Thermal non-equilibrium natural convection in a trapezoidal porous cavity with heated cylindrical obstacles

Abstract Thermal and flow analysis is performed for natural convection in a porous trapezoidal cavity considering a non-equilibrium thermal energy transport model. The model study comprises a partially and fully heated bottom wall while obstacles are placed inside the cavity to examine the thermal behavior. However, governing energy and momentum equations exhibit an unsteady state, but the numerical outcomes are obtained after employing the steady-state condition. The physical problem is expressed in a mathematical model and numerically simulated using the finite difference scheme. The results are presented in graphical sets, while a comparative tabular analysis with existing literature is also reported. It is demonstrated that the parameters γ and H affect thermal non-equilibrium and that the isotherms and streamlines are symmetrically distributed around the obstacles. The local Nusselt number and average Nusselt numbers show a dominant enhancement for both fluids and solid phases assisted by Rayleigh numbers while decreased with an increase in the heating domains. The reported study will be useful in analyzing the natural convection thermal non-equilibrium models in curvilinear geometries.