A numerical method for forced convection in porous and homogeneous fluid domains coupled at interface by stress jump

A numerical method was developed for flows involving an interface between a homogeneous fluid and a porous medium. It is based on the finite volume method with body-fitted and multi-block grids. The Brinkman-Forcheimmer extended model was used to govern the flow in the porous medium region. At its interface, the flow boundary condition imposed is a shear stress jump, which includes the inertial effect, together with a continuity of normal stress. The thermal boundary condition is continuity of temperature and heat flux. The forced convection through a porous insert over a backward-facing step is investigated. The results are presented with flow configurations for different Darcy numbers, 10(-2) to 10(-5), porosity from 0.2 to 0.8, Reynolds number from 10 to 800, and the ratio of insert length to channel height from 0.1 to 0.3. The heat transfer is improved by using porous insert. To enhance the heat transfer with minimal frictional losses, it is preferable to have a medium length of insert with medium Darcy number, and larger Reynolds number. The interfacial stress jump coefficients beta and beta(1) were varied from -1 to 1, and within this range the average and local lower-wall Nusselt numbers are not sensitive to the parameters. Copyright (C) 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.