Natural Convection from a Horizontal Cylinder of Elliptic Cross Section in Saturated Porous Media Using a Thermal Non-Equilibrium Model

Abstract:- This work uses a thermal non-equilibrium model to study the natural convection heat transfer near a horizontal cylinder of elliptic cross section with constant wall temperature in a fluid-saturated porous medium. A coordinate transformation is used to obtain the nonsimilar governing boundary layer equations. The transformed governing equations are then solved by the cubic spline collocation method. Results for the local Nusselt numbers are presented as functions of the porosity scaled thermal conductivity ratio, the heat transfer coefficient between the solid and fluid phases, and the aspect ratio when the major axis of the elliptical cylinder is vertical (slender orientation) and horizontal (blunt orientation). An increase in the porosity scaled thermal conductivity ratio or the heat transfer coefficient between the solid and fluid phases tends to increase the heat transfer rates. Moreover, the heat transfer rates of the elliptical cylinder with slender orientation are higher than those with blunt orientation