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C Singh, Non-member
Prof R G Tathgir, Non-member
Prof K Muralidhar, Non-member
In this paper, a comparison of the 1-equation and 2-equation thermal models for heat transfer in porous media for an
energy storage system has been presented. Two case studies dealing with glass-water and air-metal combinations have
been studied at various Reynolds numbers ranging from 10 to 10 000. The 2-equation model is based on thermal non-
equilibrium between the fluid and the solid phases. It is solved over a semi-infinite region for the fluid and solid phase
temperatures. The validity of thermal equilibrium between solid and fluid phases has been examined. The governing
equations have been solved by the finite difference method. For the glass-water system, the thermal front in water as
predicted by the 1-equation model moves faster when compared to the 2-equation model at low Reynolds numbers. The
fractional heat flow rate to the solid phase has been found to be higher at low Reynolds numbers. With an increase in
Reynolds number, the difference between the 1 and 2-equation models decreases. For the air-metal system, the difference
between the 1 and 2-equation models is dominated by the thermal diffusivity of the metal. In this system, heat loss to the
ambient at the transverse boundaries affects the temperature profiles in such a way that the temperature front becomes
immobile. In a glass-water system, this effect is negligible. Since, the temperature difference between the fluid and the
solid is high at high Reynolds numbers, indicating that the thermal non-equilibrium is important and should be
included in modelling, particularly at short times.
Keywords: 1-equation model; 2-equation model; Air-metal system; Glass-water system; Porous medium; Thermal non-equilibrium
NOTATION T : temperature
AIF : specific area of the porous insert, m1 u : fluid velocity in the axial direction, m/s
Af : non-dimensional value of AIF : AIF × R U : characteristic fluid velocity equal to the average
Cp : specific heat, kJ/kg K velocity in the channel, m/s
D : characteristic length scale, also the channel 1a : thermal diffusivity, m2/h
height, m
b : thermal capacity ratio between the fluid and the
dp : particle diameter, m solid
h : heat transfer coefficient at the particle surface, e : porosity of the medium
W/m2 K
l : thermal conductivity ratio between the fluid and
k : thermal conductivity, Wm1 K1 the solid
L : length of the domain, m
m : dynamic viscosity of the fluid, kg/ms
Nu : Nusselt number hD/k
n : kinematic viscosity of the fluid, m2/s
Pe : Peclet number, Re Pr
r : material density, kg/m3
Pr : Prandtl number, mCp/k
Re : Reynolds number, ruD/m Subscripts
t : time non-dimensionalized by a f /D 2 f : fluid