Buoyant convection in a square cavity partially filled with a heat-generating porous medium

Steady-state buoyant convection in a rectangular cavity, partially filled w ith a fluid-saturated porous medium with spatially uniform internal heat ge neration, is considered. The Brinkman-extended Darcy model in the porous re gion is adopted. The overall Rayleigh number is large to render a boundary- layer-type global flow pattern. Scale analysis is performed to obtain a rud imentary understanding of the flow characteristics. In parallel with the th eoretical endeavors, numerical solutions are secured over broad ranges of n ondimensional parameters. The results indicate that there exists an asympto tic convection regime where the flow is nearly independent of the permeabil ity and conductivity of the porous medium. The effect of the thermal conduc tivity of porous material is appreciable in the intermediate regime. In the conduction-dominant regime, the porous region acts like a heat-generating solid block. The numerical study gives credence to the reliability of the t heoretical arguments.