Dufour and Soret Effects on Square Porous Annulus

Abstract

A study on heat and mass transfer behaviour on porous medium embedded in a square annulus is conducted. The inner surface wall is considered to have a cool temperature T c while the outer surface is exposed to a hot temperature T h. Finite element method (FEM) is used to solve the governing partial differential equations. The results present the influences of the Dufour and Soret effects on the heat and mass transfer of a square annulus. The effects of various physical parameters on the temperature and concentration profiles together with the local Nusselt and Sherwood numbers are presented graphically. It is found that when Dufour parameter is increased, Nusselt number increases. Dufour effect has more influences on velocity profile, while it has no significant effect on the concentration and can be deemed negligible. It is observed that the local Nusselt number is highest at the bottom wall for low values of Dufour parameter; however, the top wall Nusselt number is highest for higher values of Dufour parameter. Soret effect tends to make more significant contribution to the concentration profile than Dufour effect.