NATURAL-CONVECTION HEAT-TRANSFER FROM A CORRUGATED PLATE EMBEDDED IN AN ENCLOSED POROUS-MEDIUM

The problem of steady natural convection from a corrugated plate embedded in an enclosed porous medium is studied numerically. The non-Darcian effects as well as the acceleration terms are taken into consideration in the momentum equation. The governing equations in terms of vorticity, stream function, and temperature are expressed in a body-fitted coordinate system and are solved numerically by the finite difference method. Results are presented in terms of streamlines and isotherms and local and average Nusselt numbers at Prandtl numbers of 0.7 and 7.0, with Darcy-Rayleigh number ranging from 0.1 to 1000 and Darcy number ranging from 10(-4) to 10(-1), for several aspect ratios of the cavity and plate positions. The flow and heat transfer characteristics of a corrugated plate and a flat plate are also compared.