CONVECTIVE HEAT TRANSFER IN AN ANNULAR POROUS LAYER WITH CENTRIFUGAL FORCE FIELD

Abstract

The present study deals with natural convection in an annular porous layer under the influence of a centrifugal force field. It is assumed that the outer boundary is heated by a constant heat flux, while the inner boundary is perfectly insulated. The problem is formulated in terms of Darcy-Boussinesq equations and solved using analytical and numerical techniques. An analytical solution for the flaw and heat transfer variables, based on a concentric flow assumption, is obtained in terms of the Rayleigh number and the radius ratio. Finite amplitude results are verified by a numerical approach. Predicted thresholds in terms of critical Rayleigh numbers are verified by a linear stability analysis. Results obtained from the numerical approach indicate the existence of multiple solutions differing by the number of cells involved.