Numerical simulation of natural convection in a spherical porous annulus

Abstract

Paper presented to the 10th International Conference on Heat Transfer, Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics, Florida, 14-16 July 2014.

The present study reports results of numerical investigation of natural convection in a spherical annulus filled with fluid saturated porous medium. The inner and outer surfaces are maintained at low and high temperature respectively. Successive Accelerated Replacement (SAR) scheme has been employed to obtain numerical solution for wide range of parameters i.e Rayleigh number (100 Ra 2000) and aspect ratio (0.25 A 1.0). As Rayleigh number and aspect ratio increase, the average Nusselt number increases. The boundary layer formation takes place at higher Rayleigh number. The centre of the stream lines shift downwards as aspect ratio increases