lnterstitial convective heat transfer for fluid flow through porous media

Abstract

This work presents a theoretical-experimental methodology io determine the interstitial heat transfer coefficients in water flow through porous media, where the fluid is not in heat balance with the solidphase. The heat transfer coefficients are obtained by the single-blow transient method, combining the experimental results in a test equipment with the numerical solutions of the mathematical model proposed and constituted by the equation of continuity, the momentum equations, the energy equation of the fluid phase, and the energy equation of the solid phase. The system of partial differential equations generated in the mathematical model is solved through a numerical methodology based on the method of finite volumes. This numerical model was  constructed in the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFX 4.3™) software, and it was developed in cylindrical coordinates using a scheme of central differences to approximate the diffusive terms, a hybrid scheme for the convective terms, and a totally implicit scheme to implement the transient state. The experimental tests and the numerical solutions were made satisfactorily for different values from superficial speed of the fluid from the entrance of the bed and for different porosity values, finding that the Nusselt numbers depend in great scale on the Reynolds numbers and the porosity of media, agreeing with the results of similar investigations.