Buoyant convection in a square cavity partially filled with a heat-generating porous medium

Abstract

Steady-state buoyant convection in a rectangular cavity, partially filled with a fluid-saturated porous medium with spatially uniform internal heat generation, is considered. The Brinkman-extended Darcy model in the porous region is adopted. The overall Rayleigh number is large to render a boundary-layer-type global flow pattern. Scale analysis is performed to obtain a rudimentary understanding of the flow characteristics. In parallel with the theoretical endeavors, numerical solutions are secured over broad ranges of nondimensional parameters. The results indicate that there exists an asymptotic convection regime where the flow is nearly independent of the permeability and conductivity of the porous medium. The effect of the thermal conductivity of porous material is appreciable in the intermediate regime. In the conduction-dominant regime, the porous region acts like a heat-generating solid block. The numerical study gives credence to the reliability of the theoretical arguments.