Numerical simulation of forced convection heat transfer of non- Darcian flow within a porous medium filled in a channel with a wall containing semi-circular sections

In this thesis, simulations were performed to study the combined effect of the presence of a porous medium in a channel and semicircular sections on its upper wall for non-Darcian flow and forced convection heat transfer. The assumed that the incompressible Newtonian fluid flows in two-dimensional form and the laminar regime at steady state and that the wall temperature of the semicircular sections is higher than the temperature of the inlet fluid. The simulation of the created model was done by solving the dimensionless constitutive equations using the COMSOL multiphysics program (v.6.1). The effective parameters on the process are Reynolds number (Re), Darcy number (Da), the radius of the semicircular sections (R), and the distance between the centers of the semicircular sections (Lc). Based on comparisons with the results of previous research, it was found that the results of the current study are in good agreement with those of previous research. The results showed the heat transfer rate increases as the radius, the distance between the sections and the Reynolds number increase. The maximum heat transfer rate was at radius (R = 0.75H), distance between sections (Lc = 9R), and Reynolds number (Re = 200) . Furthermore, the presence of the porous material inside the channel prevented both separation and vorticity phenomenon formation.