Laminar dissipative flow in a porous channel bounded by isothermal parallel plates

The effects of viscous dissipation on thermal entrance heat transfer in a parallel plate channel filled with a saturated porous medium, is investigated analytically on the basis of a Darcy model. The case of isothermal boundary is treated. The local and the bulk temperature distribution along with the Nusselt number in the thermal entrance region were found. The fully developed Nusselt number, independent of the Brinkman number, is found to be 6. It is observed that neglecting the effects of viscous dissipation would lead to the well-known case of internal flows, with Nusselt number equal to 4.93. A finite difference numerical solution is also utilized. It is seen that the results of these two methods, analytical and numerical, are in good agreement