NON-DARCY NATURAL-CONVECTION FROM A VERTICAL WAVY SURFACE IN A POROUS-MEDIUM

We examine the combined effect of spatially stationary surface waves a nd the presence of fluid inertia on the free convection induced by a v ertical heated surface embedded in a fluid-saturated porous medium. We consider the boundary-layer regime where the Darcy-Rayleigh number, P a, is very large, and assume that the surface waves have O(1) amplitud e and wavelength. The resulting boundary-layer equations are found to be nonsimilar only when the surface is nonuniform and inertia effects are present; self-similarity results when either or both effects are a bsent. Detailed results for the local and global rates of heat transfe r are presented for a range of values of the inertia parameter and the surface wave amplitude.