Conjugate forced convection flow past a circular cylinder with internal heat generation in a porous medium

Abstract

PurposeThe aim is to determine the effect of different conductivity ratios on forced convection past a circular cylinder embedded in a porous medium, where the solid cylinder forms a uniform heat source.Design/methodology/approachThe authors employ an unsteady finite difference method to obtain the resulting steady‐state solutions. Interface conditions are applied using the fictitious point method.FindingsIt is found that, the thermal field within the cylinder and in the external porous region depend strongly on the ratio of the respective conductivities. In the extreme cases the cylinder acts either as one with a uniform temperature (high‐cylinder conductivity) or with a uniform heat flux (low‐cylinder conductivity).Research limitations/implicationsConductivity ratios in the range 0.1≤γ≤100 and Péclet numbers in the range, 1≤Pe≤1,000 were taken.Originality/valueForced convection studies usually focus on cases where the solid phase has a prescribed temperature or heat flux. The present paper employs a uniform heat generation within the cylinder to determine how the therrmal field depends on the Péclet number and the conductivity ratio.