium

A theoretical investigation is made to study the influence of magnetic field on the onset of convection induced by centrifugal acceleration in a magnetic fluid filled porous medium. The layer is assumed to exhibit anisotropy in mechanical as well as thermal sense. Numerical solutions are obtained using the Galerkin method for the eigenvalue problem arising from the linear stability theory. It is found that the magnetic field has a destabilizing effect and can be suitably adjusted depending on the anisotropy parameters to enhance convection. The effect of anisotropies of magnetic fluid filled porous media is shown to be qualitatively different from that of ordinary fluid filled porous media. This phenomenon may be helpful to increase the efficiency of suitable heat transfer devices.     

Time-Dependent Measurement of Strongly Density-Dependent Flow in a Porous Medium via Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Solute transport in saturated artificial porous media was observed in a series of laboratory experiments using magnetic resonance imaging. The objective was to study a situation of density-dependent flow in three dimensions both qualitatively and quantitatively. The time-dependent measurements visualised inflow from below of dense salt water into a freshwater reservoir, internal density-driven flow and the behaviour of a salt water layer below freshwater flow including plume development by dispersion. The main feature of the flow experiment was the strong tendency for the salt water to remain stagnant and to resist being swept out by the freshwater. Additional measurements were performed to gain information about reproducibility, flow field and breakthrough curves.     

Effects of Viscous Dissipation and Flow Work on Forced Convection in a Channel Filled by a Saturated Porous Medium

Fully developed forced convection in a parallel plate channel filled by a saturated porous medium, with walls held either at uniform temperature or at uniform heat flux, with the effects of viscous dissipation and flow work included, is treated analytically. The Brinkman model is employed. The analysis leads to expressions for the Nusselt number, as a function of the Darcy number and Brinkman number.     

The Slip Velocity at the Edge of a Porous Medium: Effects of Interior Resistance and Interface Curvature

Singularity methods are used to analyze creeping planar flow in the annulus between concentric cylinders, when a portion of the annulus is filled with an array of regularly spaced rods adjacent to the inner cylinder. The rods are evenly spaced on concentric circles, and the circles are spaced such that the array resembles a square lattice bent into a circle. The rods and inner cylinder are stationary, and steady rotation of the outer cylinder generates the flow. The quantity of interest is the slip velocity, the mean velocity at the interface between the array and the unfilled portion of the annulus. The primary part of the study concerns the influence of the interior rods on the interfacial velocity, and to this end the velocity is found as successive circles of rods are removed, starting with the circle closest to the inner cylinder. The calculations are carried out for solid volume fractions from 0.0001 to 0.1, and these show that the slip velocity is virtually unchanged as the interior circles of rods are removed, until only one circle remains and then the velocity is of order 10% larger than that for the full array. Hence the velocity at the edge of a sparse porous medium depends minimally on the hydrodynamic resistance of the obstacles in the interior. In the secondary part of the study, it is found that curvature of the interface does not influence the velocity there.     

Mixed Convection on a Horizontal Surface Embedded in a Porous Medium: the Structure of a Singularity

The mixed convection boundary-layer flow on a horizontal impermeable surface embedded in a saturated porous medium and driven by a local heat source is considered. Similarity solutions are obtained for specific outer flow variations and these are shown to have a solution only for parameter values greater than some critical value. When this is not the case the solution develops a singularity at a finite distance from the leading edge. The nature of this singularity is also discussed.     

Dispersion and Attenuation of Surface Waves in a Fluid-Saturated Porous Medium

An investigation is conducted of propagation of surface waves in a porous medium consisting of a microscopically incompressible solid skeleton in which a microscopically incompressible liquid flows within the interconnected pores, and particularly the case where the solid skeleton deforms linear elastically. The frequency equations of Rayleigh- and Love-type waves are derived relating the dependence of wave numbers, being complex quantities, on frequency, as a result those waves are dispersive as well as inhomogeneous. Nevertheless, the amplitudes of both surface waves attenuate along the surface of the porous medium, whereas they decay exponentially receding from the surface of the medium.     

Modelling the Effect of Surface Tension on Immiscible Displacement in a Saturated Porous Medium

Comments are made about the model employed by Chen and Vafai for forced convection in a porous medium channel, with a surface tension effect at the moving interface between two fluids, when one fluid is displaced by the other. A simple situation is analysed, and the circumstances under which surface tension effects are important in this case are clarified.     

Influence of Variable Permeability on Combined Convection Along a Nonisothermal Wedge in a Saturated Porous Medium

Mixed convection along a vertical nonisothermal wedge embedded in a fluid-saturated porous media incorporating the variation of permeability and thermal conductivity is studied. The surface temperature is assumed to vary as a power of the axial coordinate measured from the leading edge of the plate. A nonsimilar mixed convection parameter and a pseudo-similarity variable are introduced to cast the governing boundary layer equations into a system of dimensionless equations which are solved numerically using finite difference method. The entire mixed convection regime is covered by the single nonsimilarity parameter =[1+(Ra _x /Pe _x )^1/2]^–1 from pure forced convection (=1) to pure free convection (=0). The problem is solved using nonsimilarity solution for the case of variable wall temperature. Velocity and temperature profiles as well as local Nusselt number are presented. The wedge angle geometry parameter is ranged from 0 to 1.     

Interaction of Transverse Heterogeneity and Thermal Development of Forced Convection in a Porous Medium

The classical Graetz methodology is applied to investigate the thermal development of forced convection in a parallel plate channel filled by a saturated porous medium whose permeability and thermal conductivity vary in the transverse direction. It was found that there is a significant interaction between heterogeneity and thermal development.     

Influence of Density Inversion on Thawing Around a Cylinder in a Frozen Saturated Porous Medium

An analytical study is made of the convective flow field produced when a warm cylinder maintained at a fixed temperature above freezing is buried in saturated frozen porous medium. The flow field is shown to have a double cell pattern due to the density inversion of water at ~ 4°C, with downward convection of heat dominating at cylinder temperatures of below ~ 10°C and upward heat convection dominating at temperatures greater than this. The analysis uses a perturbation technique to determine the first-order convective correction to the flow and temperature fields around the cylinder for a quasi-static case. It demonstrates that the porous medium permeability and the cylinder temperature are the dominant factors in determining the point at which convection heat transfer becomes significant, with convection expected to be insignificant for Darcy permeabilies lower than 10⁻⁵ m/s. The analysis also gives an indication of the rates of thawing occurring in different directions without resorting to numerical methods. The practical implications of a thawing pattern significantly different to that predicted by conduction theory only are discussed briefly with respect to the problem of differential thaw settlement of arctic pipelines.     

Hydrodynamic and Thermal Fields in a Porous Medium with Injection of Superheated Steam

The plane one-dimensional and radially symmetric problems of injection of superheated steam into a porous medium saturated with gas are considered. Self-similar solutions are constructed on the assumption that in this case four zones are formed in the porous medium, namely, a gas flow zone, superheated and wet steam zones, and a water slug zone formed due to steam condensation. On the basis of the solution obtained, both the effects of the boundary pressure, mass flow rate, and temperature of the injected superheated steam and the effect of the initial state of the porous medium on the propagation of the hydrodynamic and thermal fields in the porous medium are studied.     

Analytical Study of Fluid Flow and Heat Transfer during Forced Convection in a Composite Channel Partly Filled with a Brinkman–Forchheimer Porous Medium

In this paper, the problem of fully developed forced convection in a parallel-plate channel partly filled with a homogeneous porous material is considered. The porous material is attached to the walls of the channel, while the center of the channel is occupied by clear fluid. The flow in the porous material is described by a nonlinear Brinkman–Forchheimer-extended Darcy equation. Utilizing the boundary-layer approach, analytical solutions for the flow velocity, the temperature distribution, as well as for the Nusselt number are obtained. Dependence of the Nusselt number on several parameters of the problem is extensively investigated.     

The Development of the Asymptotic Viscous Dissipation Profile in a Vertical Free Convective Boundary Layer Flow in a Porous Medium

The effect of viscous dissipation on the development of the boundary layer flow from a cold vertical surface embedded in a Darcian porous medium is investigated. It is found that the flow evolves gradually from the classical Cheng–Minkowycz form to the recently discovered asymptotic dissipation profile which is a parallel flow.     

Rayleigh–Taylor Instability of Rotating Oldroydian Viscoelastic Fluids in Porous Medium in Presence of a Variable Magnetic Field

The instability of the plane interface between two oldroydian viscoelastic superposed fluids in the presence of uniform rotation and variable magnetic field in porous medium is considered. For potentially stable configuration, the system is found to be stable for disturbances of all wave numbers. The magnetic field succeeds in stabilizing certain wave-number range, which were unstable in the absence of magnetic field and rotation for the potentially unstable configuration. Sub cases of magnetic free and rotation free configurations are also considered, separately.