CENTRIFUGALLY GENERATED FREE-CONVECTION IN A ROTATING POROUS BOX

An analytical method of solution to the non-linear problem of centrifu gally generated free convection in a rotating porous box is presented. The free convection results from differential heating of the horizont al walls leading to temperature gradients perpendicular to the centrif ugal body force. The validity of the solution was found to be restrict ed to small values of the centrifugal Rayleigh number, although this r estriction was not explicitly imposed. The results are compared to an asymptotic solution of the corresponding problem for a long rotating p orous box. A direct extraction and substitution of the dependent varia bles was found to be useful in this case for de-coupling the non-linea r partial differential equations, resulting in a set of independent no n-linear ordinary differential equations which was solved analytically . The solution results, their significance and their validity domain a re discussed in their physical context.