Free convection in a thermally stratified non-Darcian wavy porous enclosure

Natural convection from a wavy vertical wall to a thermally stratified porous enclosure under non-Darcian assumptions has been analyzed numerically by the finite element method. The effect of inertial forces due to non-Darcian Forchheimer term, thermal stratification level, vertical wavy wall amplitude, wave phase, roughness parameter, and Rayleigh number on the convection process has been analyzed. Interestingly, features such as multiple circulation Zones in flow field, thermal boundary layer along the lower segment of wavy wall, and appearance of cold region with large stratfication are noticed in the temperature field. Nearly a 90% variation in Nu is possible with varying phase of the wavy surface. In the presence of thermal stratification, the maximum influence of non-Darcian forces is noticed when wave phase of the wavy wall is around 300degrees.