Abstract
Mixed convection in a vertical annulus filled with a saturated porous medium is numerically and experimentally investigated. Calculations are carried out under the traditional Darcy assumptions and cover the ranges 10 ≤ Ra ≤ 200 and 0.01 ≤ Pe ≤ 200. Both numerical and experimental results show that the Nusselt number increases with either Ra or Pe when the imposed flow is in the same direction as the buoyancy-induced flow. When the imposed flow opposes buoyancy-induced flow, the Nusselt number first decreases with an increase of the Peclet number and reaches a minimum before increasing again. Under certain circumstances, the Nusselt number for a lower Rayleigh number may exceed that for larger value. Nusselt numbers are correlated by the parameter groups Nu/Pe1/2 and Ra/Pe3/2. Good agreement exists between measured and predicted Nusselt numbers, and the occurrence of a minimum Nusselt number in mean flow that opposes buoyancy is verified experimentally.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 143-151 |
Number of pages | 9 |
Journal | Journal of Heat Transfer |
Volume | 114 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Feb 1992 |
Keywords
- Geophysical heat transfer
- Mixed convection
- Porous media