Heat transfer of laminar flow over a 2-D backward facing step with isotropic porous floor segments

Conference · Tue Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 1997

OSTI ID:20014435

Abu-Hijleh, B A K

Forced convection due to fluid flow over a backward facing step has been studied extensively. Flow through porous media occurs in a wide range of engineering applications such as the flow through insulation material, grain storage, and water movement through a geothermal reservoir. Control of the heat transfer characteristics is desirable, and the control mechanism can be either active or passive. Here, the incompressible laminar (Re{sub H} = 100) reattaching flow over a 2-D backward facing step with different length porous floor segments was solved numerically using the finite element method. The focus of this study is the change in the forced convection heat transfer characteristics of the flow field due to the addition of porous floor segments. Several isotropic porous floor segment configurations with different lengths and depths were studied. The porosity of the segments was varied over a wide range by changing the value of the pressure loss coefficient (KP = 10{sup {minus}2}--10{sup 6}). The changes in the local and overall Nusselt number are reported and discussed. Depending on the configuration, axial variation of the local Nusselt number could be altered. For all configurations, the overall Nusselt number decreased by as much as 16% while the maximum local Nusselt number increased by as much as 170%, both relative to their respective values for the reference case of solid floor.

• Research Organization: Jordan Univ. of Science and Technology, Irbid (JO)
• OSTI ID: 20014435
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

42 ENGINEERING
FINITE ELEMENT METHOD
FORCED CONVECTION
INCOMPRESSIBLE FLOW
LAMINAR FLOW
NUSSELT NUMBER
POROSITY
POROUS MATERIALS