Numerical investigation of boiling and forced convection heat transfer in inclined porous enclosure using modified enthalpy formulation

Abstract

Two-Phase flow in an inclined rectangular porous media, under unsteady-state condition, has been numerically investigated in this article, based on the modified h-formulation of Two-Phase Mixture Model (TPMM). The governing equations have been discretised using Finite Volume Method (FVM) and solved iteratively in a SIMPLE-like manner. Effects of various parameters on the flow and temperature fields have been investigated, which clearly demonstrated that the inclination angle strongly affect the boiling initiation. Recirculating flow has been observed when the inclination angle θ>0˚. The results clearly indicated that the operating conditions and the porous medium properties have significant effects on the initiation and termination of phase change process. A closer inspection of the results reveals that the presence of a critical inclination angle depending on the value of K* and, Re1 which correspond to a maximum values of vapour volume. The modified h-formulation requires significantly less computational time as compared with the existing H-formulation of TPMM.

Keywords

• porous media
• modified enthalpy formulation
• TPMM
• phase change process
• sloping evaporator
• Local Thermal Equilibrium model