NATURAL-CONVECTION SUPPRESSION BY AZIMUTHAL PARTITIONS IN A HORIZONTAL POROUS ANNULUS

Numerical studies by the Galerkin finite element method are presented for the suppression of natural convection heat transfer in a horizonta l porous annulus heated from the inner surface. Azimuthal partitions a re employed to reduce heat transfer, and the effects of the number of partitions and their positions are examined. For a single partition, i ts position has a negligible effect on heat transfer in the boundary l ayer regime. An increase in the number of partitions is effective in s uppressing natural convection, and it is found that the Nusselt number is inversely proportional to (N + I), where N is the number of partit ions.