Natural convection about a vertical plate embedded in a bidisperse porous medium

The classical Clieng-Minkowycz study of convection past a vertical plate embedded in a porous medium has been extended to the case of a bidisperse porous medium (BDPM). The boundary layer analysis leads to expressions for the velocity and temperature fields in terms of a geometrical parameter, an inter-phase momentum transfer parameter, a thermal diffusivity ratio, a permeability ratio, a thermal conductivity ratio, and an inter-phase heat transfer parameter. For the leading edge region, and for an inner layer, a similarity solution is obtained numerically. This involves the first four parameters, each of which is a characteristic of the BDPM. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.