Influence of periodicity on natural convection in a square porous cavity due to non-uniform heat under LTNE state

In this article, the influence of the local thermal non-equilibrium (LTNE) state on free convection in a square cavity filled with fluid-saturated porous medium is investigated numerically. The steady-state flow is induced due to sinusoidal heat distributed on the side walls of the cavity and insulated of the horizontal walls. The coupled flow governing equations are solved numerically by using the finite volume method (FVM) consisting of the SIMPLER (Semi-Implicit Method for Pressure Linked Equation Revised) Algorithm. The numerical simulations of temperature and stream-function contours are carried out for the non-Darcy model. The developed code is validated with existing numerical and present computed results for the case of a square enclosure associated with non-uniform heat source. Then, the present numerical results are analyzed over a range of physical parameters, like periodicity parameter (N >= 1), interface heat transfer coefficient (10-2 <= H <= 102), porosity scaled thermal conductivity ratio (10-2 <=gamma <= 102), with a fixed Rayleigh number (Ra=106), Darcy number (Da=10-4), Prandtl number (Pr = 0.71), and porosity (epsilon=0.8). To study the impacts of these key parameters on the fluid flow behavior and isotherm patterns of fluid as well as solid phase in the porous-square enclosure. From present numerical experiments that the structure of flow is controlled by multicellular structure with rotating clockwise and anticlockwise directions in the entire results. The flow dynamics are highly affected by the periodicity parameter (N) under LTNE circumstances. The characteristics of the local Nusselt number have the point of inflection and the maximum magnitude of it increases with N. The significant effect of H is found on the heat transfer rate of fluid phase but it is negligible on the heat transfer rate of solid phase. However, the influence of gamma is found reverse in nature on the heat transfer rate of fluid as well as solid phase when as compared to the effect of H.