Energy Conversion and Management 51 (2010) 505517

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Energy Conversion and Management

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/enconman

Mixed convection in a channel provided with heated porous blocks

of various shapes
N. Guerroudj, H. Kahalerras *
Faculty of Mechanical and Process Engineering, Houari Boumediene University of Sciences and Technology, B.P. 32, El Alia, Bab Ezzouar 16111, Algiers, Algeria

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 16 March 2009
Accepted 22 October 2009
Available online 20 November 2009
Keywords:
Mixed convection
Porous blocks
Blocks shape

a b s t r a c t
The present work is a numerical simulation of laminar mixed convective in a two-dimensional parallelplate channel provided with porous blocks of various shapes. The upper plate is thermally insulated while
the blocks, heated from below, are attached on the lower one. The BrinkmanForchheimer extended
Darcy model with the Boussinesq approximation is adopted for the ow in the porous regions. The governing equations with the appropriate boundary conditions are solved by the control volume method.
The inuence of the buoyancy force intensity, the porous blocks shape going from the rectangular shape
to the triangular shape, their height, the porous medium permeability, the Reynolds number and the
thermal conductivity ratio is analyzed. The results reveal essentially, that the shape of the blocks can alter
substantially the ow and heat transfer characteristics. In addition, it is shown that judicious choices of
these parameters can lead to high heat transfer rates with a moderate increase of pressure drop.
2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Improvement of heat transfer in thermal devices such as heat
exchangers and electronic equipments became an important factor
in industry. For this purpose, various techniques have been proposed as the use of ns, bafes and blocks. Several studies [18]
have been undertaken, in this context, in order to optimize their
size, their arrangement and their shape.
Another way for improving the heat transfer characteristics in
industrial processes is the use of porous medium. This technique
has received a considerable attention and has been the subject of
many investigations. This interest is primarily due to the fact that
this kind of structure is encountered in many engineering applications such as drying processes, ltration, thermal insulation, geothermal systems, ground water and oil ow, as well as heat
exchangers. Several forced convection studies in parallel-plate
channel with heated porous blocks mounted on one of the walls
have been conducted. Hadim [9] performed a numerical study in
a channel lled with a porous medium and containing discrete
heat sources on the bottom wall. Two congurations were considered: a fully porous channel and a partially porous channel, which
contains porous layers above the heat sources and is non porous
elsewhere. He showed that the heat transferred is almost the same
as if the channel was totally porous, which is an interesting case
since the pressure drop is about 50% lower. Huang and Vafai [10]
considered a forced convection problem in an isothermal channel
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +213 21 24 79 19.
E-mail address: kahalerrashenda@yahoo.fr (H. Kahalerras).
0196-8904/$ - see front matter 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.enconman.2009.10.015

which contains porous blocks. They found that a signicant heat

transfer enhancement can be achieved through the use of multiple
emplaced porous blocks. Sung et al. [11], Fu et al. [12] and Chikh
et al. [13] showed that the use of porous blocks may alter substantially the ow pattern and may improve the heat transfer rate for
optimal values of the thermo-physical properties of the porous
medium. The effect of porous blocks shape (rectangular, convex
and concave) on the hydrodynamic and thermal elds was analyzed numerically by Fu and Huang [14]. They found that at low
porosities, the heat transfer rate is the same for the three types
of blocks, whereas at high porosities a better heat transfer is obtained only with the concave shape. Sara et al. [15] determined
the thermal performances of solid and perforated rectangular
blocks, attached on one of the walls of a rectangular duct, with respect to the heat transfer from the same surface without blocks. An
experimental study of heat transfer characteristics in a porous
channel with discrete heat sources was conducted by Cui et al.
[16]. They showed that the thermal transfer is signicantly improved at leading edges of the strip heaters and at high Reynolds
Numbers. Angirasa [17] demonstrated experimentally that the rate
of heat transfer can be improved with metallic brous heat dissipaters. Chiem and Zhao [18] analyzed steady and unsteady incompressible ow and forced convection heat transfer in a channel
provided either with porous blocks or solid blocks, partially and
fully lled with a porous medium, using a characteristic-based matrix-free nite volume method on unstructured grids. Huang and
Yang [19] found that the method combining ow pulsation with
heated porous block can be considered as an augment heat transfer
tool for cooling electronic devices. The inuence of the porosity

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N. Guerroudj, H. Kahalerras / Energy Conversion and Management 51 (2010) 505517

Nomenclature
C
Cp
Da
f
F
g
Gr
H
hp
K
k
N
Nu
p
Pr
q
Re
Rk
Rl
s
T

inertial coefcient
specic heat at constant pressure (J/kg K)
Darcy number
friction coefcient
Forchheimer coefcient
gravitational acceleration (m/s2)
Grashof number
channel height (m)
porous block height (m)
porous medium permeability (m2)
thermal conductivity (W/m K)
number of blocks
Nusselt number
pressure (Pa)
Prandtl number
heat ux under the blocks (W/m2)
Reynolds number
thermal conductivity ratio
viscosity ratio
porous blocks spacing (m)
temperature (K)

and aspect ratio of two porous blocks, placed in a cavity, on the

uid ow and heat transfer characteristics was examined by Shuja
et al. [20].
The topic of mixed convection heat transfer in porous media has
attracts considerable attention and has motivated a large amount
of research activity in the literature due to the wide range of thermal engineering applications which include geothermal systems,
oil extraction, ground water pollution, thermal insulation, solid
matrix heat exchangers, etc. These studies were undertaken by
varying the geometrical conguration, the direction of the ow
compared to the direction of the buoyancy force (assisted or opposed mixed convection), as well as the nature of the boundary
conditions and working uid. Lai et al. [21,22] analyzed the effect
of mixed convection over intermittently emplaced porous cavities.
They concluded that porous cavities can indeed be used in regulating skin friction and in enhancement of the heat transfer rate. Kou
and Lu [23] studied the fully developed laminar mixed convection
in a vertical channel embedded in porous media. Including the Darcian force, buoyancy force and boundary effect, the exact solutions
for temperature and velocity proles were obtained. The numerical
solution is also provided to investigate their further inuence due
to the existence of inertia effect. A numerical study of buoyancy assisted mixed convection in a parallel-plate vertical channel lled
with a porous medium and containing discrete heat sources at
the walls was carried out by Hadim and Chen [24]. Their results
show that the heat transfer increases with decreasing Darcy number and the effect of porous medium permeability is more pronounced over the rst heat source and in the non-Darcy regime.
Kou and Huang [25] studied the fully developed laminar mixed
convection through a vertical annular duct embedded in a porous
medium. The analytical solution has been derived to obtain velocity and temperature proles, mass ow rate, wall friction factor
and heat carried out by uid. For non-Darcy mixed convection in
a channel lled with a porous medium, Chen et al. [26] show that
the buoyancy force can signicantly affect the heat transfer rate for
higher values of Rayleigh and Darcy number and lower values of
the Forchheimer coefcient. Huang et al. [27] performed a numerical study in order to analyze laminar mixed convection in a parallel-plate vertical channel with heated porous blocks. The results

u
v
w
x
y

axial velocity (m/s)

transverse velocity (m/s)
porous block width (m)
axial coordinate (m)
transverse coordinate (m)

Greek symbols
l
viscosity (kg/m s)
c
block angle ()
q
density (kg/m3)
b
thermal expansion coefcient (1/K)
e
porosity
h
dimensionless temperature
Subscripts
e
exit and effective
g
global
i
inlet
m
mean
p
porous
w
wall

indicate that the size and strength of recirculating ow induced

by the porous blocks make signicant changes in the cooling of
strip heaters. The problem of steady, laminar, mixed convection
ow and heat transfer in a vertical porous channel with symmetric
and asymmetric wall temperatures was studied analytically and
numerically by Umavathi et al. [28]. The work of Jaballah et al.
[29] is a numerical simulation of mixed convection in a channel
irregularly heated and partially lled with a porous media. They
determined particularly the stability curve and the optimal values
of Rayleigh, Reynolds and Darcy numbers leading to maximum
heat transfer with acceptable pressure drop through the channel.
An experimental study for heat transfer enhancement under assisted mixed convection conditions was performed by Kurtbas
and Celik [30] in a rectangular horizontal channel lled with an
aluminium foam.
The above literature review revealed that the most undertaken
works in forced or mixed convection were devoted to the problems
concerning the use of rectangular solid or porous blocks. The only

Porous blocks
y

Insulated wall

w'

ui
Ti

H
hp

x
q
li

le

s
l

Fig. 1. Schematic of the physical domain.

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N. Guerroudj, H. Kahalerras / Energy Conversion and Management 51 (2010) 505517

work treating the effect of porous blocks shape, in forced convection, is the study of Fu and Huang [14] and, to the best knowledge
of the authors, the case of mixed convection in horizontal channel
provided with heated porous blocks of various shapes has not been
treated yet. This has motivated the present numerical simulation
which is a contribution to the previous studies on improvement
techniques of heat transfer. The principal objective of the present
study is to show the inuence of porous blocks shape on the uid
ow and heat transfer characteristics when the buoyant and forced
ow effects are simultaneously present.

Table 1
Expressions of C and S.
S

 

@P
e2 U  e2 pC ~
V U
e2 @X
 ReDa
Da
 

@P
e2 V  e2 pC ~
Gr
V V e2 Re
e2 @Y
 ReDa
2 h
Da

2 Rl
Re

e2 RRel

Rk
RePr

50
45

Present study
Hadim [9]

40

Num

35
30

2. Mathematical formulation
The system under investigation is a two-dimensional parallelplate channel. The upper plate is thermally insulated while porous
blocks of height hp, spacing s, width w, and heated from below are
attached on the lower one. The remaining of the plate is adiabatic
as shown in Fig. 1. The uid enters the channel with a uniform
velocity distribution and a constant temperature. The length behind the last block is chosen high enough so that fully developed
conditions at the exit can be assumed.
The shape of the porous blocks is characterized by the block angle c dened as tgc = 2hp/(w  w0 ). The considered shapes vary
from the rectangular shape (c = 90) to the triangular shape
(w0 = 0).
In order to simplify the problem, some assumptions are considered: the ow is two-dimensional, laminar, incompressible and in
steady state with no internal heat generation and neglecting viscous dissipation. The thermo-physical properties of the uid are
assumed to be constant except the density in the gravitational
term that changes linearly with temperature (Boussinesq approximation). The porous medium is considered homogeneous, isotropic
and saturated with a single phase uid which is in local equilibrium with the solid matrix.
The ow is modelled by the BrinkmanForchheimer extended
Darcy model [31] in the porous regions to incorporate the viscous
and inertia effects and by the Navierstokes equations in the uid
domain, and the thermal eld by the energy equation.
Continuity equation:

@u @ v

0
@x @y

25
-6

20

Da = 10

15

Da = 10

10

Fluid case

Momentum equations:

-3

q @u
@u
@p
@2u @2u
l
qF e ~
p V u
l

u


u
v

e
@y
@x
@x2 @y2
e2 @x
K
K

5
1

Block number

q @v
@v
@p
@2v @2v
l
qF e  
 le
 v  p ~
u

V v
v
@y
e2 @x
@y
@x2 @y2
K
K

Fig. 2. Evolution of the average Nusselt number at each block for various Darcy
numbers: Re = 100 and Rk = 1.

qgbT  T i

Present study

Chikh et al. [13]

Fig. 3. Streamlines for Re = 500, Da = 105 and Hp = 0.25.

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N. Guerroudj, H. Kahalerras / Energy Conversion and Management 51 (2010) 505517

Energy equation:

!


@T
@T
@2T @2T
ke
qC p u v

@x
@y
@x2 @y2

tions over a representative elementary volume. This latter is chosen such that it is the smallest differential volume that results in
statistically meaningful local average properties. The term
  

 ~
l~
V  qpFe ~
V V can be viewed as the resistance offered by the

  p
 
where ~
V  u2 v 2 . The porosity e, the porous medium permeability K, the effective viscosity and thermal conductivity are taken
equal respectively to unity (e = 1), innity (K ? 1) and uids viscosity and thermal conductivity in the non porous region.
Note that the eld variables in the porous regions are volume
averaged quantities as described by Vafai and Tien [31]. The local
volume averaging involves integration of the conservation equa-

(a)

porous medium to the ow.

2.1. Boundary conditions
At the inlet:

x 0; 0 < y < H : u ui ;

v 0 and T T i

1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
0

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

= 90
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
0

10

= 71.6
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
0

10

11

= 50.2

(b)

1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
0

10

= 90
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
0

10

= 71.6
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
0

10

11

= 50.2
Fig. 4. Effect of porous blocks shape and buoyancy on streamlines for Re = 100, Hp = 0.6, Rk = 1 and Da = 103: (a) Gr/Re2 = 0; (b) Gr/Re2 = 20.

509

N. Guerroudj, H. Kahalerras / Energy Conversion and Management 51 (2010) 505517

At the exit:

x l; 0 < y < H :

@u
0;
@x

v 0 and

@T
0
@x

At the porousuid interfaces: continuity of velocity components, temperature, stresses and heat uxes.
The governing equations are made dimensionless by introducing the following characteristics scales:

At the lower plate:

y 0; 0 < x < l : u v

@T
0 and

@y

 kqe under the porous blocks

0

elsewhere
7

x
y
u
v
p
T  Ti
; Y ; U ; V ; P 2 and h
H
H
ui
ui
qui
q Hk

The equations are rewritten as follows:

At the upper plate:

y H; 0 < x < l : u v 0 and

(a)

@T
0
@y

@U @V

0
@X @Y

1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
0

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

= 90
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
0

10

= 71.6
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
0

10

11

= 50.2

(b)

1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
0

10

= 90
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
0

10

= 71.6
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
0

10

11

= 50.2
Fig. 5. Effect of porous blocks shape and buoyancy on streamlines for Re = 100, Hp = 0.6, Rk = 1 and Da = 106: (a) Gr/Re2 = 0; (b) Gr/Re2 = 20.

510

N. Guerroudj, H. Kahalerras / Energy Conversion and Management 51 (2010) 505517

!


@U
@U
@P Rl @ 2 U @ 2 U
1
C ~
p
V U

U

U

@X
@Y
@X Re @X 2 @Y 2
ReDa
e2
Da
1

10
!


1
@V
@V
@P Rl @ 2 V @ 2 V
1



U

V
@X
@Y
@Y Re @X 2 @Y 2
ReDa
e2
C  
Gr
 p ~
V V 2 h
Da
Re
U

@h
@h
Rk
@2h @2h

@X
@Y RePr @X 2 @Y 2

Numi

1
W

X i W

NudX

21

Xi

where Xi is the position of the block i from the channel entrance.

The global Nusselt number is dened by:

11

PiN

i1 Numi

Nug

22

where N is the number of blocks mounted in the channel.

12
3. Numerical procedure

The boundary conditions in dimensionless form are:

At the inlet:

X 0; 0 < Y < 1 : U 1;

The average Nusselt number at each block is calculated as

follows:

V 0 and h 0

The previous conservation Eqs. (9)(12) can be written in the

following compact form:

13

At the exit:

@J X @J Y

S
@X @Y

23

With:

@U
@h
X L; 0 < Y < 1 :
0; V 0 and
0
@X
@X

14

At the lower plate:

@h

Y 0; 0 < X < L : U V 0 and

@Y

 R1

under the porous blocks

elsewhere

15

@U
@X
@U
JY V U  C
@Y

JX U U  C

23a
23b

where JX and JY stand for the uxes in the axial and transverse directions, U for the dependent variables (U, V and h), C for the diffusion

At the upper plate:

(a)

@h
Y 1; 0 < X < L : U V 0 and
0
@Y

16

5.0

The dimensionless parameters appearing in the above equations are dened as:

; Da

; Gr

m
H2
le
ke
Rl
and Rk
l
k

m2

; Pr

lC p
k

4.9
4.8

Nug

ui H

Re

gb qH
H3
k

; C eF;

5.1

4.7

Gr/Re = 0
4.6

Gr/Re = 5
2

Gr/Re = 20

4.5
4.4

2.2. Governing parameters

4.3

The local friction coefcient is dened as:





dp
Dh
dPm 1
f  m


dx 2qu2m
dX U 2m

50

1
L

(b)

fdX

18

The local Nusselt number is evaluated as follows:

Nu

hH
qH=k
1

k
T w  T m hw  hm

19

90

4.0
3.8
3.6
3.4
3.2

Gr/Re = 0

3.0

Gr/Re = 5

2.8

Gr/Re = 20

2
2

2.6
2.4

where hw is the dimensionless wall temperature and hm is the

dimensionless bulk temperature taken as:

R1
jU jhdY
hm R01
U
0 j jdY

80

17

Nug

fm

70

()

where pm and um are the mean pressure and mean velocity respectively over the section, and Dh = 2H is the hydraulic diameter.
The average friction coefcient is obtained by integration of the
local value over the channel length:

60

2.2
50

60

70

80

90

()

20

Fig. 6. Variation of global Nusselt number with porous blocks shape and buoyancy
for Re = 100, Hp = 0.6, Rk = 1: (a) Da = 103; (b) Da = 106.

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N. Guerroudj, H. Kahalerras / Energy Conversion and Management 51 (2010) 505517

coefcient and S for the source term (Table 1). The continuity equation is obtained by setting U = 1, C = 0 and S = 0.
These equations with the associated boundary conditions (13)
(16) are solved numerically using the nite volume method [32],
which is based on the integration of the conservative differential
equations over control volumes enclosing the nodal points. A staggered grid is used such as the velocity components are located at
the control volume faces, whereas pressure and temperature are
located at the centers of control volumes. The power law scheme
is used in the discretizing procedure and the nal discretized equation is a linear algebraic relation between the values of the variable

(a)

U, in the center of the mesh, and those of the neighbouring nodes.

It can be written as:
aP UP

anb Unb b

24

nb

where the subscript nb denotes the neighbouring nodes to the

principal node P, anb the coefcients combining convective and diffusive terms, and b the source term.
The sudden change in the diffusion coefcients are handled by
use of the harmonic mean to ensure conservation and uniqueness
of mass and heat uxes at each control volume face. The velocity

1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
0

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

= 90
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
0

10

= 45
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
0

10

= 21.8

(b)

1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
0

10

= 90
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
0

10

= 71.6
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
0

10

11

= 50.2
Fig. 7. Effect of porous blocks shape, height and permeability on streamlines for Re = 100, Gr/Re2 = 5, Rk = 1 and Da = 106: (a) Hp = 0.2; (b) Hp = 0.6; (c) Hp = 1.

512

N. Guerroudj, H. Kahalerras / Energy Conversion and Management 51 (2010) 505517

(c)

1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

= 90
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0

10

= 78.4
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0

10

11

= 63.4
Fig. 7 (continued)

and pressure elds are linked by the SIMPLE algorithm [32]. The
obtained system of algebraic equations is then solved using a line
by line technique, combining between the tridiagonal matrix algorithm [33] and the GaussSeidel method. A non uniform grid in the
two directions is employed. The ner meshes are placed in both
the interfacial region of the porous blocks and near the solid walls
regions. Due to the limitation of the numerical method, the inclined interfacial surfaces of the blocks are simulated by a series
of rectangular steps, called the blocking off operation, as proposed by Patankar [32]. For the interfacial control element, if the
central position of the control element is lower than the corresponding inclined surfaces, the control element then belongs to
the porous blocks; otherwise, the control element belongs to the
external ow eld. To analyse the effect of the grid size on the
numerical solution, various grid systems are tested and a grid system of 480  70 (in X and Y directions respectively) is chosen in
view of saving computation time. For convergence criteria of the
iterative process, the relative variations of velocity components
and temperature between two successive iterations are required
to be smaller than 105.
To verify our numerical simulation, comparison is made rst
with the results obtained by Hadim [9] in the case of a partially
porous channel where four (04) blocks ll the entire height
(Hp = 1) with an inertial coefcient C = 0.1 and a porosity e = 0.97.
The second comparison is made with the results of Chikh et al.
[13] (C = 0.1 and e = 1). Figs. 2 and 3 show acceptable matching between the different results. The difference on the values of the
stream function between our study and that of Chikh et al. [13]
is due to the fact that we used in our dimensioning the distance between the two plates (H), whereas they used the hydraulic diameter (Dh = 2H).
4. Results
Due to the great number of parameters, few of them are kept
constant. The numerical calculations are performed for air
(Pr = 0.7), a porosity e = 0.97, an inertia coefcient C = 0.1 and a vis-

cosity ratio Rl = 1 (Brinkman assumption). The geometrical parameters are kept constant at values of Li = li/H = 3, Le = le/H = 21, N = 3,
W = w/H = 1 and S = s/H = 1.
In this study, the interest is related to the effects of the porous
blocks shape (20 < c 6 90), the mixed convection parameter (Gr/
Re2 = 0, 5 and 20), the Darcy number (106 6 Da 6 101), the porous blocks height (0 6 Hp = hp /H 6 1), the Reynolds number
(10 6 Re 6 300) and the thermal conductivity ratio (1 6 Rk 6 10).
The shape of the blocks varies from the rectangular shape to the
triangular shape without changing the geometrical dimensions
Hp and W, but their volume is variable.
4.1. Fluid ow and heat transfer characteristics
Fig. 4 shows the effect of the mixed convection parameter Gr/
Re2 on the streamlines for a block height Hp = 0.6 and a Darcy
number Da = 103. Each time, we will present the ow structure
in the channel for three typical shapes (each of them being characterized by its block angle c): rectangular, trapezoidal and triangular. We will start analyzing the effect of the blocks shape before
discussing the inuence of buoyancy force intensity. Fig. 4a, corresponding to the case of forced convection (Gr/Re2 = 0), shows
that the ow is disturbed by the presence of the porous blocks.
Behind the last rectangular block (c = 90) there is appearance
of a recirculation zone which tends to decrease in size and even
disappear while going to the triangular shape. This behaviour is
due to the decrease of the blocks volume which results in a
reduction of the resistance to the ow and less disturbed streamlines. The same behaviour is observed when the buoyancy force is
increased (Gr/Re2 = 20, Fig. 4b) with however, larger vortices upstream and downstream from the last block. This is probably due
to stronger buoyant upow by increasing the mixed convection
parameter.
By decreasing the Darcy number (Da = 106, Fig. 5a), the ow is
more disturbed and there is appearance of vortices between the
blocks. These recirculation zones increase in size and occupy more
and more the space between two blocks while going towards the

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(a)

6.0

Fluid case
5.5

-2

Da = 10

4.5
-3

Da = 10
4.0

-6

Da = 10

3.5
25

30

35

40

45

50

55

60

65

70

75

80

85

90

()

(b)

op ()

Nug

5.0

95
90
85 Hp = 1
80
75
70
65
60
Hp = 0.6
55
50
45
40
Triangular shape
35
30
25
20
1E-6
1E-5
1E-4

Rectangular shape

Hp = 0.2
1E-3

0.01

0.1

Da

6.0
-2

Fig. 9. Variation of optimal block angle with Darcy number and porous blocks
height for Re = 100, Gr/Re2 = 5 and Rk = 1.

Da = 10

5.5
Fluid case

5.0
-3

Da = 10

Nug

4.5
4.0
3.5

-4

Da = 10

3.0
2.5

-6

Da = 10

2.0
55

60

65

70

75

80

85

90

()

(c)

10.0
9.5

-6

Da = 10

9.0
8.5

Nug

8.0

-3

Da = 10

7.5
7.0

-2

Da = 10

6.5
6.0

Fluid case

5.5
5.0
4.5
65

70

75

80

85

90

()
Fig. 8. Variation of global Nusselt number with porous blocks shape, permeability
and height for Re = 100, Gr/Re2 = 5 and Rk = 1: (a) Hp = 0.2; (b) Hp = 0.6; (c) Hp = 1.

triangular shape due to the reduction of the blocks volume. The

vortex behind the last block becomes larger by decreasing the porous blocks permeability and it is pushed more and more towards
the block with an increase of its size while going from the rectangular shape to the triangular shape. The increase the value of Gr/
Re2 to 20 (Fig. 5b) leads to larger vortices.
Fig. 6 shows the variation of the global Nusselt number Nug
with the porous blocks shape for different values of the mixed convection parameter Gr/Re2. We note that when the buoyant and
forced ow effects are simultaneously present (mixed convection),
the heat transfer is larger. Thus, by increasing Gr/Re2, the buoyancy
effects are increased and so there is an augmentation of the global
Nusselt number. The rate of heat transfer enhancement, by varying
Gr/Re2 from 0 to 20, depends on the block shape and permeability.
At Da = 103, this improvement is between 5% and 7% according to

the value of the block angle c. However, at low Darcy number

(Da = 106, Fig. 6b) the buoyancy effects are larger for the triangular shape than for rectangular shape (enhancement rate around
31% for c = 50.2 and around 6% for c = 90). Concerning the effect
of the porous blocks shape on the heat transfer characteristics, it
can seen from this gure and for this block height (Hp = 0.6), that
the optimal shape leading to the highest Nug is function of the permeability of the porous medium. At small Da, the maximum heat
transfer rate is obtained when the block shape is triangular,
whereas when Da = 103, the optimal shape becomes the rectangular shape. This is probably due to the fact that for Da = 103, the
uid penetrates into the blocks and the heat exchange area is then
more important since it also includes the internal surface from
which the interest, in this case, of the porous blocks volume. So
the blocks of rectangular shape lead to a better heat transfer than
the triangular shape since their volumes are twice greater.
For the results which will follow, we will x Gr/Re2 at a value of
5 corresponding to the case when buoyancy and forced ow effects
are simultaneously present.
The ow pattern is also affected by the porous blocks height as
it appears in Fig. 6. Increasing Hp, when Da is kept at a constant value (Da = 106), leads to a disruption of the ow and the formation
of a vortex behind each porous blocks. When these blocks occupy
the entire channel height (Hp = 1, Fig. 7c), the ow is slightly disturbed and the uid moves in a fairly uniform fashion. However,
by decreasing the blocks volume, the uid tries to escape towards
the region of the porous blocks having the less resistance to the
ow as it appears for the triangular shape where the ow is concentrated in the top of the blocks.
In Fig. 8 is presented the variation of the global Nusselt number
with c for various Darcy numbers and heights. At small blocks
height (Hp = 0.2), there is an increase of the heat transfer rate with
the permeability due to the penetration of the uid inside the
blocks and as a consequence there is an important extraction of
heat from the heated regions of the lower plate. The highest value
of Nug is obtained with the triangular shape (c = 21.8) and decreases while going towards the rectangular shape (c = 90). This
behaviour can be explained as follows: due to the small blocks
height, the uid mostly ows in the non porous region and its contact with the blocks is made much more on the external surface
from which the interest of the triangular shape which is more adequate for a better contact. The rate of improvement while going
from the rectangular shape to the triangular shape depends on
the Darcy number. For example at Da = 106 and Da = 103 it is
about 22% whereas at Da = 102 it is about 8.5%. For this small

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N. Guerroudj, H. Kahalerras / Energy Conversion and Management 51 (2010) 505517

(a)

1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
0

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

= 90
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
0

10

= 71.6
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
0

10

11

= 50.2

(b)

1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
0

10

= 90
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
0

10

= 71.6
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
0

10

11

= 50.2
Fig. 10. Effect of porous blocks shape and Reynolds number on streamlines for Gr = 104, Hp = 0.6, Rk = 1 and Da = 106: (a) Re = 10; (b) Re = 300.

value of blocks height, the uid case is always thermally more

efcient than the intermittent porous case. By increasing the
height to Hp = 0.6, the triangular shape is the more efcient only
at small Darcy numbers (Da < 104). For Da = 104 and Da = 103,
the highest values of Nug are obtained with the trapezoidal shapes
(c = 56.3 and c = 80.5 respectively), whereas at high permeabilities the highest rate of heat transfer is obtained with the rectangular shape. When the porous blocks occupy all the height of the
channel (Fig. 8c), and because of the penetration of the uid in
these blocks whatever the value of the permeability, there is rstly
an improvement of heat transfer in comparison to the uid case,

and secondly an increase of the global Nusselt number while going

towards the rectangular shape.
In order to synthesize what has been obtained previously
(Fig. 8), we presented in Fig. 9 the variation of the angle cop, corresponding to the block shape leading to the highest heat transfer rate, with Da for various values of Hp. At low permeabilities
and small blocks height, the triangular shape is the optimal
shape, and the rectangular shape will lead to the best thermal
transfer only at high values of Da and Hp. For intermediate values of these parameters the optimal shape is the trapezoidal
shape.

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N. Guerroudj, H. Kahalerras / Energy Conversion and Management 51 (2010) 505517

(a)

8.5

Re = 300

8.0

(a)

11
Rk = 10

10

7.5

9
8

Re = 100

4.5

Nug

Nug

7,0

4.0

Rk = 5

7
Fluid case

6
3.5

Re = 50

Rk = 2

3.0

Re = 10

Rk = 1

2.5
50

60

70

80

40

90

50

60

()

(b)

70

3.4

(b) 7.5

3.2

6.5

7.0
Fluid case

Nug

Nug

Rk = 5

5.5

2.8
2.6 Re = 10

Re = 300

2.4

Re = 100

5.0
4.5

Rk = 3

4.0
Rk = 2

3.5
3.0

Re = 50

2.2

Rk = 1

2.5
40

50

60

70

80

90

()
Fig. 11. Variation of global Nusselt number with porous blocks shape and Reynolds
number for Gr = 104, Hp = 0.6 and Rk = 1: (a) Da = 103; (b) Da = 106.

90
Rectangular
shape

80

Da = 10

70

-3

60
Triangular shape
Da = 10

50
10

90

Rk = 10

6.0
3.0

op ()

80

()

-6

100

Re
Fig. 12. Variation of optimal block angle with Reynolds number for Gr = 104,
Hp = 0.6 and Rk = 1.

Another relevant parameter which is considered is the Reynolds

number. In this case the Grashof number is kept constant at a value
of 104. First, the streamlines are displayed in Fig. 10 and two values
of Re are considered: Re = 10 (Gr/Re2 = 100) and Re = 300 (Gr/
Re2 = 0.11). The ow changes from a creeping ow to a forced ow
as Re increases. At small Reynolds number (Re = 10, Fig. 10a), the

50

60

70

80

90

()
Fig. 13. Variation of global Nusselt number with porous blocks shape and thermal
conductivity ratio for Gr/Re2 = 5, Hp = 0.4 and Re = 100: (a) Da = 103; (b) Da = 106.

uid ows above and between the blocks by taking their exact
shape with presence of vortices downstream from each block
whose size increases by going towards the triangular shape. When
the inertia effects become important, the great quantity of the
uid, at a higher velocity, ows above the blocks which will
certainly causes a higher heat transfer than that of the lower
Reynolds number. Between and downstream the blocks there is
appearance of larger vortices whose size changes with the shape
of the blocks.
The inuence of Re on the evolution of the Nusselt number is
presented in Fig. 11 where it is shown an increase of the heat transfer rate by increasing Reynolds number due to the augmentation of
the inertia forces further to the augmentation of the ow rate. An
interesting result appears (Fig. 12), where the optimal shape passes
from the triangular shape, at low permeabilities and small
Reynolds number, to the rectangular shape at high values of Da
and Re.
The results presented previously are for the case of a low conducting material (Rk = 1). Attention is now turned to the discussion
of the thermal conductivity ratio effect on the heat transfer. Fig. 13
illustrated the variation of the global Nusselt number with thermal
conductivity ratio Rk. For this blocks height (Hp = 0.4) and for
Da = 103, one notices on one hand, that Nug increases with the
thermal conductivity ratio and on the other hand, that for Rk > 1
the highest heat transfer rate is obtained with the rectangular
shape. Indeed, by increasing the value of the thermal conductivity
ratio the quantity of heat transported by the uid during its ow in
the blocks is more important. The maximum of heat transfer is

516

(a)

N. Guerroudj, H. Kahalerras / Energy Conversion and Management 51 (2010) 505517

(a) 0.152

0.42

0.150

0.39

Da = 10

-6

0.148

Da = 10

0.146

fm

0.36
0.33

-3

0.144

fm

0.142
2

Gr/Re = 0

0.30

0.140

Da = 10

-2

Gr/Re = 5

0.138

Gr/Re = 20

0.27

0.136

Fluid case

0.134

0.24

25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90
()

50

60

70

80

90

()

(b)

(b)

0.49
0.48
fm

0.47

fm

0,46
0.45

Gr/Re = 0

0.44

Gr/Re = 5

0.43

Gr/Re = 20

0.42

0.48
0.45
0.42
0.39
0.36
0.33
0.30
0.27
0.24
0.21
0.18
0.15
0.12

Da = 10

-6

Da = 10

Da = 10

-3

-2

Fluid case
55

60

65

70

75

80

85

90

()

0.41
0.40
50

55

60

65

70

75

80

85

90

(c)
1000

()

Da = 10

-6

fm

Fig. 14. Variation of friction coefcient number with porous blocks shape and
buoyancy for Re = 100, Hp = 0.6 and Rk = 1: (a) Da = 103; (b) Da = 106.

100

Da = 10

then obtained with the rectangular shape due to its volume which
is twice that of the triangular shape. It is to be noted the existence
of a critical value of Rk, 2 < Rkc < 5, beyond which there is an
improvement of heat transfer compared to the uid case. The
examination of this gure also reveals that the effect of Rk on
Nug is more important for the rectangular shape than for the
triangular shape, which is due principally to their volumes. Thus,
the rate of improvement obtained from Rk = 1 to Rk = 10 is about
92% for c = 38.6 and it is about 173% for c = 90.
At small permeabilities (Da = 106, Fig. 13b), the highest heat
transfer is obtained with the rectangular shape for Rk > 2, but the
uid case is not exceeded only for Rk P 10. However, this improvement is not obtained with all the shapes and it will probably be
necessary to increase the thermal conductivity ratio beyond the
value of 10 so that the triangular shape becomes more interesting
than the uid case.
4.2. Pressure drop
An important factor to be considered when using porous material for the purpose of heat transfer enhancement is the increased
pressure drop.
Fig. 14 illustrated the variation of the dimensionless pressure
drop, given by the average friction coefcient fm, with porous
blocks angle c for various mixed convection parameter Gr/Re2
and two Darcy numbers (Da = 103 and Da = 106). It appears that
fm increases slightly with the buoyancy parameter (2% at 6%). The

-3

Da = 10

-2

Fluid case
0.1
65

70

75

80

85

90

()
Fig. 15. Variation of friction coefcient with porous blocks shape, permeability and
height for Re = 100, Gr/Re2 = 5 and Rk = 1: (a) Hp = 0.2; (b) Hp = 0.6; (c) Hp = 1.

physical explanation is that the positive buoyancy force implies

favourable pressure gradient and the uid get accelerated and consequently fm is increased. Generally, the highest pressure drop is
obtained with the rectangular shape due to its volume which is
twice larger than that of the triangular shape.
Fig. 15 shows that the increase of the porous medium permeability, and the diminution of their height as well as their volume,
by going from the rectangular shape to the triangular shape, reduces the resistance to the ow and so leads to a decrease of the
pressure drop in the channel.
The pressure drop is also affected by the Reynolds number.
Fig. 16 depicts the friction coefcient as a function of the Reynolds
number. It is shown that fm decreases with increasing Re and that
the highest pressure drop is obtained with the rectangular shape
due its volume which the highest in comparison to the others
shapes.

fm

N. Guerroudj, H. Kahalerras / Energy Conversion and Management 51 (2010) 505517

3.6
3.3
3.0
2.7
2.4
2.1
1.8
0.9

Re = 10

Re = 50
0.6

Re = 100
0.3

Re = 300

0.0
55

60

65

70

75

80

85

90

()
Fig. 16. Variation of friction coefcient with porous blocks shape and Reynolds
number for Gr = 104, Hp = 0.6 and Da = 103.

5. Conclusion
The present study illustrates the interest of porous blocks
shape, mounted on a partially heated lower plate, in view of heat
transfer enhancement when the buoyant and forced ow effects
are simultaneously present. The ow structure is affected by the
presence of these blocks, resulting in the formation of vortices
downstream from each block. The strength and the extent of theses
vortices strongly depend on the intensity of the buoyancy force,
the Reynolds number and the porous blocks properties (shape,
height, permeability and effective thermal conductivity). This ow
structure has profound inuences on the heat transfer characteristics. The global Nusselt number increases with the mixed convection parameter Gr/Re2, especially at small permeability and for
the triangular shape, the Reynolds number and the thermal conductivity ratio. The triangular shape leads to the highest rates of
heat transfer at small values of Darcy number, Reynolds number,
porous blocks height and thermal conductivity ratio. At high values
of these parameters, the rectangular shape becomes the optimal
shape. Inserting intermittently porous blocks has the effect of
increasing the pressure drop in the channel. This augmentation is
more important at low Darcy number, at high blocks height and
for the rectangular shape. However, the buoyant effect on the friction coefcient is rather small.

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