Effects of thermal dispersion on forced convection in fibrous media

✍ Scribed by M.L. Hunt; C.L. Tien

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1988
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 855 KB
• Volume: 31
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0017-9310
• DOI: 10.1016/0017-9310(88)90013-0

✦ Synopsis

This experimental study investigates non-Darcian flow and heat transfer in high-porosity fibrous media. It considers forced convection through materials of different permeability, porosity and thermal conductivity. The results show that the porous medium enhances heat transfer from a surface as compared to predicted results for slug or for laminar flow in a channel. This enhancement results from dispersion, a non-Darcian phenomenon describing the intra-pore mixing that develops as the fluid moves past the solid particles. The dispersive transport increases with flow rate and permeability, and at large Reynolds numbers overwhelms transport from solid conduction within the fibrous medium. To predict dispersion, this work develops a simple model based on the flow conditions and types of porous media. Results from the experiment and model demonstrate the effects of dispersion and the adequacy of the homogeneous fluidsolid energy equation to model the transport.