EFFECT OF THE CONVECTIVE INERTIA TERM ON BENARD CONVECTION IN A POROUS MEDIUM

Abstract

The thermal impact of the convective inertia term, which resembles the term used in the Navier-Stokes equation for pure fluids, is investigated numerically considering Bénard convection in a fluid-saturated porous medium. There has been some theoretical discussion in the archival literature about the correctness of including an inertia term in the form of a velocity divergent. The present study shows numerically that this convective term (inertia) is negligible for most cases and has a negligible effect on the overall heat transfer. The relative importance of the inertia and Forchheimer terms bated on scale analysis is found to agree with the numerical results. This evidence adds strength to the theoretical assessment found in the literature.