Thermosolutal Convection in a Partly Porous Vertical Annular Cavity

Numerical solutions for thermosolutal convection in a vertical concentric cavity partly filled with a porous medium are presented in this paper. The cavity is subject to pre-selected horizontal temperature and concentration gradients. The general Brinkman-Forchheimer-extended Darcy model is adopted to formulate the fluid flow through the porous matrix in the cavity. The effects of the controlling parameters on the flow patterns and heat and mass transfer behavior are thoroughly documented. Different flow structures are produced in the course of the computations, which respond to the geometric parameters, fluid nature, thermofluid dynamic parameters and porous matrix characteristics. The collection of numerical results elucidates that the double diffusion zone varies and, besides it is strongly dependent on the coupling between the Prandtl and Lewis numbers. Moreover, the variations of the Sherwood number show the presence of an extended range of double diffusion phenomena within the conditions pertinent to Darcian flow at Da=10−5. It has been discovered that a partly porous annular cavity is more efficient than a fully porous annular cavity. This aspect may have a beneficial impact on engineering applications in the areas of filtration and thermal insulation.