Heat transfer and phase change of liquid in an inclined enclosure packed with unsaturated porous media

In this paper, we present a mathematical model to describe the simultaneous heat and mass transfer with liquid phase change in unsaturated porous media. Two-dimensional natural convective flow in an inclined rectangular enclosure with porous material unsaturated with fluid is analyzed numerically. The parameter variations are considered for the tilted angle, the aspect ratio and the Darcy–Rayleigh number. Local and global Nusselt numbers are presented as functions of those parameters. Compared with the saturated porous material, the heat transfer characters in the unsaturated case are discussed for the identical aspect ratio and Darcy–Rayleigh number, The discussion is also made for the field synergy of fluid velocity and heat flow in natural convection.