Double Diffusive Convection and the Improvement of Flow in Square Porous Annulus

Abstract

There has been increased interest shown in recent years to investigate the behavior of heat and mass transfer in a square annulus with a porous medium fixed between the inner and outer walls. This paper aims to evaluate the Soret effect arising in the case of heat and mass transfer in a porous medium bounded by a square annulus and subjected to isothermal heating of the inner surfaces as well as the outer horizontal surfaces. The phenomenon is governed by 3 partial differential equations, the momentum, energy and concentration equations, that are coupled together and result in a situation where change in one variable affects the other equations and vice versa. The partial differential equations are converted into finite element equations with the help of the Galerkin method and then solved to predict solution variables such as temperature, stream function and concentration in the porous medium. It is found that the heat transfer rate at the hot wall decreases with increasing viscous dissipation effect in the porous medium.