Numerical investigation of heat transfer in a partially porous-filled channel with core and wall configurations

Abstract

The numerical simulations are carried out for analysis of heat transfer enhancement in the partially filled channel with the horizontal porous layer, considering two different configurations: at the core and at the walls of the channel. The Darcy-Brinkman-Forchheimer equation is used to model flow through the porous medium, and the governing equations are solved using a finite volume method. The study investigates the effect of the porous layer thickness, thermal conductivity and Darcy number on heat transfer performance and pressure drop. The detailed parametric analysis quantifies variations in the Nusselt number and pressure drop for both configurations. The study reveals that the pressure drop is consistently lower for porous layers located at the channel walls compared to the core for all Darcy numbers. The Nusselt number increases by up to 88% as the porous layer thickness ratio rises to 0.8, then decreases by approximately 19.5% at a lower thermal conductivity ratio of 2.5, but continues to rise at a higher ratio of 25. Increasing the thermal conductivity ratio to 25 improves the Nusselt number by up to 80.5% compared to a ratio of 2.5. Additionally, for lower Darcy numbers (up to 10^‒4), the higher Nusselt number is achieved when the porous layer is located at the core. However, for higher Darcy numbers (above 10^‒3), the Nusselt number is higher when the porous layer is at the walls. The results reveal that the position of the porous layer within the channel significantly affects its thermal and hydrodynamic performance.