The effect of porous insert position on the enhanced heat transfer in partially filled channels

In the present work, the effect of porous insert position on enhanced heat transfer in a parallel-plate channel partially filled with a fluid-saturated porous medium was studied. The fully-developed laminar flow and convective heat transfer in the channel were simulated using Lattice Boltzmann Method (LBM). The walls of the channel were subject to a uniform constant temperature. The flow field and thermal performance of the channel were investigated and compared for two configurations: first the porous insert was attached to the channel walls, and second the same amount of the porous material was positioned in the channel core. Comparing the results of the present study to the analytical solutions, a reasonable agreement was observed. The effects of various parameters like Darcy number, porous medium thickness, etc. on the conduit thermal performance were investigated in both channel configurations. It was found that the position of the porous insert has significant influence on the thermal performance of the channel.