FORCED-CONVECTION IN A FLUID-SATURATED POROUS-MEDIUM CHANNEL WITH ISOTHERMAL OR ISOFLUX BOUNDARIES

We present a fresh theoretical analysis of fully developed forced conv ection in a fluid-saturated porous-medium channel bounded by parallel plates, with imposed uniform heat flux or isothermal condition at the plates. As a preliminary step, we obtain an 'exact' solution of the Br inkman-Forchheimer extension of Darcy's momentum equation for flow in the channel. This uniformly valid solution permits a unified treatment of forced convection heat transfer, provides the means for a deeper e xplanation of the physical phenomena, and also leads to results which are valid for highly porous materials of current practical importance.