Convection in horizontal porous media with different end temperatures

This work consists of a combined theoretical and experimental study of natural and forced convection in horizontal porous layer with different end temperatures and adiabatic horizontal walls. The first part of this work is concerned with two dimensional thermally driven flow in a rectangular porous cavity with one permeable end-wall. Connected to a constant temperature tank the permeable end allows for natural recharge and discharge of the saturating fluid. The other vertical end-wall is impermeable and maintained at a constant but higher temperature, thus inducing a thermally driven flow. The theoretical study includes an asymptotic analysis developed for a shallow cavity with one permeable end-wall and the numerical solutions of the power-law difference representation of the full governing equations. The experimental system consists of water-saturated glass beads packed in a rectangular cavity with the length-to-height aspect ratio of 3.17, and the Rayleigh number can vary up to 120. Measurements were made of the steady-state temperature distribution in the cavity and the heat transfer rate from the impermeable end-wall.