Effects of Various Thermal Boundary Conditions on Natural Convection in Porous Cavities

The present work analyzes numerically the effects of various thermal boundary conditions and the geometry of the cavity on natural convection in cavities with fluid-saturated porous medium. Cavity of square, right-angled trapezium and right-angled triangle shapes are considered. The different temperature profiles are imposed on the left wall of the cavity and the right wall is maintained at a lower constant temperature. The top and bottom walls are adiabatic. The Darcy model is adopted for the porous medium. The finite difference method is used to solve the governing equations and boundary conditions over a range of Darcy-Rayleigh numbers. Streamlines, isotherms and Nusselt numbers are used for presenting the results. The heat transfer of the square cavity is more enhanced at high Darcy-Rayleigh number for all the thermal boundary conditions considered.