A New Method for Evaluation of Heat Transfer Between Solid Material and Fluid in a Porous Medium

Technological applications in which porous materials are utilized include thermal energy storage, geophysical fluid engineering, thermal insulation, heat transfer enhancement, and heat exchangers. The author proposes a new method to estimate the heat transfer between fluid gas and solid material in a porous medium. In the first stage, the local Nusselt numbers on the heated wall of a flow passage with a porous medium are numerically obtained in advance for the parameter H{sub a}, including the volumetric heat transfer coefficient, h{sub {nu}}, between the fluid and the solid material in a porous medium. In the second stage, the experimental Nusselt numbers on the heated wall are obtained by measuring wall temperatures and heat flux. The volumetric heat transfer coefficient, h{sub {nu}}, is evaluated by comparing experimental Nusselt numbers with numerical ones. This method also gives the longitudinal characteristics of the heat transfer in a porous medium.