Effect of a Porous Layer on the Flow Structure and Heat Transfer in a Square Cavity

A two-dimensional rectangular enclosure containing a binary-fluid saturated porous layer of finite thickness placed in the centre of the cavity is considered. Phase change is neglected. Vertical and horizontal solid boundaries are assumed to be isothermal and adiabatic, respectively. A horizontal temperature gradient is imposed, driving convection of buoyancy nature. The Darcy equation, including Brinkman and Forchheimer terms is used to account for viscous and inertia effects in the momentum equation, respectively. The problem is then solved numerically in the framework of a Velocity-Pressure formulation resorting to a finite volume method based on the standard SIMPLER algorithm. The effects of the governing parameters (geometric, hydrodynamic and thermal) on fluid flow and heat transfer are investigated.