Natural Convection in a differentially heated

porous cavity

Abstract: Convection is the mode of heat transfer that involves

the macroscopic movement of the medium itself. Convection is
of two types depending on the cause of the flow of the medium:
Natural Convection and Forced Convection.
In natural convection the flow of the medium takes place due to
the difference in density of the hot and cold fluid portions of the
medium and due to buoyancy forces.
In this experiment we are analysing what happens in a fluid
saturated porous medium. In order to keep the experiment
simple we assume thermal equilibrium model, that is there is no
gradient between solid and fluid.
The experiment is repeated for various Rayleigh numbers and
Darcy numbers so we can see what this change means to the
flow of the fluid under consideration.

1.Introduction
Natural Convection is taking place all around us all the time. The
behaviour of the fluid during natural convection is of major
concern for applications of this phenomenon.
Porous media is a very important concept in Ansys because of
its wide range of applicability. It helps simulate very complicated
domains in very simple form reducing computational power
required and even in some cases making it possible to simulate
a physical model in computational form.
There are two types of approaches that we can take: microscopic
or macroscopic. In microscopic approach the interest lies on the
pore size and or the particle sizes in the porous media where as
in macroscopic approach a mean of the property is taken over
a sufficiently large representative elementary volume.
Natural convection has been widely studied in literature and the
relations used is the Darcy relation or other modified forms. In
this experiment non Darcy regime has been used while varying
the Rayleigh and Darcy numbers.
Nomenclature:
u - X-velocity
v - Y-velocity
𝜌 - Density
p - Pressure
µ - Dynamic viscosity
β - Volumetric thermal expansion coefficient
α - Thermal Diffusivity
ʋ - Kinematic Viscosity
ϵ - Porosity
Ra – Rayleigh Number
Da – Darcy Number
K – Permeability
k – conductivity

2.Physical Model and Governing Equations

The physical model is a four wall
cavity where the top and bottom walls
are insulated and the left wall is at a
higher temperature than the right wall.

The fluid velocity in the x-direction is

‘u’ and in the y-direction is ‘v’.

The governing equations we use in the analysis of this problem

are the continuity equation and the x and y momentum equations
and the energy equation which belong to the Navier-Stokes
equations. The media here is a porous media and not a fluid.
Assumptions:
1. 2-Dimensional
2. Incompressible (𝜌 = constant)
3. Bousinessq Approximation.
4. Laminar Flow.
5. Thermal Equilibrium model is assumed.
6. Isotropic and homogenous Porous media.
7. Steady.
Then the governing equations get simplified to -
𝜕𝑢 𝜕𝑣
Continuity Equation: + =0
𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑦

X-Momentum Equation:
𝜌 𝑢 𝜕𝑢 𝑣 𝜕𝑢 𝜕𝑝 𝜇 𝜕2 𝑢 𝜕2 𝑢 𝜇𝑢 𝐹𝜌𝑢|𝑢|
[ + ]= − + [ 2 + ]− −
𝜖 𝜖 𝜕𝑥 𝜖 𝜕𝑦 𝜕𝑥 𝜖 𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑦 2 𝐾 √𝐾

Y-Momentum Equation:
𝜌 𝑢 𝜕𝑣 𝑣 𝜕𝑣
[ + ]
𝜖 𝜖 𝜕𝑥 𝜖 𝜕𝑦
𝜕𝑝 𝜇 𝜕 2 𝑣 𝜕 2 𝑣 𝜇𝑣 𝐹𝜌𝑣 |𝑣|
= − + [ 2 + 2] − − + 𝜌𝑔𝛽 (𝑇 − 𝑇∞ )
𝜕𝑦 𝜖 𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑦 𝐾 √𝐾
 𝜕𝑇 𝜕𝑇
Energy Equation: 𝜌𝐶𝑝 [𝑢 +𝑣 ] = 𝑘𝑒 (∇2 𝑇)
𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑦
𝑘𝑒 =∈ 𝑘𝑓 + (1−∈)𝑘𝑠
In these equations u and v refer to the average velocities and the
properties are of the fluid. The effective conductivity is evaluated.
Non-Dimension Parameters:
x*=x/L; y*=y/L;
u*=u/(α/L); v*=v/(α/L);
𝑔𝛽(𝑇ℎ −𝑇𝑐 )𝐿3 𝑇−𝑇𝑐
p*=p/ (𝜌(α/L)2 ); 𝑅𝑎 = ; 𝑃𝑟 = 𝜗/𝛼 ; 𝜃 =
𝜗𝛼 𝑇ℎ −𝑇𝑐

Da= K/L2
So, the governing equations become:
𝑈𝜕𝑢∗ 𝑈𝜕𝑣 ∗
+ =0
𝐿𝜕𝑥 ∗ 𝐿𝜕𝑦 ∗
Which reduces to:
𝜕𝑢∗ 𝜕𝑣 ∗
+ =0
𝜕𝑥 ∗ 𝜕𝑦 ∗
x-momentum Equation(dimensionless):
𝑢∗ 𝜕𝑢∗ 𝑣 ∗ 𝜕𝑢∗ 𝜕𝑝∗ 𝑃𝑟 𝜕 2 𝑢∗ 𝜕 2 𝑢∗ 𝑃𝑟 ∗ 𝐹 ∗ ∗
[ 2 ∗ + 2 ∗] = − ∗ + [ ∗2 + ∗2 ] − 𝑢 − 𝑢 |𝑢 |
∈ 𝜕𝑥 ∈ 𝜕𝑦 𝜕𝑥 ∈ 𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑦 𝐷𝑎 √𝐷𝑎
Similarly in y-direction:
𝑢∗ 𝜕𝑣 ∗ 𝑣 ∗ 𝜕𝑣 ∗ 𝜕𝑝∗ 𝑃𝑟 𝜕 2 𝑣 ∗ 𝜕 2 𝑣 ∗ 𝑃𝑟 ∗ 𝐹 ∗ ∗
[ 2 ∗
+ 2 ∗
] = − ∗
+ [ ∗2 + ∗2 ] − 𝑣 − 𝑣 |𝑣 | + 𝑅𝑎 ∗ 𝑃𝑟 ∗ 𝜃
∈ 𝜕𝑥 ∈ 𝜕𝑦 𝜕𝑦 ∈ 𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑦 𝐷𝑎 √𝐷𝑎

Energy Equation:
𝛼 ∗
𝜕𝜃 ∗
𝜕𝜃 (𝑇ℎ − 𝑇𝑐 ) 𝜕 2 𝜃 𝜕2𝜃
𝜌𝐶𝑝 2 (𝑇ℎ − 𝑇𝑐 ) [𝑢 +𝑣 ]=𝑘 ( ∗2 + ∗2 )
𝐿 𝜕𝑥 ∗ 𝜕𝑦 ∗ 𝐿2 𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑦
which reduces to
 𝜕𝜃
∗ ∗
𝜕𝜃 𝜕2𝜃 𝜕2𝜃
𝑢 +𝑣 = +
𝜕𝑥 ∗ 𝜕𝑦 ∗ 𝜕𝑥 ∗2 𝜕𝑦 ∗2
For our Calculations we use:
Th = 500C Tc = 400C
Properties of air at 450C
𝜌 = 1.1105kg/m3
β = 2/(Th+Tc)=2/(323+313)=3.1447*10^-3
α = 2.5014*10^-5 m2/s
ʋ = 2.5014*10^-5 m2/s
µ = 1.97722*10^-5 m2/s
k = 0.02791 W/mK
Cp = k/(𝜌*α)= 1005J/kg-K
𝑔𝛽(𝑇ℎ −𝑇𝑐 )𝐿3
𝑅𝑎 = J=k(Th-Tc)/L Nu= q’’/J
𝜗𝛼

for,
Ra Da L(m) K-1 C Nu J(W/m2)
107 10-4 0.2728 134408.60 403.28 9.25 1.0227
6 -4
10 10 0.1266 625000 869.63 2.706 2.2038
5 -4
10 10 0.0588 2890173.41 1870.06 1.072 4.7449
5 -2
5x10 10 0.1005 9900.99 109.45 6.61 2.7761
4 -2
10 10 0.0273 134174.158 402.93 1.498 10.2198
3 -2
10 10 0.0127 619962.8 866.11 1.01 21.9685
The values of Nu for the respective Ra have been obtained from well-
established journal research papers.

3.Grid Independence Study

In order to do the grid independence study the Nu obtained for
each grid for a particular Ra number is compared to the standard
value.
For Ra=106,
No. of Element No.of Total Nu
Divisions Size elements Surface
heat flux
40 8.952*10-3 1600 5.981 2.713
50 8.952*10-3 2500 5.976 2.712
60 8.952*10-3 3600 5.972 2.710
70 8.952*10-3 4900 5.9717 2.710
80 8.952*10-3 6400 5.969 2.708
90 8.952*10-3 8100 5.97 2.708

For all of the above grid study an unstructured grid has been
used and in all the cases only the no. of divisions is changed, the
bias factor is kept constant.
As we can see the result is not varying with grid sizes. The grid
size with 80 divisions is chosen for the Rayleigh number to
showcase the Temperature distribution and the stream functions
in each case.
For the sake of size of the report the grid independence study for
Ra=106 is shown here. But the same is done for all other
Rayleigh numbers listed in the results segment.

4. Results and Discussion

For Ra=107
 Figure 3 Stream Functions

For Ra=106

Figure 4 Temperature Distribution

For Ra=105
Figure 5 Stream Functions

Figure 6 Temperature Distribution

Figure 7 Stream Functions

For Ra=5x105

Figure 8 Temperature Distribution

Figure 9 Stream Functions

For Ra=104
Figure 10 Temperature Distribution

Figure 11 Stream Functions

For Ra =103

Figure 12 Temperature Distribution

Figure 13 Stream Functions

The temperature distribution for different Rayleigh numbers
shows us the effect of the velocity of the flow on the temperature
distribution inside the cavity. We can also visualize the mixing
kind of motion of the hot and cold air.
The Nusselt number we get from our Ansys simulation is in close
approximation with the results obtained from verified sources
with absolute error % less than 5% in each case.
Ra 103 104 105 5x105 106 107
Nu(sources) 1.01 1.498 1.072 6.61 2.706 9.25
Nu(Ansys) 1.02 1.53 1.072 6.43 2.708 8.9
Absolute 0.01 0.032 0 0.18 0.002 0.35
error
% Absolute 0.99 2.13 0 2.72 0.07 3.78
error

But one of the things to observe is that for the computation the
method used for all the Rayleigh Numbers is SIMPLE. The grid
size for all is kept the same.
5.Conclusion
From the experiment conducted it is observed that as the
Rayleigh number increases there is more intermixing of the hot
and cold air(in this case).
The effect of various parameters like Rayleigh number and
Darcy number on the temperature gradient close to the walls is
demonstrated.
The results obtained is also validated against well established
data and it is seen that the error is less than 5%.
6.References
1. D. Jaya Krishna, Tanmay Basak, Sarit K. Das (2008) Non-Darcy
buoyancy driven flows in a fluid saturated porous medium: the use of
asymptotic computational fluid dynamics (ACFD) approach. Heat Mass
Transfer 44:1117-1125.