Stability analysis of soret-driven double-diffusive convection of Maxwell fluid in a porous medium

Stability analysis of double-diffusive convection for viscoelastic fluid with Soret effect in a porous medium is investigated using a modified-Maxwell-Darcy model. We use the linear stability analysis to investigate how the Soret parameter and the relaxation time of viscoelastic fluid effect the onset of convection and the selection of an unstable wavenumber. It is found that the Soret effect is to destabilize the system for oscillatory convection. The relaxation time also enhances the instability of the system. The effects of Soret coefficient and relaxation time on the heat transfer rate in a porous medium are studied using the nonlinear stability analysis, the variation of the Nusselt number with respect to the Rayleigh number is derived for stationary and oscillatory convection modes. Some previous results can be reduced as the special cases of the present paper.     

Mixed Convection Heat Transfer in the Annulus Between Two Concentric Vertical Cylinders Using Porous Layers

A numerical investigation of the steady-state, laminar, axi-symmetric, mixed convection heat transfer in the annulus between two concentric vertical cylinders using porous inserts is carried out. The inner cylinder is subjected to constant heat flux and the outer cylinder is insulated. A finite volume code is used to numerically solve the sets of governing equations. The Darcy–Brinkman–Forchheimer model along with Boussinesq approximation is used to solve the flow in the porous region. The Navier–Stokes equation is used to describe the flow in the clear flow region. The dependence of the average Nusselt number on several flow and geometric parameters is investigated. These include: convective parameter, λ, Darcy number, Da, thermal conductivity ratio, K _r, and porous-insert thickness to gap ratio (H/D). It is found that, in general, the heat transfer enhances by the presence of porous layers of high thermal conductivity ratios. It is also found that there is a critical thermal conductivity ratio on which if the values of Kr are higher than the critical value the average Nusselt number starts to decrease. Also, it found that at low thermal conductivity ratio (K _r ≈ 1) and for all values of λ the porous material acts as thermal insulation.     

Viscous Fingering Instability in Porous Media: Effect of Anisotropic Velocity-Dependent Dispersion Tensor

The viscous fingering of miscible flow displacements in a homogeneous porous media is examined to determine the effects of an anisotropic dispersion tensor on the development of the instability. In particular, the role of velocity-dependent transverse and longitudinal dispersions is investigated through linear stability analysis and nonlinear simulations. It is found that an isotropic velocity-dependent dispersion tensor does not affect substantially the development of the instability and effectively has the same effect as molecular diffusion. On the other hand, an anisotropic velocity-dependent dispersion tensor results in different instability characteristics and more intricate finger structures. It is shown that anisotropic dispersion has profound effects on the development of the fingers and on the mechanisms of interactions between neighboring fingers. The development of the new finger structures is explained by examining the velocity field and characterized qualitatively through a spectral analysis of the average concentration and an analysis of the variations of the sweep efficiency and relative contact area.     

Analysis of hydrodynamic and thermal dispersion in porous media by means of a local approach

A pore scale analysis is implemented in this numerical study to investigate the behavior of microscopic inertia and thermal dispersion in a porous medium with a periodic structure. The macroscopic characteristics of the transport phenomena are evaluated with an averaging technique of the controlling variables at a pore scale level in an elementary cell of the porous structure. The Darcy–Forchheimer model describes the fluid motion through the porous medium while the continuity and Navier–Stokes equations are applied within the unit cell. An average energy equation is employed for the thermal part of the porous medium. The macroscopic pressure loss is computed in order to evaluate the dominant microscopic inertial effects. Local fluctuations of velocity and temperature at the pore scale are instrumental in the quantification of the thermal dispersion through the total effective thermal diffusivity. The numerical results demonstrate that microscopic inertia contributes significantly to the magnitude of the macroscopic pressure loss, in some instances with as much as 70%. Depending on the nature of the porous medium, the thermal dispersion may have a marked bearing on the heat transfer, particularly in the streamwise direction for a highly conducting fluid and certain values of the Peclet number.     

A theoretical analysis of forced convection in a porous-saturated circular tube: Brinkman–Forchheimer model

Fully developed forced convection inside a circular tube filled with saturated porous medium and with uniform heat flux at the wall is investigated on the basis of a Brinkman–Forchheimer model. The matched asymptotic expansion method is applied at small Darcy numbers. For large Darcy numbers, the solution for the Brinkman–Forchheimer momentum equation is found in terms of an asymptotic expansion. Once the velocity distribution is determined, the energy equation is solved using the same asymptotic technique. The results for the two limiting cases of clear fluid and Darcy flow conditions show good agreement with those available in the literature.