Low Prandtl number chaotic convection in porous media with uniform internal heat generation

Using the theory of dynamical systems, this study investigated the effects of a uniform internal heat generation on chaotic behaviour in thermal convection in a fluid-saturated porous layer subject to gravity and heated from below for low Prandtl number. A low-dimensional, Lorenz-like model was obtained using Galerkin truncated approximation. The fourth-order Runge-Kutta method was employed to solve the nonlinear system. We found that there is an inverse proportional relation between the level of internal heat G and the scaled Rayleigh number R, and consequently the porous media gravity-related Rayleigh number Ra. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.