FREE-CONVECTION FLOW-INDUCED BY A LINE SOURCE IN A SPARSELY PACKED POROUS-MEDIUM

A simple mathematical theory is proposed for the analysis of the free convection motion around a horizontal line source of thermal energy in a sparsely packed porous medium assuming the validity of the Brinkman model. The theory consists of retaining only the leading terms of the series expansions of the dependent variables in terms of the Rayleigh number and is valid in the limit of small Rayleigh number only. The h eat generating rate is assumed to be not excessive. The evolution of t he flow held is demonstrated by drawing the streamlines at various tim es. The results are delineated by comparing them with those of the Dar cy flow model.