Non-Darcian forced convection analysis in an annulus partially filled with a porous material

Numerical solutions are presented for fully developed forced convection in concentric annuli partially filled with a porous medium. The porous medium is attached at the inner cylinder, which is maintained at uniform heat flux or at uniform wall temperature while the outer cylinder is adiabatic. The Brinkman-Forchheimer-extended Darcy model was used to model the flow inside the porous medium. The dependence of the fluid flow and heat transfer on several parameters of the problem is thoroughly documented. The inertia coefficient at which the inertial effects reduce the flow rate by 5% is determined as a function of the Darcy number for various thicknesses of the porous substrate. It is also shown that a critical thickness at which the value of the Nusselt number reaches a minimum does not exist if the effective thermal conductivity of the fluid-saturated porous medium is much higher than the fluid conductivity.