Steady mixed convection in a heated lid-driven square cavity filled with a fluid-saturated porous medium

Abstract

Steady mixed convection flow in a porous square cavity with moving side walls is studied numerically using the dual reciprocity boundary element method (DRBEM). The equations governing the two-dimensional, steady, laminar mixed convection flow of an incompressible fluid are solved for various values of parameters as Darcy (Da), Grashof (Gr), and Prandtl (Pr) numbers. The results are given in terms of vorticity contours, streamlines and isotherms. Further, average Nusselt number variations with respect to the problem parameters are also presented. The fluid flows slowly as Da decreases since the permeability of the medium decreases, and the increase in Grashof number causes the flow to pass to the natural convective behavior. DRBEM has the advantage of using considerably small number of grid points due to the boundary only nature of the method. This provides the numerical procedure computationally cheap and efficient. © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015.