A Numerical Study of Heat and Mass Transfer in Porous-Fluid Coupled Domains

Abstract

A numerical method for transport phenomena in porous-fluid coupled domains with complex geometries was developed. It was based on finite volume method together with body-fitted grids and multi-block technology.For the interface, the Ochoa-Tapia and Whitakerb s stress jump interfacial condition was used to investigate its effects on flow, heat and mass transfer. The developed numerical technique was applied to several cases in heat and mass transfer: a) unsteady external flows past a porous square or trapezoidal cylinder, b) natural convective heat-transfer in a porous wavy cavity, c) forced convective heat-transfer after a backward facing step with a porous insert or with a porous floor segment, d) mass transfer in a microchannel reactor with a porous wall.The present thesis contributed a numerical implementation for problems involving porous-medium and homogeneous-fluid domains.