Authors Accepted Manuscript

Analysis of thermal management during natural

convection within porous tilted square cavities via
heatline and entropy generation

Pratibha Biswal, Avijit Nag, Tanmay Basak

www.elsevier.com/locate/ijmecsci

PII: S0020-7403(16)30123-0
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijmecsci.2016.07.011
Reference: MS3348
To appear in: International Journal of Mechanical Sciences
Received date: 18 May 2016
Revised date: 22 June 2016
Accepted date: 8 July 2016
Cite this article as: Pratibha Biswal, Avijit Nag and Tanmay Basak, Analysis of
thermal management during natural convection within porous tilted square
cavities via heatline and entropy generation, International Journal of Mechanical
Sciences, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijmecsci.2016.07.011
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 Analysis of thermal management during
natural convection within porous tilted square
cavities via heatline and entropy generation

Pratibha Biswal, Avijit Nag, Tanmay Basak

Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Madras,
Chennai - 600036, India

Abstract

Analysis of natural convection within inclined porous square cavities for various
inclination angles ( = 15 , 30 and 60 ) is carried out via the heatline and entropy
generation approaches. The cases 1 and 2 correspond to the isothermal and non-
isothermal heating of the bottom wall, respectively involving the cold side walls
and adiabatic top wall. The governing equations are solved via the Galerkin -
nite element method to obtain the results in terms the isotherms (), streamlines
(), heatlines (), entropy generation maps (S and S ), total entropy generation
(Stotal ), average Bejan number (Beav ) and average Nusselt number (N uAB ) at var-
ious Darcy numbers (105 Dam 102 ), Prandtl numbers (P rm = 0.025 and
998.24) at Rayleigh number, Ram = 106 . The locations of S,max and S,max are
identied and the magnitudes of S,max and S,max are larger for the case 1 com-
pared to those for the case 2 involving all Dam , P rm and . Also, the magnitudes of
Stotal , Beav and N uAB are larger for the case 1 compared to the case 2. The case 2
is the ecient heating strategy with the optimal thermal management compared to
the case 1 based on signicantly lesser Stotal for all Dam , P rm and . The optimal
involving the lesser Stotal and larger N uAB is highly inuenced by Dam and P rm .
Various ranges of the optimal involving the higher thermal eciency are identied
for dierent Dam and P rm for each of the cases (cases 1 and 2).

Key words: Heatlines; entropy generation; natural convection; inclined cavities;

porous media; thermal management.

Corresponding author.
Email addresses: biswal.pratibha9@gmail.com (Pratibha Biswal),
nagavijit@yahoo.co.in (Avijit Nag), tanmay@iitm.ac.in, Phone:+91-44-2257 4173,
Fax:+91-44-22570509 (Tanmay Basak).

Preprint submitted to International Journal of Mechanical Sciences 16 July 2016

1 Introduction

The investigation of convective heat ow has received considerable attention

based on diverse elds of applications in various areas including the wire electro-discharge
machining [1, 2], ow in boiler tubes and heat exchangers [3], thermo-mechanical cou-
pling [4], thermoelastic damping [5], rareed gas ows [6], aerodynamic heating of air

ow [7], welding [8] etc. Based on the enormous expansion of the applicability of convec-
tion, researchers are continuously exploring various branches on convective heat transfer
involving dierent physical systems such as double-diusive convection [9], magnetohy-
drodynamic convection [1012], convection of nanouids [1315], convection in bi-layer

systems [16], forced convection [17] etc. However, the buoyancy induced convection or
natural convection in the porous media is one of the self sustained areas of research and
the assessment of the heat and uid ow patterns during natural convection in porous
media is a huge challenge when the system deals with various enclosed cavities.

Over last few years, the signicant eort has been devoted to investigate the
natural convective heat transport in porous enclosures involving various geometries and
it was found that the characteristics of the heat and uid ow are extremely sensitive to
the geometric conguration [1822]. Various studies have also focused on the eect of the

inclination angle on the heat transfer characteristics for the porous inclined cavities [23
26]. The presence of both the normal and tangential components of the buoyancy force
relative to boundary walls of the cavity leads to the non-trivial variations in the uid ow
pattern and direction of heat transfer. The convective heat ow induced in the cavity may

be complicated due to the presence of the inclination and an ecient tool is required for
the assessment of the complicated path of the heat ow. Most of the earlier works [2326]
on natural convection in porous media presented the results in terms of the streamlines
() and isotherms () which are not adequate for the visualization of complete heat

ow distribution. The heatlines, mathematically represented as heatfunction () may be

used as the tool to assess the convective heat ow distribution. The heatline concept was

2
initially introduced by Kimura and Bejan [27] to visualize the convective heat transfer
in the two dimensional convective transport processes. Recently, the heatline concept is

used by Singh et al. [2830] and Basak et al. [31, 32] for the visualization of convective
heat ow within tilted square cavities with various inclination angles for the uid and
porous media. In addition to the visualization of the path of the heat ow, the study of
the local and global entropy generation due to the associated irreversibilities is important

to take the strategic decision based on the less entropy generation.

The concept of the entropy generation is an important aspect which explains the
irreversibility of the thermal system. In addition to the rst law of thermodynamics,
the second law of thermodynamics [33] is equally important as the later estimates the
loss of the available energy. The loss of the available energy in the natural convection

process occurs due to heat transfer and uid friction. The thermodynamic irreversibilities
due to heat transfer and uid friction have been quantied via the entropy generation
[33]. The increase in the entropy generation causes the loss in the available energy
and that reduces the overall energy eciency. The entropy generation due to natural

convection in various porous inclined cavities have been studied by Baytas [34] and Varol
et al. [35]. Recently, Heidary et al. [36] studied the entropy generation in a porous inclined
rectangular cavity with the sinusoidal heating on the left wall in the presence of the
cold right wall and adiabatic horizontal walls. The entropy generation analysis was also

carried out for natural convection in the tilted square cavities with the uid and porous
media involving various thermal boundary conditions by Singh et al. [3739] and Basak et
al. [31, 32]. In various practical applications in the chemical industries, the non-uniform
heating is preferred over the uniform heating based on the diculty in the feasibility

and maintenance of the uniform heating. A few works [4042] have been reported to
study the eect of the non-uniform heating on the heat transfer characteristics within
the tilted or inclined cavities. The detailed comparison of the uniform and non-uniform
heating strategies during natural convection in the porous inclined square cavity via the

3
heatline and entropy generation approach is not yet available in literature.

The objective of the current work is to visualize the heat ow distribution and
locate various zones with the high and low entropy generation for natural convection

within the porous tilted cavities with inclination angles (). This work also focuses on
the comparison of the overall heat transfer and entropy generation rates for two types
of heating strategies such as the cases 1 (isothermally heated bottom wall with the cold
side walls (DA and BC) and adiabatic top wall) and 2 (non-isothermally/sinusoidally

heated bottom wall with the cold side walls and adiabatic top wall). The nonlinear
coupled partial dierential equations governing the heat and uid ow are solved via
the Galerkin nite element method with penalty parameter [43]. The Poisson equations
for the streamfunction and heatfunction are also solved via the Galerkin nite element

method. The entropy generation terms contain square of the derivatives terms, which
are estimated via the nite element basis functions using the nite element method. The
numerical results are presented in terms of the isotherms (), streamlines (), heatlines
() and entropy generation maps due to heat transfer (S ) and uid frictions (S )

for a range of Darcy numbers (Dam = 105 102 ) and Prandtl numbers (P rm =
0.025 998.24) at Rayleigh number, Ram = 106 involving various inclination angles
( = 15 , 30 and 60 ) for both the cases. Further, the inuences of Dam and on
the variations of the total entropy generation (Stotal ), average Bejan number (Beav ) and

average Nusselt number of bottom wall (NuAB ) are presented in the panel plots to
correlate the heat transfer rate with the entropy generation for both the cases. Finally,
the optimum heating patterns and inclination angles based on the larger heat transfer
rate with lesser entropy generation rate are recommended.

4
2 Mathematical formulation and solution procedure

2.1 Governing equations, boundary conditions and simulation strategy

The schematic representation of the inclined and porous square cavity is illus-
trated in Fig. 1 where ( = 15 , 30 and 60 ) is the inclination angle with the positive

X axis. The uid is assumed to be incompressible and Newtonian. The laminar ow

is also considered. All the physical properties are assumed to be constant barring the
density in the buoyancy force term which is approximated by the Boussinesqs approx-
imation technique. The temperature of the uid phase is assumed to be equal to that

of the solid phase throughout the porous bed based on the local thermal equilibrium
(LTE) model [44]. The momentum balance equation in the porous medium is based on
the Darcy-Brinkman-Forchheimer model.

The velocity during the ow in porous media is dened either by the Darcy (seep-

age velocity) velocity or intrinsic velocity. A few earlier models involve Darcy velocity
(porosity intrinsic velocity) which is based on the total volume involving both the
solid and uid combined in the porous matrix [45]. In the present study, the intrinsic
velocity based on the uid control volume has been used and the detailed explanation

of the volume averaging method is presented in an earlier work [46]. The current model
with the intrinsic velocities involves the implicit representation of the porosity and the
overall system of governing equations will be invariant of the porosity (). The govern-
ing equations for the steady two-dimensional natural convection for the porous media in

terms of the conservation of mass, momentum and energy are

U V
+ =0, (1)
X Y

U U P P rm
U +V = U
X Y X Dam
 
2U 2U 1.75 U U 2 + V 2
+ P rm + , (2)
X 2 Y 2 150 Dam

5
 V V P P rm
U +V = V
X Y Y Dam
 
2V 2V 1.75 V U 2 + V 2
+ P rm + + Ram P rm , (3)
X 2 Y 2 150 Dam
2 2
U +V = + , (4)
X Y X 2 Y 2
which are based on following dimensionless variables or numbers

x y uL vL kef f T Tc
X= , Y = , U= , V = , ef f = , = ,
L L ef f ef f f cpf Th Tc

pL2 f Km K f g(Th Tc )L3

P = 2
, P r m = , Dam = , K m = , Ram = (5)
f ef f f ef f L2  f ef f
with the following boundary conditions
 
X
U(X, Y ) = V (X, Y ) = 0, (X, Y ) = 1 or sin along the wall AB,
cos
U(X, Y ) = V (X, Y ) = 0, (X, Y ) = 0 along the wall BC,
U(X, Y ) = V (X, Y ) = 0, (X, Y ) = 0 along the wall DA,
U(X, Y ) = V (X, Y ) = 0, n. = 0 along the wall CD. (6)

Note that, in Eqs. (1-6), the distances measured along the horizontal and vertical
directions are denoted as x and y, respectively and the corresponding velocity compo-
nents are denoted as u and v, respectively. The temperature component is denoted as

T and T = Ts = Tf is valid based on the local thermal equilibrium; Th and Tc are

the temperatures at hot and cold walls, respectively. Note that, ef f and kef f denote
the eective thermal diusivity and eective thermal conductivity, respectively; K and
Km denote medium permeability and modied medium permeability, respectively;  is

the medium porosity; p is the pressure and f is the density of the uid at Tc ; cpf is
the specic heat capacity at constant pressure for the uid; g is the acceleration due to
gravity; is the volume expansion coecient; L is the length of the each side of the
cavity; The dimensionless distances measured along the horizontal and vertical direc-

tions are denoted as X and Y , respectively; and the corresponding velocity components
are denoted as U and V , respectively. The dimensionless temperature and pressure are

6
denoted as and P , respectively. The modied Darcy number, Prandtl number and
Rayleigh numbers are denoted as Dam , P rm and Ram , respectively.

The Galerkin nite element based on the penalty formulation is employed to solve

Eqs. (2-4). The continuity equation [Eq. (1)] has been used as a constraint. Further, the
constraint may be used to obtain the pressure distribution. In order to solve Eqs. (2-3),
the pressure (P ) is eliminated by a penalty parameter (). The incompressibility criteria
given by Eq. (1) results in
 
U V
P = + . (7)
X Y
At the larger value of , the solution approaches the consistent value and =107 is as-
sumed in the current scheme. Substitution of Eq. (7) in the momentum balance equations
[Eqs. (2-3)] results in,
 
U U U V P rm
U +V = + U
X Y X X Y Dam
 2 
U 2U 1.75 U U 2 + V 2
+ P rm + , (8)
X 2 Y 2 150 Dam

and
 
V V U V P rm
U +V = + V
X Y Y X Y Dam
 2 
V 2V 1.75 V U 2 + V 2
+ P rm + + Ram P rm . (9)
X 2 Y 2 150 Dam

Using the considered thermal and velocity boundary conditions [Eq. (6)], Eqs. (4), (8)
and (9) are solved via the Galerkin nite element method. The velocity components
(U, V ) and temperature () can be expanded using the basis set {k }N
k=1 as,

N
 N
 N

U Uk k (X, Y ) , V Vk k (X, Y ) and k k (X, Y ) . (10)
k=1 k=1 k=1

A set of nonlinear residual equations are obtained for Eqs. (8), (9) and (4) at the nodes
of the internal domain via the Galerkin nite element method. The non-linear residual

equations are solved using the Newton-Raphson method and the detailed procedure is
explained in an earlier work [47].

7
2.2 Streamfunction, Nusselt number, Heatfunction and Entropy generation

2.2.1 Streamfunction

The relationship between the velocity components (U and V ) and streamfunction

() for two dimensional ows yields a single equation:

2 2 U V
2 + 2 = , (11)
X Y Y X

The positive and negative signs of denote the anticlockwise and clockwise directions of
the circulation cells, respectively. Based on the no-slip condition, = 0 is assumed along
the solid walls. The solution for Eq. (11) is obtained using the nite element method as

discussed in the earlier work [47].

2.2.2 Nusselt number

The local Nusselt number (Nu) along a hot/cold surface is dened by

Nu = , (12)
n

where, the unit normal vector in the outward direction on a plane is denoted as n which

can be derived for the walls (AB, BC and DA). The local Nusselt numbers along the
inclined walls AB (NuAB ), DA (NuDA ) and BC (NuBC ) are dened in terms of the basis
functions as follows

 
9
 e e
NuAB = e
i sin() i cos() i , (13)
i=1 X Y
 
9
 e e
NuDA = e
i cos() i + sin() i , (14)
i=1 X Y
and
9
 
 e e
NuBC = ie cos() i + sin() i . (15)
i=1 X Y
Here, ie is the value of at the local node for eth element and ei is the local basis

function of eth element. The angle made by the wall AB with the positive X axis is
denoted as [see Fig. 1]. The average Nusselt numbers along the walls AB, BC or DA

8
are given as
1
Nus = Nus dS, (16)
0
where dS denotes the small elemental length along the walls. Based on the heat balance,
the heat transfer rate from the hot surface is identical to the rate of heat received by
the cold surfaces and NuDA + NuBC = NuAB . Note that, NuDA = NuBC occurs due to

the tilted geometry with respect to gravity.

2.2.3 Heatfunction

The heat ow during convection is displayed using the heatlines. The heatlines

are mathematically represented via the heatfunction (). The heatfunction is obtained
 
from the conductive heat uxes ,
X and convective heat uxes (U, V ).
Y
Similar to the streamfunction (which satises the continuity equation), the heatfunction
satises the steady state energy balance equation [Eq. (4)]. Thus, the net energy ow in

X and Y directions can be expressed in terms of the heatfunction as,

= U and = V , (17)
Y X X Y

which yield a single equation

2 2
2 + 2 = (U) (V ) . (18)
X Y Y X

Similar to the streamfunctions, the positive and negative signs of denote the anti-
clockwise and clockwise directions of the heat circulation, respectively. The heatfunc-

tion equation, Eq. (18) is solved via the Galerkin nite element method [48] using proper
heatfunction boundary conditions in order to obtain an unique solution. Various Neu-
mann and Dirichlet boundary conditions are derived for the hot/cold walls and adiabatic
wall, respectively. The Neumann boundary conditions for the heatfunction () along the

hot/cold walls may be specied as follows:

(a) along the bottom wall AB,

n = 0 (isothermal heating)

9
  
X
= cos (non-isothermal heating) (19)
cos

and
(b) along the side walls DA and BC,

n = 0 (isothermal cooling) (20)

Based on Eq. (17), the magnitude of is constant along the adiabatic surface. The

reference of the heatfunction, = 0 is assumed along the adiabatic wall CD. The
unique solution of Eq. (18) is strongly dependent on the non-homogeneous Dirichlet
boundary conditions. The boundary conditions at the hot-cold junctions are obtained
by integrating Eq. (17) along the walls BC and DA as

(A) = NuDA and (B) = NuBC (21)

2.2.4 Entropy generation

The associated irreversibilities during natural convection are due to the heat
transfer and uid friction. The expression of the entropy generation due to heat transfer
(S ) for the ow in the porous medium is the same as that for the clear uid medium. On

the other hand, based on various proposed dissipation models, a number of expressions of
the entropy generation due to uid friction (S ) may be derived. Three dierent models
for the viscous dissipation during the ow through the porous media are available in the
literature [49]. At the low Dam with the high hydraulic resistance, all three models are

eectively the same. At the high Dam with the low hydraulic resistance, the most appro-
priate is the model proposed by Al-Hadhrami et al. [50]. The local entropy generation
terms can be obtained based on the entropy balance equation [33]. The mathematical
representations of the dimensionless entropy generation due to heat transfer (S ) and

uid friction (S ) based on the viscous dissipation model proposed by Al-Hadhrami et

al. [50] in the Cartesian coordinates may be written as follows:

10
  2  2

S = + , (22)
X Y
and
 2  2  2
  U V U V
S = U2 + V 2 + Dam 2 + + + . (23)
X Y Y X

In the above equation, is called the irreversibility distribution ratio, dened as

 2
f To
= m . (24)
kef f KT

kef f
Here, m = = ef f , is the modied thermal diusivity and To is the reference
(Cp )f
temperature. Note that, is taken as 102 in the present study and a similar value of

was considered in an earlier work [51].

Note that, the derivative terms are powered to 2 in Eqs. (22) and (23) and thus,
the small errors in the calculation of the temperature and velocity gradients lead to the
larger errors for S and S [see Eqs. (22) and (23)]. Consequently, the accurate evalua-

tion of the derivatives of the velocity and temperature is important in order to estimate
S and S with the less error. In this work, the derivative terms in Eqs. (22) and (23)
are evaluated based on the nite element basis sets. The nite element method is advan-
tageous over the nite dierence or nite volume techniques where the derivatives were

calculated using some interpolation functions within the interior domain. The accuracy
of the solutions is also dependent on the resolution of the grid size and the nite element
solution scheme oers better accuracy even with the coarser grids.

The derivative of any function f over a bi-quadratic element, e, is written as

f e 9
e
= fke k , (25)
n k=1 n

where, the function value at the local node, k, in the element, e is denoted as fke and the

basis function at the local node, k, in the element, e is denoted as ek . In the interior
domain, each node is shared by four elements whereas, along the boundary, each node is

11
shared by two elements. The derivative of any function at the global node number (i),
is averaged over the shared elements (N e ), i.e.,

Ne
fi 1  f e
= e (26)
n N e=1 n

Therefore, the local entropy generation due to heat transfer (S,i ) and uid friction (S,i )
at each node are given by,

 2  2
i i
S,i = + , (27)
X Y
and
 2  2  2
Ui Vi Ui Vi
S,i = [Ui2 + Vi2 ] + Dam 2 + + + . (28)
X Y Y X

 
i , i , Ui , Ui , Vi , Vi
The derivative terms X are evaluated following Eq. 26. The
Y X Y X Y
total entropy generation (Stotal ) is the summation of the total entropy generation due
to heat transfer (S,total ) and uid friction (S,total ). The local entropy generation rates

(S,i and S,i ) are integrated over the domain, to obtain total entropy generation due
to heat transfer (S,total ) and uid friction (S,total ). Finally, Stotal is given as follows

Stotal = S,total + S,total , (29)

where,
2
   N

2  N


S,total = X
k k + k k
dXdY, (30)
k=1 Y k=1

and

  
N
2  N

2
S,total = Uk k + Vk k

k=1 k=1
  N 2  N 2

 

+ Dam 2 Uk k +2 Vk k
X k=1 Y k=1
 N   N 2
 
+ Uk k + Vk k
dXdY. (31)
Y k=1 X k=1

12
In Eqs. (30) and (31), the integral terms are evaluated using 33 element-wise Gaussian
quadrature integration method. The relative dominance of the entropy generation due

to heat transfer and uid friction is given by the average Bejan number (Beav ) dened
as

S,total S,total
Beav = = . (32)
S,total + S,total Stotal

Based on Eq. 32, Beav >0.5 implies the dominance of S,total and Beav <0.5 implies the
dominance of S,total .

3 Results and discussion

3.1 Numerical tests

The computational domain is discretized into 2828 bi-quadratic elements which

correspond to 57 57 grid points. The Galerkin nite element method [43] with the
penalty parameter is used to solve the nonlinear coupled partial dierential equations
governing the ow and thermal elds. Further, the Poisson equations for streamfunction
and heatfunction are also solved via the Galerkin nite element method. In the case 1

(isothermally heated of bottom wall), the jump discontinuity in the Dirichlet type tem-
perature boundary conditions is observed at the bottom corner points (A and B). The
presence of the isothermally heated hot and cold walls corresponds to the computational
singularity. The singularity does not arise for a more realistic boundary conditions im-

posed via the non-isothermal heating (case 2). The simulation strategy for the singularity
in the temperature boundary conditions for the isothermal heating is already discussed
in an earlier work [47]. The non-isothermal heating of the bottom wall corresponding to
the case 2 avoids the singularities at the edges of the wall AB.

The present algorithm for the Darcy-Forchheimer Brinkman model in a dieren-

tially heated porous square enclosures has been tested with an earlier work reported by
Nithiarasu et al. [52]. Table 1 shows the comparison of the average Nusselt numbers for

13
the current work and previous work [52] for various Darcy numbers (Da = 104 and
102 ), Rayleigh numbers (103 Ra 106 ) and porosity () at P r = 1. The relationship

between the parameters of the current and earlier works [52] are given as: Dam = Da/,
Ram = Ra and P rm = P r, where Ra, P r and Da are the dimensionless number as
mentioned in the earlier work [52]. In order to validate the numerical procedure adopted
for the heatline study, the algorithm is tested with the earlier work by Deng and Tang

[53] for air (P r = 0.7) at Ra = 103 and 105 [see Figs. 2(a-b)]. To validate the results for
the entropy generation due to heat transfer (S ) and uid friction (S ), the benchmark
studies have also been carried out for a dierentially heated square cavity, similar to
the case reported by Ilis et al. [54] at P r = 0.7 involving various Ra (Ra = 103 and

105 ) [Fig. 2(c)]. The results based on the current simulation strategy are in excellent
agreement with the previous studies [5254] [see Figs. 2(a-c) and Table 1]. In addition,
the grid independence test for the current problem is carried out for various elements
and it is found that, 2828 elements oer the converged solution. The detailed results in

terms of Stotal , Beav and NuAB for various elements are presented in Tables 2, 3 and 4,
respectively for Ram = 106 , Dam = 102 and P rm = 998.24 involving both the heating
strategies at various .

The numerical results are presented in terms of the streamlines (), isotherms
(), heatlines (), entropy generation due to heat transfer and uid friction (S and S )

for various P rm (P rm = 0.025 and 998.24), Dam (Dam = 105 102 ) at Ram = 106
involving dierent inclination angles ( = 15 , 30 and 60 ) for both the cases. In general,
the horizontal square cavity with the isothermal bottom wall and cold side walls results
in the symmetric uid ow patterns containing both the anticlockwise and clockwise

circulation cells. On the other hand, the asymmetric ow pattern is observed within the
tilted square cavity due to the presence of the inclination eect. The presence of both the
tangential and normal components of the buoyancy force relative to the hot bottom wall
(AB) gives various interesting results. The visualization of natural convection heat ow

14
is carried out via the heatlines () for both the cases involving all the inclination angles.
The localized entropy generation due to heat transfer (S ) and uid friction (S ) are

shown via the contour plots and the local maxima or active zones are also highlighted.
Also, the eects of Dam and on the total entropy generation (Stotal ), average Bejan
number (Beav ) and average Nusselt number of the bottom wall (NuAB ) are presented
for the detailed comparative study.

3.2 Streamlines (), isotherms (), heatlines () and entropy generation (S and S ):
isothermal heating at the bottom wall AB (case 1)

The isotherms are smooth and monotonic, indicating the conduction mode of

heat transfer, irrespective of at Dam = 105 , Ram = 106 and P rm = 0.025 involving
all for the case 1 [Figs. 3(a-c)]. Also, the isotherms are almost symmetric in the plane
of the tilted cavity for all . The isothermal heating at the bottom wall causes the
nite discontinuity in the Dirichlet type of boundary conditions for the temperature

distribution at the left and right edges of the bottom wall at all . The intensities of
the uid circulation cells are small depicting the lesser uid velocity for all due to the
presence of the high resistance to the uid ow at the low Dam . At = 15 and 30 ,
the anticlockwise and clockwise streamline cells are seen at the left and right portions

of the cavity, respectively in contrast to the case of = 60 where a single anticlockwise

circulation cell is observed. The heatlines arising from the bottom wall AB end on the
cold walls DA and BC indicating the direction of heat transfer [see Figs. 3(a-c)]. The
presence of the end-to-end heatlines indicates the conduction mode of heat transfer.

As seen from the heatfunction gradients, the heat ow from the wall AB to wall BC
increases with as the eect of the tangential component of buoyancy force along the
wall AB increases with . In contrast to the wall BC the heatfunction gradients along
the wall DA decrease with . Due to the presence of the less buoyancy force at the low

Dam , lesser heat transfer occurs to the uid at the top portion of the cavity as seen from
sparse heatlines and the larger cold zone at that region for all .

15
 The signicant entropy generation due to heat transfer (S,max = 3528) occurs
near the corner portions of the wall AB due to the high temperature gradient at the

junctions of the hot and cold walls irrespective of [see Figs. 3(a-c)]. The insignicant
S is observed at the top portion of the cavity due to the less temperature gradient in
that region for all . The S contours with S 2 are almost parallel to the top and
bottom walls near the core for all . The active sites of the entropy generation due to

uid friction (S ) are observed near the cavity walls due to the high velocity gradients
at those regions for all . Overall, S,max increases with as S,max = 0.16 (along AD),
0.19 (along AD) and 0.24 (along AB) occur for = 15 , 30 and 60 , respectively. The
unicellular anticlockwise cells lead to the larger S values along the wall AB for = 60

in contrast to = 15 and 30 . It may also be noted that, S = 0.16 ( = 15 ), 0.19

( = 30 ) and 0.1 ( = 60 ) occur near the wall AD and S = 0.05 ( = 15 ), 0.02
( = 30 ) and 0.001 ( = 60 ) occur near the wall BC. The insignicant S values are
observed near the wall CD. Based on the lesser velocity gradients, the magnitudes of

S at the core region are signicantly smaller for all . Finally, S dominates over S
throughout the cavity for all .

As Dam increases to 102, the resistance of the porous medium is reduced, leading
to the enhanced convection in the cavity for all [see Figs. 4(a-c)]. Common to all ,
the isotherms are compressed along the almost entire length of the bottom wall AB.

In addition, the isotherms are also compressed along the top portions of the side walls
BC and DA for = 15 and 30 whereas, those are compressed at the bottom portion
of the right wall BC for = 60 . The distorted isotherms are observed at the core
indicating the convection dominant heat transfer at the high Dam involving all . A pair

of streamline cells are observed at = 15 and 30 whereas, the single and anticlockwise
streamline cells are observed at = 60 . The intense closed loop heatlines are observed at
Dam = 102 indicating the high thermal mixing within the cavity due to the convection
mode of heat transfer [see Figs. 4(a-c)]. The trends of the heatlines and streamlines

16
are qualitatively similar with all and those are the characteristics for the convection
dominant heat transfer. A pair of the heatline cells are seen for the low and moderate ,

whereas, a single, anticlockwise heatline cell is seen for the high . Due to the presence
of the larger convective heatlines circulation cells, the heatlines from the hot wall to cold
walls take longer path for all . The magnitudes of the heatfunction gradients along the
side walls DA and BC are found to be increased with Dam [see Fig. 4(a-c)]. Due to the

high thermal mixing, the larger zone with the uniform temperature distribution occurs
at the core of the cavity for all . The thermal mixing at the core is the largest for
= 15 .

It is found that, S,max = 3528 occurs near the corners A and B at Dam = 102
for all [see Figs. 4(a-c)]. The majority of the wall AB acts as the active site with high

S (10 S 3528) for all . The isotherms are also compressed along the top portion
of the walls DA and BC for all . Note that, S is also larger at the top portions of the
walls DA and BC for all . Based on the presence of the less temperature gradients, the
magnitudes of S at the core are signicantly lesser and S 1 occurs at the core for all

. The magnitudes of S are signicantly larger for the high Dam involving all due
to higher velocity gradients based on the larger uid velocities. The magnitudes of S
along the wall CD are lesser than those along the side wall DA and BC and along the
bottom wall AB for all . It is observed that, the magnitude of S,max increases with

as S,max = 3288, 4387 and 3480 occur for = 15 (along AD), 60 (along AB) and 30
(along AB), respectively. The interesting patterns in the distributions of S are observed
at the core and they are highly inuenced by the shape of the streamline cells for all .
At the core, S 50 occurs for = 15 and S 10 occurs for = 30 and 60 . At

Dam = 102 , S dominates over S throughout the cavity except at the corners A and
B.

As P rm increases to 998.24, the intensities of ow circulations cells are increased

due to the enhanced convection based on the high momentum diusivity with Dam =

17
102 and Ram = 106 [Figs. 5(a-c)]. The isotherms are highly compressed along the
almost entire lengths of the walls AB, BC and DA at all . The core region of the cavity

is maintained with almost constant temperature for all . The magnitudes of are
signicantly higher for P rm = 998.24 compared to P rm = 0.025. The magnitudes of
corresponding to the clockwise streamline cells are larger compared to the anticlockwise
streamline cells for = 15 and 30 in contrast to = 60 at the high P rm . The

convection dominant heat transfer is clearly illustrated by the presence of the the closed
loop heatline cells with the high magnitude for the high P rm at Dam = 102 at all
[see Figs. 5(a-c)]. The streamlines and heatlines are qualitatively similar indicating that
the heat transfer is primarily governed by convection with the high thermal mixing for

all . The heatlines are highly dense at the central zone indicating that the intensity of
the heat ow is larger for P rm = 998.24. The high heat transfer rate occurs to the wall
BC compared to the wall DA involving all . Based on the large thermal mixing, the
larger zone with the uniform temperature is found at the core for all .

The thermal gradients are high at the corners of the bottom wall (A and B)

and S,max = 3528 occurs at those regions for all as seen from Figs. 5(a-c) at the
high P rm and Dam . The active zones with the high (S ) are also observed near the top
portion along the side walls, DA and BC for all . The magnitudes of S at the core
are found as 0.1 S 1 based on the less thermal gradients at that region for all .

The velocity gradients are signicantly larger resulting in larger magnitudes of S,max
at the high P rm as S,max = 13370 (near the wall BC), 10628 (near the wall AD) and
15867 (near the wall AB) occur for = 15 , 30 and 60 , respectively at the high P rm
[see Figs. 5(a-c)]. The dense contours of S occur along all the solid walls representing

various active zones with the high S for all . The values of S are also observed to be
signicant at the core for all . It is interesting to note that, based on the presence of
the larger velocity gradients between the counter rotating uid layers, signicant S is
observed at the left half of the core for = 15 (S 1500) and 30 (S 1000). On

18
the other hand, S is larger at the top portion (near the edge C) for = 60 (S 200)
based on the velocity gradients between the primary and secondary uid circulation cells.

Comparatively lesser values of S are seen at the right portion at the core for = 15
(S 50) and 30 (S 100). Also, the lesser values of S are found to occur at the
middle portion of the core for = 60 (S 80). The magnitudes of S throughout the
cavity are signicantly higher compared to those at the low P rm involving all . The

magnitudes of S are signicantly larger compared those of S throughout the cavity for
all .

3.3 Streamlines (), isotherms (), heatlines () and entropy generation (S and S ):
non-isothermal heating at the bottom wall AB (case 2)

Figs. 6-8 illustrate the streamlines, isotherms, heatlines and entropy generation
due to heat transfer and uid friction for P rm = 0.025 and 998.24 involving Dam = 105

- 102 at Ram = 106 for the non-isothermal heating at the bottom wall AB (case 2). The
nite discontinuities in the boundary conditions of the temperature distribution occur
at the edges of the wall AB during the isothermal heating whereas, the non-isothermal
heating [sinusoidal heating, Eq. 6] does not correspond to the singularities at the edges

of the wall AB.

The isotherms are smooth and they are almost symmetric along the geometric
symmetry line perpendicular to the wall AB for all involving P rm = 0.025, Dam = 105
at Ram = 106 [see Figs. 6(a-c)]. The maximum temperature occurs at the center of
the bottom wall AB due to the sinusoidal heating of the bottom wall for all . The

qualitative trends of the streamlines are almost similar for the cases 1 and 2, whereas,
the magnitudes of the streamfunction are larger for the case 1 [see Figs. 3(a-c) and 6(a-
c)]. Also, the end-to-end heatlines are qualitatively similar for both the cases 1 and 2
[see Figs. 3(a-c) and 6(a-c)] involving all . However, based on the less heat input in

the case 2, the magnitudes of the heatfunction are less for the case 2 compared to the
case 1 resulting in the lesser heat transfer rates which can also be explained based on

19
the heatfunction gradients along the walls [see Figs. 3 and 6].

As the thermal gradient is decreased due to the sinusoidal heating pattern along
the wall AB, S is signicantly lesser for the case 2 compared to that for the case 1 [see

Figs. 3(a-c) and 6(a-c)]. Note that, S,max = 11.47, 11.98 and 12.73 occur for = 15 ,
30 and 60 , respectively involving the case 2. It is found that, S contours are almost
parallel to the top and bottom walls for all involving the case 2. In addition, the
insignicant values of S are observed at the core due to the low temperature gradients.

Comparatively lesser S is observed for the case 2 based on the less intensity of the
uid ow with all . Note that, S,max corresponds to 0.14 for = 15 and 30 and
that corresponds to 0.19 for 60 along the wall AB for the case 2. The velocity gradients
are signicantly lesser at the core and 0.001 S 0.01 occurs at the core for all .

Overall, based on the presence of the conduction dominant heat transfer, S dominates
over S throughout the cavity involving all .

The isotherms with 0.4 are compressed towards the side walls DA and BC
for = 15 and 30 whereas, the isotherms with 0.1 are compressed towards the

side walls DA and BC for = 60 at P rm = 0.025 and Dam = 102 with Ra = 106
[Figs. 7(a-c)]. The isotherms are highly distorted at the core for all depicting the
higher thermal mixing. The streamline cells are qualitatively similar for the cases 1
and 2 whereas, the strength of the streamlines is higher for the case 1 involving all

as seen from Figs. 4(a-c) and 7(a-c). The trends of the heatlines and streamlines are
almost identical indicating the convective heat transfer at Dam = 102 , P rm = 0.025
and Ra = 106 involving the case 2 [see Figs. 7(a-c)]. As expected, the heat transfer
rate for the case 1 is larger than that of the case 2 and that is clearly indicated by the

high magnitudes of the heatfunction gradients along the walls for the case 1 [see Figs. 4
and 7]. The thermal mixing at the core is larger for the case 1 as seen from the larger
intensity of the closed loop heatlines for the case 1 compared to the case 2 [see Figs. 4
and 7]. The size of the heatline cells and magnitudes of the heatfunctions are found to

20
be almost similar at the left and right halves of the core for = 15 and = 30 in the
case 2 which is in contrast to the case 1 [see Figs. 4(a-b) and 7(a-b)].

Similar to the cases with the low Dam , S,max is observed at the left portion of

the bottom wall AB for all [see Figs. 7(a-c)]. As increases, the magnitude of S,max
increases as S,max = 94.07, 98.14 and 107.74 occur for = 15 , 30 and 60 , respectively.
The magnitudes of S,max are signicantly lesser for the case 2 compared to the case 1 as
seen from Figs. 4 and 7. The active zones of S are also observed near the right portion

of the wall AB and top portions of the walls AD and BC for = 15 and 30 . The zones
of the larger S are observed near the lower portion of the right wall BC for = 60 .
The local S values at the core and along the walls DA and BC are almost similar
for the cases 1 and 2 involving all [see Figs. 4(a-c) and 7(a-c)]. Based on the larger

velocity gradients along the solid walls, S is signicant at the middle portions of all the
solid walls for the case 2 involving all . The magnitudes of S along all the walls are
lesser for the case 2 compared to the case 1 involving all [see Figs. 4(a-c) and 7(a-c)].
Note that, due to the presence of the two streamline cells, the velocity gradient between

the counter rotating uid layers is larger at the core for = 15 and 30 compared to
= 60 . Overall, S dominates over S throughout the cavity for all .

The uniform temperature distribution is observed at the core region due to the
high thermal mixing for the case 2 similar to the case 1 at the high P rm and Dam

involving all [Figs. 5(a-c) and 8(a-c)]. The isotherms with 0.3 are compressed
along the side walls DA and BC and the isotherms with 0.5 are compressed along
the bottom wall for all . The magnitudes of the streamfunctions corresponding to the
primary streamline cells are lesser for the case 2 compared to that case 1 at = 15 ,

whereas, those are larger for the case 2 compared to the case 1 at = 30 [Figs. 5(a-b)
and 8(a-b)]. At = 60 , the shape and size of the two streamline cells within the cavity
are almost similar for the case 2 which is in contrast to the case 1 [see Figs. 5(c) and
8(c)]. Note that, the primary uid circulation cell with the larger intensity is observed

21
at the top portion for the case 2 in contrast to the case 1 at = 60 [see Figs. 5(c)
and 8(c)]. The closed loop heatlines and streamlines are almost identical based on the

presence of the dominant convection for Dam = 102 and P rm = 998.24 involving all
[see Figs. 8(a-c)]. The density of the heatlines along the walls DA and BC are lesser
for the case 2 compared to the case 1 depicting comparatively lesser heat transfer rates
to the walls for the case 2. The intensities of the closed loop heatlines are lesser for the

case 2 compared to the case 1 involving = 15 and 30 [see Figs. 5(a-b) and 8(a-b)].
At = 60 , the intensities of the closed loop heatlines at the top portion of the cavity
are found to be larger for the case 2 compared to the case 1 [see Figs. 5(c) and 8(c)].

In contrast to the case 1, the locations of S,max are observed near the middle
portion of the bottom wall AB for the case 2 involving all [see Figs. 8(a-c)]. As

expected, based on the presence of the less temperature gradients, the magnitudes of
S,max for the case 2 are lesser than those for the case 1. Note that, S,max = 258.46,
249.8 and 244.9 occur for = 15 , 30 and 60 , respectively. The magnitudes of S at
the top portions of the walls DA and BC are also larger based on the presence of the

compressed isotherms at those regions for all in the case 2. The magnitudes of S at the
top portions of the wall DA are lesser for the case 2 than those for the case 1 involving all
. The values of S at the top portions of the wall BC are lesser for the case 2 than those
for the case 1 at = 15 whereas, those are comparatively larger for the case 2 than

those for the case 1 at = 30 and 60 [see Figs. 5(a-c) and 8(a-c)]. The magnitudes
of S at the core are almost similar for the cases 1 and 2 [see Figs. 5(a-c) and 8(a-c)].
All the solid walls act as the active zones of entropy generation due to uid friction for
all . The location of S,max is observed at the wall BC for = 15 (S,max = 9912)

and 30 (S,max = 10480) whereas, that is observed along the wall AB for = 60
(S,max = 13826). The magnitudes of S,max are lesser for the case 2 compared to the
case 1 involving all . It is interesting to note that, the magnitude of S along the wall
CD is larger for the case 2 compared to the case 1 involving all [see Figs. 5(a-c) and

22
8(a-c)]. Along the wall BC, S is larger for the case 1 involving = 15 whereas, S
is larger for the case 2 involving = 30 and 60 . However, along the walls DA and

AB, S is larger for the case 1 compared to the case 2 involving all . The magnitudes
of S at the core are almost similar for the cases 1 and 2 involving all . Overall, S
dominates over S throughout the domain involving all .

3.4 Total entropy generation (Stotal ), average Bejan number (Beav ) and average Nusselt
number (NuAB )

Figs. 9(a) and (b) illustrate the variations of the total entropy production (Stotal :

bottom panel), average Bejan number (Beav : middle panels), average Nusselt number
along the wall AB (NuAB : top panels) vs. the logarithmic Darcy number (Dam ) for
P rm =0.025 and 998.24, respectively. The magnitudes of Stotal are almost similar for all
at 105 Dam 104 involving the cases 1 and 2 with P rm = 0.025 [see the lower panel

plot of Fig. 9(a)]. Due to the conduction dominant heat transfer, the velocity gradients
are signicantly lesser resulting in the lesser magnitudes of S,total than those of S,total at
105 Dam 104 . As Dam increases from 104 to 103 , Stotal increases slowly for the
cases 1 and 2 depicting the transition from the conductive to convective heat transfer.

The magnitude of Stotal increases exponentially for both the cases at Dam 103 due
to the simultaneous increase in S,total and S,total . The trends of Stotal for the cases 1
and 2 are qualitatively similar. However, the magnitudes of Stotal are larger for the case
1 compared to the case 2 involving all the inclination angles. Common to the cases 1

and 2, Stotal decreases with the inclination angle for all Dam .

The average Bejan number (Beav ) is the maximum (Beav = 1) at Dam = 105
signifying the dominance of S,total for the cases 1 and 2 for all [see middle panel of
Fig. 9(a)]. Further, Beav remains almost constant for 105 Dam 2 105 involving
the cases 1 and 2 for all . As mentioned earlier, the values of S,total are lesser compared

to S,total for 105 Dam 104 . Thereafter, Beav decreases with Dam for Dam 104
and the minimum Beav is observed at Dam = 102 for the cases 1 and 2 involving all .

23
The critical Dam (Beav 0.5) corresponds to the value of Dam where S,total starts to
dominate S,total . Note that, the critical Dam for the case 1 is found as Dam 1.5 103

for all . The critical Dam for the case 2 is found as Dam 4 104 , Dam 5 104
and Dam 6 104 for = 15 , 30 and 60 , respectively. The magnitudes of Beav are
lesser for the case 2 compared to the case 1 for all Dam .

As Dam increases from 105 to 5 105 , the conductive heat transfer prevails
and thus, NuAB remains almost constant with Dam for the cases 1 and 2 involving all

[upper panel plot of Fig. 9(a)]. Further increase in Dam results in the increase in NuAB
till Dam = 102 for both the cases involving all . The rate of increase in NuAB for
5 105 Dam 2 103 is larger based on the signicant convective eect leading
to the larger thermal gradient for the cases 1 and 2 involving all . As Dam increases

further (Dam 2 103 ), the convective eect increases signicantly, leading to the
increase in the velocity and temperature gradients for both the cases. As seen from the
bottom panel plot of Fig. 9(a), the signicant amount of the available energy is lost
during the process due to the heat transfer and uid friction irreversibilities. Thus, the

rate of increase of NuAB is lesser for Dam 2 103 for both the cases involving all .
Overall, the values of NuAB for the case 1 are larger than those for the case 2 involving
all . At the low Dam (Dam 104), the magnitudes of NuAB , Beav and Stotal are
invariant of and any may be chosen for the thermal processing with the cases 1

and 2. Based on the moderate Stotal and reasonable NuAB , = 30 is the optimal angle
involving the cases 1 and 2 for 104 Dam 103 . At the high Dam (Dam 103 ),
the lesser Stotal with reasonable NuAB is found for = 60 involving the case 1. On the
other hand, = 30 is the optimal angle for the case 2 involving Dam 103 .

The qualitative trends of the variations of Stotal with Dam for P rm = 998.24 and
0.025 are almost similar as seen from the lower panel plots of Figs. 9(a-b) involving cases
1 and 2 for all . Due to the presence of the intense convective heat ow at the high
P rm , the velocity and temperature gradients are larger resulting in larger S,total and

24
S,total for both the cases involving all . Thus, the magnitudes of Stotal are signicantly
larger for P rm = 998.24 compared to those for P rm = 0.025 [see the lower panel plots of

Figs. 9(a-b)]. At Dam 5 104 , Stotal for the cases 1 and 2 are almost similar at the
high P rm in contrast to the low P rm . As Dam increases further (Dam 5 104 ), the
rapid increase in the magnitudes of Stotal is observed for all involving both the cases.
At Dam 5 104 , the magnitudes of Stotal are larger for the case 1 compared to the

case 2 involving all . The magnitudes of Stotal are minimum for = 60 involving both
the cases for the moderate and high values of Dam .

The variations of Beav for the high P rm (P rm = 998.24) indicate that, the rate of
decrease of Beav with Dam is larger for P rm = 998.24 compared to that for P rm = 0.025
for both the cases involving all [see the middle panel plots of Figs. 9(a-b)]. Based on

the larger convective eect at the high P rm, the magnitudes of Beav for the cases 1 and
2 at P rm = 998.24 are lower than those at P rm = 0.025. Note that, the critical Dam
corresponding to Beav 0.5 is found as Dam 2 104 for = 15 and 30 and that
is found as Dam 4 104 for = 60 involving the case 1. The critical Dam for the

case 2 is found as Dam 104 , Dam 1.5 104 and Dam 2 104 for = 15 , 30
and 60 , respectively. Overall, Beav is larger for the case 1 compared to the case 2 for
all Dam and . The magnitudes of Beav are larger for = 60 involving both the cases
at all Dam .

As observed from the top panel plots of Figs. 9(a-b), NuAB is larger for P rm =
998.24 compared to that of P rm = 0.025 involving both the cases and all . However,
the qualitative trends of variations of NuAB with Dam are similar for P rm = 998.24
and 0.025. Common to all for both the cases, NuAB remains almost constant for the

low Dam followed by the linear increasing trend till Dam = 102 . In the case 1, NuAB
is the largest for = 15 and 60 at Dam 8 105 and that is largest for 15 at
Dam 8 105 . In the case 2, = 15 oers the largest NuAB for all Dam at the high
P rm . Overall, NuAB is larger for the case 1 compared to that of the case 2 involving

25
all . At Dam 104 , any may be recommended as the magnitudes of NuAB , Beav
and Stotal are almost invariant with for the cases 1 and 2 boundary conditions. At
the moderate Dam with 104 Dam 103 , = 30 is the optimal angle based on
the moderate Stotal and reasonable NuAB involving the cases 1 and 2. The signicantly

lesser Stotal with the reasonable NuAB is found for = 60 involving the cases 1 and 2
for Dam 103. Thus, the optimal angle is found as = 60 involving the cases 1 and
2 at P rm = 998.24 and Dam 103 .

3.5 Overall eect of inclination angles ()

Overall eciency of the process has been illustrated based on the distribution of
Stotal and NuAB vs at P rm = 0.025 [Figs. 10(a,c)] and 998.24 [Figs. 10(b,d)]. A larger
range of the inclination angles (0 90 ) may result in various interesting patterns

in the uid ow, heat ow and entropy generation maps. The detailed discussions on the
spatial distribution of the results are out of the scope of this current work. However, the
variations of Stotal and NuAB with for 0 90 are illustrated in Figs. 10(a-d) to
study the zones of optimal inclination angles for both the heating strategies.

As seen from the bottom panel plots of Figs. 10(a-b), any may be chosen for
the thermal processing involving the case 1 at Dam = 105 based on almost identical
Stotal and NuAB involving both P rm . As the magnitudes of Stotal are almost similar, the
inclination angles with the larger NuAB may be chosen at Dam = 103 involving both

P rm [Figs. 10(a-b)]. At Dam = 103 , 30 may be recommended as the optimal

range for P rm = 0.025 and 998.24 involving the case 1. At Dam = 102 , the optimal
inclination angles are found as 25 60 and 55 75 for P rm = 0.025 and
998.24, respectively based on the minimum Stotal and reasonable NuAB [Figs. 10(a-b)].

The magnitudes of Stotal and NuAB for the case 2 at Dam = 105 remain almost

constant with involving P rm = 0.025 and 998.24 as seen from Figs. 10(c-d). Thus,
any may be recommended for the thermal processing at Dam = 105 involving both

26
P rm with the case 2 type boundary condition. Based on the larger NuAB with the
almost identical Stotal , 40 is the optimal range at Dam = 103 for P rm = 0.025
and 998.24 involving the case 2. Due to the minimum Stotal with the reasonable NuAB ,
30 60 is the optimal range at P rm = 0.025 whereas, due to the moderate values

of Stotal and NuAB , 40 60 is the optimal range at P rm = 998.24 [Fig. 10(c-d)].

4 Conclusion

The current study presents the detailed analysis of natural convection heat ow

within the inclined porous square cavities with various inclination angles ( = 15 ,
30 and 60 ) via the heatline and entropy generation approach. The bottom wall (wall
AB) of the porous cavity is heated via the isothermal (case 1) or non-isothermal (case
2) heating with the cold side walls (walls BC and DA) and adiabatic top wall (wall

CD). The analysis is carried out for various Darcy numbers (105 Dam 102 )
and Prandtl numbers (P rm = 0.025 and 998.24) at Rayleigh number, Ram = 106 . The
governing equations for natural convection in the porous media are derived using the
Darcy-Brinkman-Forchheimer model and the equations are solved using the Galerkin

nite element method. The numerical results are presented in terms the isotherms (),
entropy generation due to heat transfer (S ), streamlines (), entropy generation due
to uid friction (S ) and heatlines () for various Dam , P rm and . In addition, the
eects of Dam , P rm and on the total entropy generation (Stotal ), average Bejan number

(Beav ) and average Nusselt number (NuAB ) are presented for the cases 1 and 2. The
important results drawn from this study are summarized as follows:

The isotherms are smooth at the low Dam and they are highly distorted at the high
Dam for both the cases for all irrespective of P rm . The end-to-end (from the wall
AB to the walls BC and DA) heatlines are observed at the low Dam whereas, the

complex end-to-end heatlines are accompanied with the intense closed loop heatlines
at the high Dam involving both the cases and both P rm .

27
 A pair of asymmetric streamline and heatline cells are observed involving = 15 and
30 whereas, the single primary streamline and heatline cells are found at = 60

for both the cases (except for the case 2 with the high P rm and Dam , where two
streamlines and heatline cells are seen at the top and bottom portions). The intensities
of the streamline and heatline cells increase with Dam for all involving both the
cases. The convective eect is lesser for the case 2 compared to the case 1 involving

all Dam , P rm and .

The locations of S,max are found near the left and right corners of the bottom walls
for the case 1 whereas, they are found near the left portion of the bottom wall for the
case 2 involving all . The magnitudes of S,max for the case 1 are signicantly larger

compared to the case 2 for all Dam , P rm and .

The locations of S,max are found near the left wall or bottom wall for both the cases
involving all , Dam and P rm . The magnitudes of S,max are lesser for the case 2
compared to the case 1 involving all Dam , P rm and .

The magnitudes of Stotal and NuAB increase with Dam and P rm whereas, the magni-
tudes of Beav decrease with Dam and P rm for both the cases at all . The magnitudes
of Stotal , Beav and NuAB are larger for the case 1 compared to the case 2 for all P rm ,
Dam and .

Note that, any may be chosen for the thermal processing involving both the cases
at Dam = 105 involving both P rm . At Dam = 103 , 30 may be recommended
as the optimal range for both P rm involving the case 1. At Dam = 102 , the optimal
inclination angles are found as 25 60 and 55 75 for P rm = 0.025

and 998.24, respectively involving the case 1.

At Dam = 103 , the optimal range of operation are 40 for all P rm for the case 2.
The optimal situation is found as 30 60 and 40 60 for P rm = 0.025
and 998.24, respectively involving Dam = 102 for the case 2.

28
 Overall, this work focused on the visualization of the uid ow, temperature dis-
tribution and heat ow during natural convection in the inclined porous square cavities.

Based on the high temperature and velocity gradients, the locations of the high local
entropy generation due to the heat transfer and uid friction are identied and they
are compared for the isothermal and non-isothermal heating strategies involving various
Dam , P rm and . The eects of , Dam and P rm on the trends of heat ow, uid ow,

local entropy generation, total entropy generation and average heat transfer rate are il-
lustrated. The optimal inclination angles based on the lesser Stotal with the larger NuAB
are identied for the processing of various uids with dierent Dam . Eventhough the
heat transfer rate is lesser, the case 2 with the non-uniform heating strategy is more e-

cient compared to the case 1 with the uniform heating strategy based on the signicantly
lesser entropy generation rate for all , Dam and P rm .

29
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34
Nomenclature

Be Bejan number
Dam modied Darcy number
f function
g acceleration due to gravity, m s2
k thermal conductivity, W m1 K1
L side of the tilted square cavity, m
N total number of nodes
n normal vector to the plane
Nu local Nusselt number
Nu average Nusselt number
p pressure, Pa
P dimensionless pressure
P rm modied Prandtl number
Ram modied Rayleigh number
S dimensionless entropy generation
S , S dimensionless entropy generation due to heat transfer and uid friction, respectively
Stotal dimensionless total entropy generation due to heat transfer and uid friction
T temperature, K
u, v x and y components of velocity, respectively m s1
U, V X and Y components of dimensionless velocity, respectively
X, Y dimensionless distances along x and y coordinate, respectively
Greek symbols
thermal diusivity, m2 s1
volume expansion coecient, K1
penalty parameter
dimensionless temperature
inclination angle with the positive direction of X axis
kinematic viscosity, m2 s1
density, kg m3
basis functions
dimensionless heatfunction
streamfunction
two dimensional domain
Subscripts
ef f eective parameter
f uid parameter
k node number
m modied parameter

35
Table 1
Comparison of average Nusselt number (N ul ) for the present work and Nithiarasu et al. [52]
for various uid Darcy number (Da), uid Rayleigh number (Ra) and porosity () at Prandtl
number, P r = 1.

Da Ra  = 0.4  = 0.6  = 0.9

Nithiarasu et al. [52] Present Nithiarasu et al. [52] Present Nithiarasu et al. [52] Present

104 105 1.067 1.064 1.071 1.067 1.072 1.069

106 2.55 2.617 2.725 2.731 2.740 2.818

102 103 1.01 1.01 1.015 1.012 1.023 1.018

104 1.408 1.361 1.530 1.492 1.64 1.633
105 2.983 3.067 3.555 3.461 3.91 3.953
5 105 4.99 5.065 5.74 5.891 6.70 6.785

Table 2
Comparison of Stotal for various grid systems at Ram = 106 , Dam = 102 and P rm = 998.24
involving the cases 1 and 2 at various .

Case 1 Case 2
88 16 16 20 20 28 28 32 32 88 16 16 20 20 28 28 32 32
= 15 585.68 661.19 666.88 669.84 670.31 464.11 519.37 523.68 525.60 525.83
= 30 496.52 518.87 524.40 527.19 527.67 409.89 442.74 446.63 448.51 448.73
= 60 302.19 356.91 363.29 367.11 367.70 224.68 267.69 272.14 274.29 274.58

Table 3
Comparison of Beav for various grid systems at Ram = 106 , Dam = 102 and P rm = 998.24
involving the cases 1 and 2 at various .

Case 1 Case 2
88 16 16 20 20 28 28 32 32 88 16 16 20 20 28 28 32 32
= 15 0.02 0.02 0.02 0.02 0.02 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.01
= 30 0.02 0.02 0.02 0.02 0.02 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.01
= 60 0.03 0.03 0.03 0.03 0.03 0.02 0.02 0.02 0.02 0.02

Table 4
Comparison of N uAB for various elements at Ram = 106 , Dam = 102 and P rm = 998.24
involving the cases 1 and 2 at various .

Case 1 Case 2
88 16 16 20 20 28 28 32 32 88 16 16 20 20 28 28 32 32
= 15 13.05 13.94 13.88 13.91 13.96 8.78 10.06 9.93 9.68 9.60
= 30 11.78 11.72 11.80 11.93 12.01 9.02 9.11 9.08 8.92 8.85
= 60 12.56 12.51 12.60 12.67 12.72 7.81 7.99 7.87 7.68 7.61

36
Fig. 1. Schematic representation of the computational domain involving the isothermally (case
1) or non-isothermally (case 2) heated wall AB and cold walls BC and DA in the presence
of the adiabatic wall CD ( = 15 , 30 and 60 ). The dashed line represents the geometric
symmetric line.

37
(b) (c)
Fig. 2. Streamlines (), isotherms () and heatlines () for dierentially heated square cavity
at (a) Ra = 103 and (b) Ra = 105 at P r = 0.7 [top row: present work and bottom row: Deng
and Tang [53]]. (c) Local entropy generation due to heat transfer (S ) and uid friction (S )
dierentially heated square cavity at Ra = 103 (rst and second column) and Ra = 105 (third
and fourth column) [top row: present work and bottom row: Ills et al. [54]]. The gures in the
bottom rows are reproduced with permission from Elsevier.

38
 (b) (c)
Fig. 3. Isotherms (), streamlines (), heatlines (), entropy generation due to heat transfer
(S ) and entropy generation due to uid friction (S ) for the case 1 ( = 1 along AB) at
P rm = 0.025, Dam = 105 and Ram = 106 for (a) = 15 (b) = 30 and (c) = 60 .

39
 (b) (c)
Fig. 4. Isotherms (), streamlines (), heatlines (), entropy generation due to heat transfer
(S ) and entropy generation due to uid friction (S ) for the case 1 ( = 1 along AB) at
P rm = 0.025, Dam = 102 and Ram = 106 for (a) = 15 (b) = 30 and (c) = 60 .

40
 (b) (c)
Fig. 5. Isotherms (), streamlines (), heatlines (), entropy generation due to heat transfer
(S ) and entropy generation due to uid friction (S ) for the case 1 ( = 1 along AB) at
P rm = 998.24, Dam = 102 and Ram = 106 for (a) = 15 (b) = 30 and (c) = 60 .

41
 ( a) (b) (c)
Fig. 6. Isotherms (), streamlines (), heatlines (), entropy generation due to heat transfer
 
X
(S ) and entropy generation due to uid friction (S ) for the case 2 ((X, Y ) = sin cos
along AB) at P rm = 0.025, Dam = 105 and Ram = 106 for (a) = 15 (b) = 30 and (c)
= 60 .

42
 (a) (b) (c)
Fig. 7. Isotherms (), streamlines (), heatlines (), entropy generation due to heat transfer
 
X
(S ) and entropy generation due to uid friction (S ) for the case 2 ((X, Y ) = sin cos
along AB) at P rm = 0.025, Dam = 102 and Ram = 106 for (a) = 15 (b) = 30 and (c)
= 60 .

43
 (a) (b) (c)
Fig. 8. Isotherms (), streamlines (), heatlines (), entropy generation due to heat transfer
 
X
(S ) and entropy generation due to uid friction (S ) for the case 2 ((X, Y ) = sin cos
along AB) at P rm = 998.24, Dam = 102 and Ram = 106 for (a) = 15 (b) = 30 and (c)
= 60 .

44
Fig. 9. Variation of total entropy generation (Stotal ), average Bejan number (Beav ) and average
Nusselt number (N uAB ) with Darcy number (Dam ) for the case 1 ( = 1 along AB) [ = 15
( ), = 30 ( ) and = 60 ()] and case 2 ((X, Y ) = sin cos
X
along AB) [ = 15
( ), = 30 (+ + +) and = 60 ( )] at Ram = 106 (a) P rm = 0.025 and (b)
P rm = 998.24.

45
Fig. 10. Variation of total entropy generation (Stotal ) and average Nusselt number (N uAB )
with the inclination angle () at Dam = 105 (), Dam = 103 (++) and Dam = 102 ()
at Ram = 106 for thecase 1 ( = 1 along AB) [(a) P rm = 0.025 and (b) P rm = 998.24] and
X
case 2 ((X, Y ) = sin cos along AB) [(c) P rm = 0.025 and (d) P rm = 998.24].

46