LOCAL THERMAL EQUILIBRIUM IN FORCED CONVECTION THROUGH POROUS MEDIA

Forced convection heat transfer through a channel filled with a porous medium is investigated using perturbation method. Two-energy equation model is utilized to represent the assumption of local thermal non-equilibrium which exists between the solid and fluid phases. The Brinkman-Forchheimer extension of the Darcy model is used to represent the fluid transport within the porous medium. Analytical solution is obtained for both fluid and solid temperature fields incorporating the effects of various pertinent parameters such as the Darcy number, the Biot number, the thermal conductivity and the pressure gradient. It is found that the Darcy number and the pressure gradient have significant effects on the local thermal equilibrium assumption.