The effect of the position of the heated thin porous fin on the laminar natural convection heat transfer in a differentially heated cavity

Laminar natural convection heat transfer in a differentially heated cavity with two thin porous fins attached to the hot wall and bottom insulated surface was studied numerically for various pertinent parameters. Such parameters include Richardson number, Darcy number, thermal conductivity ratio, and location of the porous fin. The left wall of the cavity is assumed to be uniformly heated while the right wall is kept at a lower temperature. In addition, the horizontal walls of the cavity were considered insulated. Furthermore, the governing transport equations within the porous media were written according to the volume-average theory. The governing equations are solved using a finite element formulation based on the Galerkin method of weighted residuals. The results of this investigation showed that the presence of a horizontal porous fin increases the average Nusselt number when compared with the differentially heated cavity for various Richardson numbers and thermal conductivity ratios. However, a vertical porous fin attached to the bottom insulated surface exhibited a lower average Nusselt number than the no-fin case. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.