WS.

rme- und Stoffiibertragung 29, 185-193 (1994) W~irme-

und Stoff~bertragung
© Springer-Verlag 1994

Natural convection of non-Newtonian fluids in a horizontal porous layer

B. Amari, P. Vasseur, and E. Bilgen, Montreal, C a n a d a

Abstract. The buoyancy-induced flows of non-Newtonian fluids in n power-law index

a horizontal fluid saturated porous layer is studied analytically and Nu Nusselt number, Eq. (27)
numerically using the power-law model to characterize the non- p' pressure
Newtonian fluid behavior. A constant heat flux is applied for heat- q' constant heat flux
ing and cooling the two opposing walls of the layer.while the other R modified Rayleigh number, K Qg fi A T' (H'/cO"/e
two walls are insulated. On the basis of a modified Darcy equation Ra Rayleigh number for a Newtonian-fluid, K ~ g f l A T ' H ' / c ~ #
the probIem is solved analytically, in the limit of a thin layer, using T' temperature
a parallel flow approximation and an integral form of the energy Td reference temperature at the geometric center of the cavity
equation. Solutions for the flow and temperature fields, and Nusselt ~" superficial velocity
numbers are obtained explicitly in terms of the modified Rayleigh u' superficial velocity in the x' direction
number R and the power-law index n. A numerical study of the same v' superficial velocity in the y' direction
phenomenon, obtained by solving the complete system of governing x' horizontal coordinate
equations, is also conducted. A good agreement is found between y' vertical coordinate
the analytical prediction and the numerical simulation.
Greek symbols
O; effective thermal diffusivity
NatiMiche Konvektion nicht-Newtonscher Fluide
coefficient of thermal expansion
in einer horizontalen poriisen Schicht
0 dimensionless temperature, Eq. (15)
# dynamic viscosity for a Newtonian fluid
Zusammenfassung. Die durch Auflriebskr/ifte induzierten Str6mun-
apparent viscosity for a power-law fluid, Eq. (2)
gen nicht-Newtonscber Fluide in einer borizontalen, flfissigkeits-
o~ density
getr~inkten por6sen Schicht werden analytisch und numerisch unter
stream function
Verwendung des Potenzgesetz-Modetls f0z das nicht-Newtonsche
porosity of the porous medium
Fhfidverhalten untersucht. Von einer beheizten Wand fliel3tein kon-
parameter in power-taw model, Eq. (3)
stanter W/irmestrom an die gekfihlte gegentiberliegende, wfihrend
die beiden fibrigen W/inde adiabat sind. Das Problem wird auf der
Superscript
Basis einer modifizierten Darcy-Gleichung analytisch gel6st, und
zwar ffir den Grenzfall geringer Schichtdicke, wobei n/iherungsweise ' dimensional quantities
Parallelstr6mung unterstellt wird und die Energiegleichung in Inte-
gralform Verwendung findet. L6sungen flit das Str6mungs- und Subscripts
Temperaturfeld sowie Nusselt-Zahlen werden in expliziter Form als max maximum value
Funkfionen der modifizierten Rayleigh-Zahl R und des Potenz-
0 condition at the origin of the coordinate system
gesetz-Index n erhalten. Ferner wird eine numerische Untersuchung
des gleichen Problems unter L6sung des vollst~indigen Systems der
bestimmenden Gleichungen durchgeffihrt. Analytische Vorausbe-
rechnung und numerische Simulation stimmen gut fiberein.

1 Introduction
Nomenclature
N a t u r a l convection in porous cavities has been the subject of
A aspect ratio of the cavity, L'/H'
a, b bottom heating: a = l , b = 0 ; side wall heating: a = 0 , b = l numerous investigations during the past decade. The interest
C dimensionless temperature gradient along the x direction in this subject has been stimulated, to a large extent, by the
9 acceleration due to gravity fact that thermally driven flows in porous media are of con-
h the consistency index siderable engineering interest. The application range from
H' thickness of the cavity
k thermal conductivity of fluid-saturated porous medium the design of pebble bed nuclear reactors to the use of fibrous
K permeability of the porous medium materials in the thermal insulation of buildings. The subject,
I" length of the cavity as can be expected, constitutes an i m p o r t a n t current re-
186

search topic. An excellent review of existing experimental
and theoretical results has been presented by Nield and
Bejan [1].
Most of the previous studies of natural convection associ-
ated with porous media are restricted to the case where the
saturated fluid is Newtonian. Few pay attention to the effects
of shear-rate of non-Newtonian fluids although the knowl-
edge of flow structure and heat transfer are of importance in
a number of industrial applications. For instance, the under-
standing of non-Newtonian flows through porous media is
of practical interest in chemical reactor design, polymer en-
gineering, certain separation processes, in geophysical sys-
tems or in petroleum drillings. The first study of natural
convection of non-Newtonian fluids in a porous medium
seems to be due to Chen and Chen [2]. The problem of
natural convection of a non-Newtonian power-law fluid in a
porous medium adjacent to an impermeable plate heated
with a nonuniform heat flux distribution was considered by
these authors. In this study use is made of the power-law
model originally suggested by Christopher and Middleman
[3] and later modified by Dharmadhikari and Kale [41.
The effects of the power-law index n on the heat transfer
characteristics are discussed. In subsequent papers Chen and
Chen [5, 6] have also considered the problem of free convec-
tion of non-Newtonian fluids over a vertical flat plate, a
horizontal circular cylinder and a sphere embedded in po-
rous media. More recently, the buoyancy-induced flows of
non-Newtonian fluids over non-isothermal bodies of arbi-
trary shape within saturated porous media have been con-
sidered by Nakayama and Koyama [7]. Using the power law
model of Dharmadhikari and Kale [4], to characterize the
non-Newtonian fluid behavior, solutions were obtained for
the boundary layer flow regime. Upon introducing a general
similarity transformation the governing equations for a non-
isothermal body of arbitrary shape have been reduced to
those for a vertical plate. Numerical integrations were car-
ried out to furnish heat transfer results for plane and axisym-
metric bodies of arbitrary shape.
The flow through a porous medium of non-Newtonian
fluids with a power-law has been considered by Pascal [8, 9].
A modified Darcy's law, deduced from a similar equation
describing the flow through a simple capillary tube model for
a non-Newtonian fluid with a generalized Bingham rheolog-
ical model, was suggested by this author. The resulting mod-
el, contrarily to that of Dharmadhikari and Kale [4], can
take into account the dependence of the power-law constant
on temperature. On the basis of this model the natural con-
with the problem of natural convection through an un-
bounded porous medium.
To the author's knowledge there are presently no studies
available on the natural convection heat transfer of a non-
Newtonian fluid confined in an enclosure. The aim of the
present study is to predict the characteristics of steady natu-
ral convection heat transfer of non-Newtonian fluids in a
horizontal porous layer heated from the bottom or by the
side by a constant heat flux. The power-law model proposed
by Pascal [8, 9] is used to analyze the present problem. An
analytical solution, valid for long shallow cavities (A > 1), is
derived on the basis of a parallel flow approximation. A
numerical study of the same phenomenon, obtained by solv-
ing the complete system of governing equations, is also con-
ducted. The results presented here are relevant to an ade-
quate understanding of the general flow and heat transfer
characteristics of non-Newtonian flows in porous media.
2 Governing equations
The problem under consideration is shown in Fig. 1. A two-
dimensional shallow cavity is filled with a homogeneous
isotropic porous medium saturated by a non-Newtonian
fluid of power-law behavior. The thermal conditions are
heating and cooling by a constant heat flux q' through the
horizontal walls (i.e., bottom heating), or through the verti-
cal walls (i.e., side wall heating). Thus, for bottom heating
(a = 1, b = 0), while for side wall heating (a = 0, b = 1). In
accordance with previous reports given by Pascal [8, 9], the
model of laminar flow of a non-Newtonian power-taw fluid
through a porous medium is written as follows.
K
r/,- Vp, (1)
W°
where
n'-I
#', = e (u'2 + v'~) 2 (2)
and
2h
e = .+: .-1 (3)
8 ~ (K~) ~ (n/(1+3.))"
Many of the inelastic non-Newtonian fluids encountered
in engineering processes are known to follow a power-taw
corltro{ VO{LIme

vection heat transfer from a heated vertical flat, embedded in

a porous medium saturated by a non-Newtonian power-law
Taq" ......... _/__ ....

T Y\xu
I
fluid, was studied by Pascal and Pascal [10]. Results were
obtained for the case when the temperature along the heated b q " -i H" bq
wall is maintained constant or variable and for the case
when a constant or variable heat flux is imposed along the
" I L
wall. The resulting temperature and velocity profiles were
found to differ considerably .from those obtained in the case
of Newtonian fluids. All the above studies are concerned Fig. 1. Definition sketch
lao-
 187

model in which the pressure drop is in proportion of the Equations (8)-(11) together with the boundary condi-
mass flow rate. tions, Eqs. (12) and (13) complete the problem definition. The
In Eqs. (1)-(3), V' is the superficial velocity, K and ¢ the solution to this problem is dependent on the parameters R,
permeability and the porosity of the porous medium respec- A and n.
tively, #', the apparent viscosity, h the consistency index and
n the power-law index. In the above model the rheological
parameters h and n are assumed to be temperature indepen- 3 Numerical solution
dent.
If it is assumed that the convective fluid and the porous Solution for the flow field and the temperature distribution
medium are everywhere in local thermodynamic equilibri- within the horizontal layer may be found by standard nu-
um, the properties of the fluid and the porous medium are merical methods. The governing equations for the stream
constant and the Boussinesq approximation is employed, function, Eq. (8), and temperature, Eq. (9), are first dis-
the governing equations for the present problem are given cretized according to the well-known central difference
by: scheme for a regular mesh size. The discretized equations for
T and t/, are then solved twice at each time step, using the
V. I~'= 0 (4) latest available field values, until convergence to a steady
state is achieved.
K
re' = - - - [Vp' + O g~] (5) The stream function field was obtained from Eq. (8) using
the successive over relaxation method (S.O.R.) and a known
V'. VT'= ct V 2 T ' (6) temperature distribution. The time-dependent version of the
energy equation (9) was solved using an alternating-direc-
Q = Co [1 -/3 (T'-- Td)] (7) tion implicit method (A.D.I.). Essentially, the ADI method
solved for the new field values of a given variable by assum-
where T ' is the local equilibrium temperature of the fluid
ing implicit discretization of its governing equation in a
and the porous matrix, e the thermal diffusivity of porous
single direction and explicit discretization otherwise. The
medium and ~ and /~ the density and thermal expansion
resultant set of finite-difference equations is tridiagonal in
coefficient of the non-Newtonian fluid.
form and therefore both easy and economical to solve on
Scaling length, velocity and temperature with H ' , c~/H'
computer. The procedure is then repeated in the other direc-
and A T ' = q ' H ' / k , and eliminating the pressure term in
tion and so on.
Eq. (5) in the usual way, it is readily shown that the dimen-
The number of grid points in the x and y directions were
sionless governing equations can be expressed as
varied, depending upon the aspect ratio A and the Rayleigh
V 2 ~ = _ / l ~ _ ~ [ ~ _y~~#~ ~7t ~#~ ~T] number R. Trial calculations were necessary in order to
~y + S~- 8---£-+ R ~ x (8) optimize computation time and accuracy. Convergence with
mesh size was verified by employing coarser and finer grids
StP ST ~ ST on selected test problems. A grid of (61 x 41) was found to
V2T- -- (9)
Sy 8x ~x Sy model accurately the flow fields described in the results for
most of the cases considered. The number of iterations re-
= ? ylo quired for convergence was, in general less than 50. Typical
~a L\ sx / + \ ~ - y / j (10) values of the time steps ranged from 10 -3 to 10 -4. The CPU
time required for convergence was from (27) to (55) s on an
and R = K ~ g fl A T ' ( H ' / e ) " / e is a modified Rayleigh number IBM RISC 6000.
for flows of a non-Newtonian fluid through the porous medi-
um and ~/' is a dimensionless stream function defined as
4 Approximate analytical solution
~p ~7/
u=-- v=--I (11)
~y ~x In this section an approximate solution is presented for the
case of a long shallow cavity (A ~>1). In this limit, as dis-
such that Eq. (4) is identically satisfied.
cussed in detail by Cormack et al. [11] and Vasseur et al.
The non-dimensional boundary conditions over the walls
[12, 13], the flow velocity in the central part of the layer can
of the enclosure are
be assumed to be parallel and in the x-direction (see for
SW ST instance Figs. 2 and 3). As a result the flow and temperature
=--=0, --a at y=_+1/2 (12) fields must be respectively of the following form
~y Sy
$7t ST = ~e(y) (14)
- Sx - 0 ' ~x - b at x=+_A/2 (13)
and
where A = H ' / E is the cavity aspect ratio. T = C x + 0 (y) (15)
188

d6¢5
Fig. 2. Typical streamline and isotherm patterns for R = 100 and and
various values of n. Figs. a, b, and e are for side wall heating and
Figs. d, e, and f for bottom heating. dZO d~
a n = 1.4, 7~m~ = 2.35, Tm~x = 0.98, Tmin = - 0 . 9 8 dy 2 - C d~- (17)
b n = 1.0, 7Jm~x= 2.66, Tma x = 0.77, Tm~, = --0.77
e n = 0.6, 7~m~ = 3.63, T~,~ = 0.53, T~i. = --0.53
d n = 1.4, ~gm~x= 2.53, T~x = 1.06, T~, = - 1.06 S o l u t i o n o f Eqs. (16) a n d (17) satisfying the b o u n d a r y
e n = 1.0, 7 ~ = 3.73, Tm,~ = 0.82, Tmin = - 0 . 8 2 c o n d i t i o n s g i v e n by Eq. (12) are
f n = 0.6, 7~,x = 6.79, T~,~ = 0.50, Tmin = - 0 . 5 0
( R C ) 1In F, ,m
-W'j
(1"~ -]
(18,
and
w h e r e C is t h e u n k n o w n b u t c o n s t a n t t e m p e r a t u r e g r a d i e n t
in t h e x d i r e c t i o n . T= Cx + ~ Cy lYl"- -ay (19)
S u b s t i t u t i n g Eqs. (14) a n d (t5) i n t o Eqs. (8) a n d (9) o n e
obtains respectively w h e r e m = (1 +n)/n.
T h e v e l o c i t y field u d e r i v e d f r o m t h e s t r e a m f u n c t i o n is:
d [ dTs d~P"-II=-RC (16) 1--n
dy u=-(Rf)l/"lYl " y. (20)
 189

20 The particular case of a pure Newtonian fluid can be

Analytical Numerical R = 0.6 ./ recovered by setting n = 1 in the above results. It is readily
found that
15 1.0
1.2
7~ = _ ----if- yZ_ (23)
lUl lo

T = C x + ~ y - -ay (24)
5
U = - Ra C y (25)

& O' R a 2 C 3 + 10 C (12 - a Ra) - 120 b = 0 (26)

40
where R a = g ~ fi K A T ' H'/c~ It is the Rayleigh number for a
[Analytical Numericall ri = 0.6 j Newtonian fluid.
The above Eqs. (23) to (26) are in agreement with the
..... • / results obtained by Vasseur et al. [13] while studying natural
convection of a Newtonian fluid within a horizontal porous
layer modeled according to the Darcy's equations.
The heat transfer rate for the bottom-heated cavity can be
lUl 2Olo
expressed in terms of the Nusselt at the x -- 0 section defined
as
1
Nu = - - (27)
AT
o
0 0,1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5
where the dimensionless temperature difference A T across
b Y the section is A T = T(0, - 1/2) - T(0, 1/2).
Fig. 3 a, b. Effect of the power-law index n on the horizontal velocity The above definition of N u results from the fact that, as
distribution for R = t00. a Side wall heating; b bottom heating
demonstrated in the analytical solution, the temperature of
both horizontal walls increases linearly with x, at the same
Because of the turning flow at the end regions of the rate, so that A T is independent of x.
porous layer the boundary conditions in the x-direction, F r o m Eqs. (24) and (27), with a = 1 and b = 0, the Nusselt
Eq. (13), cannot be exactly satisfied by the parallel flow ap- number for the bottom-heated cavity is given by
proximation. Instead of the thermal condition at the ends
1
(x = +_A / 2 ) an integral condition on the average flux at any Nu = (28)
x section is used. As discussed by Bejan [14], the value of the I
i -- (1/2) m+ i _ _ Ri/, C m
constant temperature gradient C may be obtained by con- m+l
sidering the arbitrary control volume of Fig. 1. Integration
For the particular case of a Newtonian fluid the temper-
of Eq. (9), together with the thermal boundary conditions,
ature gradient C may be obtained explicitly from Eq. (26) as
Eqs. (12) and (13), yields the following energy flux integral at
any x section
1/2
C=+ R1a . v / l O ( R a _ 12) (29)
C= i uTIxdY +b. (21)
- 1/2
and the Nusselt number, Eq. (27), reduces to
Substituting Eqs. (19) and (20) into Eq. (21) and integrat-
1
ing yields N u = 1/6 + l O / R a (30)

1 (1/2)m(RC)i/" _
m+~ (2-ram+-fi ] - C + b = 0 ' in agreement with the predictions of Vasseur et al. [13].
The Nusselt number for side wall heating (a = 0, b = 1) is
The value of the axial temperature gradient C m a y be eval- very much dependent on the flow pattern in the end regions
uated from the above equation, for a given Rayleigh number and thus cannot suitably be predicted here. In that case the
R and power-law index n, using a Newton-Raphson scheme. value of A T will be used as an indication of the temperature
On taking the appropriate values of a and b Eqs. (18), (19), distribution within the cavity.
(20) and (22), can be applied to both bottom and side wall
heating.
190

Table 1 a. Aspect ratio effect on ~ for a cavity heated from the side with power-law index of n = 0.6 and 1.4 and for a Newtonian
fluid (n = 1) at R = 100. Figures 2 a - 2 c correspond to a layer
A
heated from the sides while Figs. 2 d - 2 f to a bottom heated
n 1 2 3 4 Analytical (A ~>1) layer. The streamlines (left) are equally spaced with specified
increments A gJ between a value of zero on the boundaries
0.6 2.751 3.285 3 . 5 2 1 3.524 3.523 and the extremum value Tm~x. The isotherms (right) are
1.0 2.11 2.553 2.635 2.641 2.643 equally spaced between the maximum temperature Tm,~,
1.4 1.817 2.0741 2.098 2,10 2.099
located on the top of the right vertical wall, and the mini-
m u m temperature, Tmln, on the bottom of the left vertical
wall. It is noticed that the dimensionless temperature at the
Table 1 b. Aspect ratio effect on ~ and Nu for a cavity heated from center of the cavity is equal to zero due to the normalization.
below
Also, from the centrosymmetry of the problem the minimum
A and maximum temperatures have the same absolute value,
but are of opposite sign. The numerical results of Fig. 2
n 1 2 3 4 Analytical (A >>1) confirm the fact that, as it has been assumed in the analytical
solution, the flow patterns in the core region of the cavity
0.6 ~c 4.655 6 . 4 6 8 6 . 7 1 8 6.762 6.761
Nu 5.814 5.75 5.865 5 . 9 9 7 6,000 remain parallel independently of the power-law index n.
However, it must be mentioned that, in the case of a layer
1.0 ~ 3.177 3 . 4 7 5 3 . 5 4 0 3 . 7 0 8 3.708
Nu 2.970 3 . 6 3 8 3 . 7 2 0 3.750 3.750 heated from below, the unicellular flow patterns illustrated
in Figs. 2d to 2f are not unique. In fact, these numerical
1.4 ~c 2 . 3 1 5 2.362 2 . 4 3 8 2 . 4 6 3 2.468
Nu 1 . 9 4 6 2 . 5 1 3 2.546 2 . 5 5 2.553 results were obtained by using as initial conditions a steady
state solution for a unicellular flow regime obtained previ-
ously for the case of a cavity heated from the sides. O n the
other hand, when the rest state was used as initial conditions,
the resulting flow pattern was found to be similar to the
5 Results and discussion classical multicellular B6nard flow configuration observed in
a horizontal layer heated isothermally from below. However,
The natural convection flow in the porous layer under con- the present investigation is restricted to the study of unicel-
sideration is characterized by the specification of the Ray- lular convection solely. Figures 3 and 4 show the horizontal
leigh number R, the aspect ratio A and the power-law in- velocity and temperature profiles at the center of the layer
dex n. In this study, the values of n are ranging from 0.6 to (x = 0) for R = 100 and various values of n. Since the p o n e s
1.4, this including shear-thinning (n < 1) and shear thicken- are anti-symmetrical with respect to y the results are present-
ing (n > 1) fluids. ed only for 0 _< y _< 0.5. The present analytical solution, de-
The approximate solution, developed in the preceding picted by solid lines, is seen to agree well with the numerical
section, is valid asymptotically in the limit of a shallow results. Figures 3 a and 3 b indicate that the velocity is max-
cavity (A ~ 1). For the case of a porous medium saturated by imum at the walls. This is due to the fact that the porous
a Newtonian fluid it has been demonstrated by Vasseur et al. medium has been modeled according to the Darcy's law and
[12] that the parallel flow approximation gives a reasonable accordingly the fluid is allowed to slip on a solid boundary.
prediction for the flow and heat transfer provided that the For a Newtonian fluid it is noticed that the velocity distribu-
aspect ratio of the layer is greater than approximately 2. For tion is linear, for the two heating modes considering here, in
the problem considered in this study a test was first made to agreement with the results of Vasseur et al. [13]. The temper-
determine the smallest A which could most economically ature profiles for a cavity heated from the side are presented
provide results reasonably close to the large aspect ratio on Fig. 4a. All the curves are normal to the wall at y =0.5
approximation. The numerical results obtained for R = 100, since the horizontal boundaries are maintained adiabatic.
n = 0.6, i and 1.4 and various values of A are presented in On the other hand all the curves of Fig. 4 b have a constant
Tables 1 a and I b for bottom heating and side wall heating slope at y = 0.5 due to the fact that a constant heat flux is
respectively. The analytical values predicted here are also prescribed on the horizontal walls.
given for reference. It can be observed that the results for The effect of the power-law index n is clearly illustrated
A = 4 are sufficiently close the large aspect ratio approxima- on Figs. 2 - 4 . F o r a layer heated from the side Fig. 2 indi-
tion. For this reason all the numerical results presented here cates that the maximum stream function, which is a direct
were obtained for this particular aspect ratio. measure of the magnitude of the circulation, decreases from
~m,~ = 6.79 to 2.53 as n is increased from 0.6 to 1.4. F o r layer
heated from below the corresponding values of ~m~x are 3.63
5.1 Temperature and flow fields
and 2.35 respectively. Thus, when increasing n above unity,
Typical flow patterns and temperature fields obtained nu- the convective motion becomes less important while oppo-
merically are presented on Fig. 2 for two different liquids site effects are display for n < 1 (see also Fig. 3). This implies
 191

0.3 10
n=0,6
AnalyticaI Numerical 8
---0.8
..... 1.0
0.2 ---1,2
6
T ¥o
4
0.1

a a 0
ii
0.3
Analytical Numerical n = 1,4 30 - n = 0.6 Analytical Numerical
.
,
0.2
--i o
T
20
0.1

10
0

-0,1 ~ l f ~ r ~ I
0 i I , , I , T T '
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 2 2
10 510 10
b Y b R
Fig. 4 a, b. Effect of the power-law index n on the temperature distri- Fig. 5 a, b. Stream function at center of layer, ~P~,as a function of R
bution for R = 100. a Side wall heating; b bottom heating and n. a Side wall heating; b bottom heating

that the larger the value of n is, the larger the viscosity of the
fluid will be. The phenomena agrees with the observations of
Dharmadhikari and Kale [4] and Chen and Chen [5, 6].
The value of the stream function 7Jc at the center of the
porous layer, as a function of R and n, is presented in Figs.
5 a and 5 b for the case of a system heated from the side and
b o t t o m respectively. The curves illustrate the fact that the
convection becomes more and more vigorous as R is in-
creased or n decreased. It is noted that, for given values of R
and n, the strength of the flow circulation is considerably
weaker when the cavity is heated from the side. This follows
from the fact that the flow circulation within the porous
layer is driven by the temperature gradient C (see Eq. (18))
prevailing in the core region of the system. As indicated by
Eq. (22) or from the isotherm patterns of Fig. 2 the axial
temperature gradient C, for given values of R and n is smaller
when the cavity is heated from the side. In the range of
parameters considered Fig. 5 indicates that the analytical
solution is in good agreement with the numerical results.
However, it must be mentioned that, in the case of a cavity
heated from the bottom, Fig. 5, it was found difficult to
obtain numerical results for Rayleigh numbers above those
presented in the graph. F o r higher values of R, the flow
patterns were found to be slightly oscillating or multicellu-
lar. This is due to the fact that, for this heating mode, the
parallel unicellular flow pattern becomes unstable and bifur-
cates toward other convective modes.
5.2 Heat transfer results
Figure 6 shows the dependence of the Nusselt number Nu on
R and n for a bottom heated porous layer. The analytical
results, Eq. (28), are continuous lines, numerical results
shown as circles are seen to agree well. While interpreting the
Nusselt number here it must be specified that, in the present
problem, contrarily to the case of isothermal walls, the effect
of convection is not to increase the heat flux across the
boundaries but to decrease instead the temperature induced
within the enclosure during the heating process. Although in
general Nu increases with R in all power-law fluids, it is clear
from Fig. 6 that Nu tends asymptotically toward a constant
value that depends on n. Thus, for instance, according to
Eq. (30) Nu = 6 for a Newtonian fluid (n = 1). As discussed in
details by Vasseur et al. [13], this surprising result is a conse-
quence of the heating mode applied on the layer. F o r a fixed
value of R Fig. 6 indicates that the Nusselt number increases
as n decreases. Indeed, the apparent viscosity is reduced with
an increase in the shear rate (i.e. with R). The prediction of
Nu, for the case of a system heated from the side, requires a
knowledge of the temperature distribution on the vertical
192

walls. Since, in the present study, the end regions have been
considered only through a control volume analysis, it is
10 - n = 0.6 Analytical Numerical

o
not possible to obtain an analytical expression for Nu. As
a substitute, the temperature difference A T = T ( 1 ~ 2 , 0 )
- T ( - - 1/2, 0) is used in Fig. 7 to characterize the strength of
the heat transfer within the cavity. According to Eq. (19),
Nu 6
with a = 0 and b = 1, the value of A T is given by
RC 2
AT - (31)
12

where C is given by Eq. 22.

0 I r I I I fir i i i I i it1 The analytical prediction, Eq. (31), is seen to be in excel-
30 102 5102 10 lent agreement with the numerical results. As expected,
R
Fig. 7 indicates that, for a given value of n, A T decreases as
Fig. 6. Nusselt number Nu as a function of the Rayteigh number R R is made larger i.e. as the strength of the convective motion
for selected values of the power-law index n for bottom heating within the porous layer is enhanced. Also, for a given R, it is
seen that A T increases with n. This follows from the fact that
the viscosity of the fluid increases with n, resulting in a
weaker flow circulation.
0'51" n = 1,4 Another view of the heat transfer within a porous layer
heated from the side is given by Fig. 8 where the numerically
04 _
determined overall Nusselt number N u is plotted as a func-
tion of R and n. In the case of a system heated from below
the Nusselt number (i.e. A T), Eq. 27, is independent of x
AT 0 , 3 ~ since the temperature of both horizontal walls increases lin-
early with x at the same rate. However, in the case of a
0.2
system heated from the short vertical walls, the wall to wall
temperature difference A T* = ( r (A / 2, y) - r ( - A / 2, y) is a
0,1 . \ 0.6 function of y and it is thus appropriate to introduce and
overall Nusselt number N u defined as
0 I P q I I I I P
2 3 1/2
10 5 102 10
dy (32)
R Nu = f AT*"
- i/2
Fig. 7. Temperature difference AT as a function of the Rayleigh
number R for selected values of the power-taw index n for side wall
heating Figure8 indicates that, as expected, Nu increases
monotonously with increasing R in all power-law fluids.
Here again, it appears clearly that, for a fixed value of R, the
Nusselt number increases as n decreases. This is due to the
fact that, the apparent viscosity is reduced with an increase
20 of the shear rate.
n=0,6

10 1.0
6 Conclusion

Nu 5 The problem of natural convection heat transfer in power-

law fluid-saturated porous media contained in two-dimen-
sional shallow (A >>1) enclosures has been investigated ana-
lytically and numerically. Two types of thermal boundary
conditions are considered. In the first case the cavity is heat-
1 [ r I I I r I I r I P I I I I ed from the side by a constant heat flux, while in the second
50 102 5 102 103 the heat flux is applied on the bottom wall. An approximate
R analytical solution is obtained by assuming that the flow
field in the cavity consists of two distinct regions, i.e., a core
Fig. 8. Overall Nusselt number Nu as a function of the Rayleigh
number R for selected values of the power-law index n for side wall extending almost the full length of the enclosure in which the
heating flow is parallel to the horizontal boundaries and a region

near each vertical wall in which the flow turns through 180 °.
The matching between the two regions is performed by using
an integral form of the energy equation. Results are present-
ed for the Nusselt n u m b e r and the details of the velocity and
temperature fields a n d are found to be rather sensitive to the
power law-index n. It is shown that the results for a pure
N e w t o n i a n fluid, i.e., n = 1, emerge from the present solution
as a special case. W h e n compared with Newtonian fluids, a
decrease in the power-law index (pseudoplastic fluids) en-
hances the convection heat transfer while an increase (dila-
rant fluids) reduces it. The main features of the approximate
theoretical solution have been tested by a numerical solution
of the full governing equations in the range of 30 < R < 103
and 0.4 < n < 1.8.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported in part by the Natural Sciences and Engi-
neering Research Council of Canada and jointly by the FCAR
Government of Quebec,
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B. Amari
P. Vasseur
E. Bilgen
Ecole Polytechnique, C.P. 6079, Succ. "A"
Montreal, P.Q., II3C 3A7
Canada
Received on February 3, 1993