Forced convection in a Couette flow in a composite duct: An analysis of thermal dispersion and non-Darcian effects

In this article an analysis of fluid flow and heat transfer in a fully deve loped Couette flow through a composite channel that is partly filled with a clear fluid and partly with a fluid-saturated porous medium is presented. The porous medium is attached to a fixed plate and uniform heat fluxes of d ifferent intensities are imposed on both plates. The momentum transport is described by the Brinkman-Forchheimer-Darcy equation and the effect of tran sverse thermal dispersion is accounted for in the energy equation for the p orous region. An analytical solution for the fluid flow is obtained utilizi ng the boundary layer technique. The temperature field and the Nusselt numb ers at the upper and lower plates are obtained by direct numerical integrat ion. The dependence of the Nusselt numbers on the thickness of the porous r egion, the ratio of heat fluxes on both plates, and the Darcy number is inv estigated.