Numerical Investigation of Developing Natural Convection in Vertical Double-Passage Porous Annuli

Abstract

The present study deals with the numerically investigation of developing laminar natural convection in the vertical double-passage porous annuli formed by three vertical concentric cylinders of which the middle cylinder is a thin and perfectly conductive known as baffle. In this analysis, two thermal conditions are considered namely, either inner or outer cylindrical wall is constantly heated while the opposite wall is insulated. An implicit finite difference technique is employed to solve the boundary layer equations in both the annular passages. The temperature profiles and velocity profiles in axial as well as radial directions have been presented for different values of Grashof number, Darcy number, baffle position and radius ratio. The results reveal that both physical and geometrical parameters have profound influence on the development of velocity and thermal fields as well as heat transfer rate.