Numerical Investigation of Thermally Developing Non-Darcy Forced Convection in a Porous Circular Duct with Asymmetric Entrance Temperature Under LTNE Condition

This paper numerically investigates the heat transfer performance of thermally developing non-Darcy forced convection in a fluid-saturated porous medium tube under asymmetric entrance temperature boundary conditions. The Brinkman flow model and the local thermal non-equilibrium (LTNE) model are employed to establish the mathematical model of the studied problem to predict the forced convective heat transfer. Then, the mathematical model is numerically solved using COMSOL Multiphysics. Consequently, the fluid velocity field, the solid temperature field, the fluid temperature field and the Nusselt number are obtained. Moreover, the dependences of the Nusselt number on some key parameters are analyzed in detail. The results show that the distribution characteristics of the Nusselt number are strongly dependent on the form of the entrance temperature function. Meanwhile, it is found that the Nusselt number increases first and then tends to approach an asymptotic value with the increase in the Darcy number and the Biot number. The Nusselt number monotonously increases with increasing the Peclet number. On the contrary, the Nusselt number decreases first and then tends to be an asymptotic value owing to the increase in the thermal conductivity ratio and the viscosity ratio. This study is of benefit to provide in-depth insights into the non-Darcy forced convective heat transfer in porous tubes with asymmetric inlet temperature under LTNE condition.