Combined heat and mass transfer by natural convection in a saturated thermally stratified porous medium

A numerical study is presented for the combined heat and mass transfer by natural convection adjacent to a vertical surface embedded in a stably thermally stratified, fluid-saturated low-porosity medium. A wide range of thermal stratification levels is considered inflows with both aiding and opposing buoyant forces. The thermal stratification was shown to have a profound influence on the heat and mass transfer rates and on the direction of flow and transport. The underlying physical phenomena are explained while providing the Nusselt and Sherwood number data.