NUMERICAL ANALYSIS OF NATURAL CONVECTION IN CAVITIES WITH VARIABLE POROSITY

This work analyzes the effects of variable porosity on the heat transfer by natural convection, in a cavity with isothermal vertical walls and adiabatic horizontal ones and a porous medium inside. The hydrodynamic field in the porous medium is modelled according to the general model obtained by Brinkman's and Forchheimer's terms. An exponential variation of the porosity near the walls was considered. The equations in terms of the real variables were numerically solved by the finite-volume method, with a staggered variables arrangement. The pressure-velocity coupling was treated with the PRIME algorithm. The simulations involved both Darcian (Da = 10 -7 ) and non-Darcian flows (Da = 10 -6 ). In each case, the modified Rayleigh range (Ra m = Ra 2 Da) was from 10 to 1,000, and from 100 to 5,000, respectively. For the numerical simulation we considered Pr = 1, Rk = 1, A = 1, and k X = 0.36. The results are shown through streamlines and isotherms and velocity and temperatures profiles. This shows that the gene...