Forced Convection Heat Transfer

D. Angirasa
Augmentation in a Channel With
Center for Space Power,
NASA Center for the Commercial
Development ot Space,
A Localized Heat Source Using
College Station, TX 77843-3118
Fibrous Materials
G. P. Peterson A numerical model is developed Jbr high Reynolds number forced convection heat
Center for Space Power, transfer in a channel filled with randomly oriented, thin fibrous materials of high
Texas A & M University, porosity. A localized isothermal heat source, flush with one of the channel walls is
College Station, TX 77843-3118 considered to simulate an electronic component. The inertial coefficient and the
dispersion conductivity associated with high Reynolds number flows and convective
heat transfer are empirically modeled from existing experimental and analytical
studies. The resulting fluid flow and heat transfer relationships are presented for a
relevant range of parameters, and the fundamental physical processes ate explained.

Introduction ered, the value of inertial coefficient remained constant. This

Fibrous materials saturated with a fluid can serve as an
effective medium for augmenting forced convection heat
transfer. In this configuration, a number of complex transport
mechanisms contribute to the heat transfer enhancement pro-
cess. The effective (or stagnant) thermal conductivity of the
medium is larger than the conductivity of the fluid. [n addi-
tion, at sufficiently large velocities, the flow separates around
the individual fibers, thereby mixing the fluid better, which
results in substantial heat transfer augmentation. This process
is referred to as thermal dispersion and may lead to the use
of metallic fibrous blocks as inexpensive and highly effective
heat sinks in a number of engineering applications such as
electronic cooling.
Darcy's law has traditionally been used to obtain quantitative
information on flow in a porous medium. This is highly restric-
tive, however, and is valid only for low velocities (or creeping)
flow and for low porosity, fluid saturated porous media. The
original Darcy contribution was confined to creeping water flow
in tubes filled with sand, and empirically relates the pressure
drop and flow velocity through a constant of the medium called
the permeability, interpreted roughly as the ease with which a
fluid flows through the porous medium. However, for relatively
high velocity flows with larger porosities and permeabilities,
such as those considered here for the design of heat sinks, more
sophisticated predictive tools are required.
The global effects of the local recirculation around fibers, the
effect of the fibrous matrix on the mixing of the fluid, and the
resulting thermal dispersion can be incorporated into the set of
conservation equations of mass, momentum, and energy by a
volume averaging process (Slattery, 1972). This averaging pro-
cess, however, glosses over the details of these phenomena
resulting in the need for empirical parameters in the governing
equations. These empirical parameters are the inertial coeffi-
cient, Cr, in the momentum equation, and the dispersion con-
ductivity, ka, in the energy equation.
Beavers and Sparrow (1969) experimentally determined
the values of the permeability, K, and the inertial coefficient,
C~, for a family of metallic fibers saturated with water. In
the range of velocity and the variety of the materials consid-
Contributed by the Electrical and Electronic Packaging Division for publication
in the JOURNALOF ELECTRONICPACKAGING. Manuscript received by the EEPD
February 7, 1997; revision received October 5, 1998. Technical Editor: R.
Schmidt.
investigation was concerned only with the fluid mechanics
aspects. Koh and coworkers (Koh and Colony, 1974; Koh and
Stevens, 1975) analytically and experimentally demonstrated
that the use of porous inserts in a convective cooling system
significantly enhances heat transfer rate. Vafai and Thiyagar-
aja (1987) analyzed the fluid flow and heat transfer at the
interface region between two different porous media, and
between a porous and a fluid medium. Vafai and Kim (1989)
presented exact analytical solutions for velocity and tempera-
ture profiles for fully developed boundary layer flow in
channel which gives much physical insight on this problem.
Subsequently, Vafai and Kim (1990) investigated the con-
vective heat transfer enhancement from a porous substrate.
Other studies that considered partial filling of a channel for
forced convection heat transfer are Jang and Chen (1992),
Vafai and Huang (1994), and Sung et al. (1995). Huang
and Vafai (1994) presented an analytical solution for forced
convection heat transfer in external flow.
In related work, Poulikakos hnd Renken (1987), and Re-
nken and Poulikakos (1988) analytically and experimentally
studied forced convection in a packed bed of soda lime glass
beads saturated with water under the conditions of fully de-
veloped boundary layer type flow. These studies include the
non-Darcy effects of quadratic inertia, and Brinkman friction,
but excludes thermal dispersion. Packed beds and thin metal-
lic randomly oriented fibrous media are different in geometry,
and physical properties and conditions. Consequently, the
flow and heat transfer characteristics in these media also dif-
fer significantly. For instance, the thermal dispersion models
utilized in packed beds are not valid for fibrous media and
vice versa. Also, the porosity and permeability of a fibrous
metallic block can be made substantially larger than those of
packed beds. More recently, Amiri and Vafai (1994), and
Amiri et al. (1995) also presented important work in packed
beds.
Very few studies considered thermal dispersion in high
Reynolds number flows which is responsible for the large
heat transfer with the use of a metallic fibrous medium. In
order to understand better the parameters that govern this
physical situation, a comprehensive numerical model, which
considers all the complex phenomena associated with forced
convection heat transfer in fibrous media, including thermal
dispersion is needed. In the current investigation, a line heat
source is considered to be flush with one of the channel

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 L ~l fibrous media: 05 = porosity, K = permeability, and C~. = inertial
coefficient.
adlebatic ..... C--------~
I I The convective term on the left-hand side of Eq. 2 is im-
m> ] portant when the flow is developing; i.e., at the entrance of the
v0 I channel, and, hence, it will be retained here. The first two terms
. .to. . . ) ' 1
fibrous medium H [- ~
on the right-hand side when isolated, form the well-known
Darcy law for fluid flow in porous media. The third term ac-
'l b
counts for the local acceleration and separation around individ-
ual fibers, which occurs in high Reynolds number flows, where
>x .... ~ ........ adiabatic¢
........ I both the inertial coefficient, CF, and the permeability, K, require
Fig. 1 Physical configuration empirical determination. The quantity [(u)[, for a two-dimen-
sional flow, can be found as

I<u>l = ,/<n> = + <~>=, (3)

walls to simulate an electronic component dissipating thermal
energy. The inertial coefficient is obtained from the experi-
mental work of Beavers and Sparrow (1969) and the disper-
sion conductivity is modeled using the analytical expression
of Koch and Brady (1986). The effect of the stagnant con-
ductivity is independently ascertained.
The last term in Eq. (2) accounts for the viscous shear near the
wall and satisfies the no-slip wall condition.
For a homogeneous fibrous material, 05, CF, and K are inde-
pendent of direction and are constants for a given medium and
fluid. For this case, the volume-averaged homogeneous energy
equation can be expressed as

Analysis (pC)f ~r - ~ - + (u>" ~7(t) = V" (koV(t) + kaV(t)), (4)

Consider a two-dimensional channel of length L, and height
H, filled with a fibrous material saturated with air (Fig. 1). A
strip of heater with length, s, and temperature, ts, is flush with
one of the walls. The walls themselves are assumed to be adia-
batic. Air flows through the inlet of the channel with a constant
velocity of V0, and temperature of to. For this geometry, the
flow in the channel can be described using the following vol-
ume-averaged conservation equations of mass and momentum,
respectively (Slattery, 1972).
v .(u> = 0
p__(0<u) ) momentum equation, the dispersion conductivity, kd, requires
05~ 05 O~ +(u. Vu)
= -V<p~,> - ~ <u> - -pc~, ~ V~<u>.
~ I<u>l<u> +
In the above formulation, ( ) represents the aforementioned
volume-averaged values. The momentum equation, Eq. 2, can
be dissolved into the three component equations for the coordi-
nate system of choice. For the current investigation, a Cartesian
coordinate system will be utilized. The following quantities
appear in the momentum equation and are specific to flow in
where ~r is the ratio of heat capacities of the stagnant medium
and the fluid, k0 is the stagnant thermal conductivity, and k,z is
the dispersion conductivity. The stagnant conductivity can be
determined from the porosity and the thermal conductivities of
the solid and the fluid. An empirical model for its determination
was presented by Tien and Vafai (1979). The geometric aver-
age of the two conductivities is often used for the estimation
of heat transfer. The additional term on the right-hand side of
(1) Eq. 4 containing k,z represents the enhanced heat transfer due
to dispersion. As in the case of the inertial coefficient, C~,, in the
empirical determination. However, the particular difficulty with
kd is that it is dependent on the velocity, and, hence, also on
(2) the direction.
The energy equation, Eq. 4, was based on the assumption of
local thermal equilibrium between the solid and fluid phases.
Amiri and Vafai (1994) recently presented an assessment on
the validity of this assumption for fluid-saturated porous media
in terms of the Reynolds number, the Darcy number, and the
ratio of thermal diffusivities of the solid material and the fluid.
As an example, for air flow through aluminum fibrous media,
this ratio is about 3.8. For the ranges of Reynolds and Darcy

Nomenclature

a = fiber radius S = nondimensional length of the k = thermal dispersion coefficient

C = specific heat heater = s/L ~/, = stream function
CF = inertial coefficient t = temperature # = dynamic viscosity of the fluid
Da = Darcy number = K / L 2 T = nondimensional temperature = u = kinematic viscosity
= average heat transfer coefficient (t - to)/(t~ - to) p = density
H = height of the channel u, v = velocity components in x and y- cr = ratio of heat capacities of the
k = thermal conductivity directions, respectively stagnant medium, and the fluid =
K = permeability U, V = nondimensional velocity compo- (pC)o/(pC)i
L = length of the channel nents, u/Vo, v/Vo ?- = time
Nu =average Nusselt number = hs/ko V0 = inlet velocity ?-* = nondimensional time = ~rVo/L
Pl = volumetric average pressure of the x, y = space coordinates w = vorticity
fluid X, Y = nondimensional space coordi-
nates, x / L , y / L
Subscripts
P = 05Pi
P = nondimensional pressure = p / p V f = fluid
Greek 0 = stagnant medium
Pr = Prandtl number of the fluid = u / a
Re = Reynolds number = VoL/u a = thermal diffusivity of the fluid = d = thermal dispersion
s = length of the flush heater strip k:/(pC):
05 = porosity

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 numbers considered in the present investigation, based on the
Re = ;Vo_~_, (12)
assessment of Amiri and Vafai (1994), the qualitative rating #
for the validity of local thermal equilibrium appears to be good-
very good. An interesting point to be added here is that outside and the Darcy number,
this ranges of validity for the assumption, the numerical solu-
tions often broke down. It appears that, for convective heat K
Da = L-5 . (13)
transfer in fluid saturated porous media, when the full partial
differential equations incorporating all physical phenomena are
numerically solved, meaningful converged solutions could not The dimensionless velocity, UM, is given by
be obtained unless the physical assumptions made in the equa-
tions correspond to realistic values for the parameters which
f+l)
UM = Vg (14)
appear in the equations.
Nondimensional Variables and Parameters. The follow- The X and Y-momentum equations (9 and 10) may be combined
ing nondimensional variables are defined and used to transform into one vorticity-transport equation by cross-differentiation and
the conservation equations to dimensionless form. The parame- subtraction as (Roache, 1976)
ters which govern the transport phenomena in fibrous media
can thus be identified. The procedures described here have been 0co U 0w 0co
designed specifically for high Reynolds number (high velocity) 4) O.c~- + Ox + v O-Y
forced convective heat transfer. The defined nondimensional
variables are 4)2
- - w
C~2UM
- - w
C~¢2 ( U OUr,- V OVM~
X=x/L, and Y=y/L, (5)
Re Da D~a ~a- OY OX ]

where L is the length of the channel, and + 4) (o2 o2co)

U l) R-~ \ox: + or2/' (15)

U Vo and V Vo (6)
where the vorticity, w, is given by
where V0 is the constant inlet velocity. For convenience, the
brackets, ( ), are dropped. It is understood here that these are OU OV
co - (16)
volume-averaged quantities. The nondimensional time, T*, is OY OX
given by
Here, a nondimensional stream function, 0, can be defined, such
"r* - ~-Vo (7) that
L
00 o0
U=~ and V- . (17)
The length of channel, L, rather than its height, H, is used as OX
the length scale for a channel with fibrous material. With this,
the height of the channel is retained as a possible independent From Eqs. (16) and (17), it follows that
variable to optimize the size of the heat sink. Also, in electronic 020 020
cooling applications, the surface area is known, and it is the co = ~ - 5 4- Oy----7 . (18)
height of the sink that requires determination. With the use
of these nondimensional variables, Eqs. ( 5 - 7 ) , the continuity The vorticity-transport equation implicitly contains the mass
equation can be transformed to conservation equation, Eq. (8). Equations (15) and (18) can
be solved for the two variables, w and 0, with ¢, Re and Da
OU OV
-- + -- = o, (8) as parameters, provided CF is known.
OX OY The energy equation, Eq. (4), can be converted to nondimen-
sional form by defining a dimensionless temperature
and the nondimensional X and Y-momentum equations may be
written in component form as t - to
T- , (19)
OU OU V OU OP 4)2 t~ - to
q~ Or----*+ U-~-~ + OY = - ( ° OX ReD~ U where to is the inlet fluid temperature, and t, is the surface
temperature of the heater. The dispersion conductivity, k,~,
( o2u requires empirical determination. Using the ensemble averag-
D~a UMU + R e \ O X 2 + o r 2] (9) ing analysis of Koch and Brady (1986), this may be ex-
pressed as
OV OV OV OP ¢2 + 1) 2
4) OT----
~ + U ~7~ + Y O--Y = - 0 0 Y Re D-~ y ( k,,)x = ;c,,xx~:6~ 20a,
c 2uMv+ 4) (0 v 0 v)
•Y a ~e \OX 2 + o r 2 / ' (lO)

where the nondimensional pressure, P, is given by

( k d)y = , ( 20b )

P - P (11)
pVU
The nondimensional parameters appearing in the momentum
equations are the Reynolds number,
where ~. is defined as the thermal dispersion coefficient. With
these transformations the nondimensional energy equation in
two-dimensional form can be written as

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 OT + u OT + v OT ( ko 1 ) ( 02T 02T )
crO~-----~ OX ~= \ kI R e P r J \ ~ ~ + OY 2]
+ 0
where ~r is the ratio of heat capacities of the stagnant medium
and the fluid, ko/kf is the ratio of thermal conductivities of the
stagnant medium and the fluid, and Pr is the Prandtl number of
the fluid. The stagnant conductivity of the medium, ko, is as-
sumed to be constant. For the main flow aligned with the x-
direction, the values of k were obtained by Koch and Brady
(1986) as
577r 3 371.3
hx = 160 ' and ky 320 (22)
The implication of Eq. (22) is that even though the temperature
gradients in the flow direction are small, the diffusion terms in
the streamwise direction still must be retained in the energy
equation, since kx has a value substantially larger than ky.
The average Nusselt number can be defined as
Nu hs
ko f l ~ (-OT/OY)IY=°dX" (23)
The stagnant thermal conductivity of the saturated fibrous me-
dium, k0, is higher than the thermal conductivity of the fluid.
Hence, care must be exercised in the interpretation of the Nus-
selt number defined by Eq. (23) when compared to the Nusselt
number without the fibrous medium. For such a comparison,
the Nusselt number in Eq. (23) may be multiplied by the con-
ductivity ratio, ko/kI.
Numerical Procedure
The convective terms in Eqs. (15) and (21) were discretized
with upwind differencing due to stability considerations
(Roache, 1976). The diffusion terms were discretized with a
central difference formulation. The vorticity transport equation
was solved by the alternating direction implicit (ADI) scheme
as described by Roache (1976). The discretized equations were
marched in time until an asymptotic steady-state solution was
attained. Solution for the stream function equation was obtained
by the successive over relaxation (SOR) method. The steam
function equation was iterated at each time-step of the solution
of the vorticity transport equation. Both absolute and relative
error criteria were used to check for the steady-state solution.
The same type of criteria were used for the convergence test
of the stream function equation. Constant grid spacings were
employed and the energy equation utilized the flow field solu-
tion. The ADI method mentioned above was used again for the
numerical solution of the energy equation, Eq. (21).
Constant temperature was prescribed for the line heat source.
In the electronic cooling applications, although constant heat
dissipation occurs, the temperature of the surface is also fairly
uniform. Then the problem may be posed as follows: given the
limitation on the highest temperature, what will be the maxi-
mum heat transfer at this temperature? The reason for preferring
constant temperature is that it is computationally more efficient,
and requires less number of grid points in the Y-direction to
obtain accurate wall temperature gradients.
4 / Vol. 121, MARCH 1999
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I = H', 8T/0Y = 0
I
I
IT=0 OTIOX = 0
awlSX = 0
aool0X = 0
0T/0Y = 0 T = 1 8TIOY = 0
X ~=0
Fig. 2 Numerical boundary conditions
The numerical boundary conditions are shown in Fig. 2. At
the inlet of the channel, a constant velocity was prescribed. At
the outlet of the channel the flow was assumed to be fully
developed, and the convective heat transfer term was dominant.
Wall vortieities were evaluated using a first order formula (An-
derson et al., 1984). The initial conditions are
~-* = 0 , w=0, T=0, U=0,
and V=0 for a l l X andY. (24)
The average Nusselt number is evaluated by numerically inte-
grating Eq. (23) with Simpson's rule.
Results and Discussion
Numerical calculations have been performed for a realistic
range of values for the Reynolds number, the Darcy number,
and the thermal conductivity ratio. The Prandtl number of the
fluid is taken to be 0.7. It is not possible to obtain numerical
solutions for all values of Re and Da. These two parameters are
not entirely mutually independent. For instance, it is physically
impossible to have a high velocity flow with very low values
of permeability. This means that there is a limitation on the
lowest value of Da for which the governing equations yield
numerical results. The numerical experiments gave the lower
limit of Darcy number to be approximately 5 X 10-6. The Darcy
number is also related to porosity. A constant high porosity of
0.95 is considered for all calculations. Koch and Brady (1986)
obtained the following expression between the permeability, K,
and fiber radius, a, for high porosity isotropic media (Spielman
and Goren, 1968)
K ~ , (25)
20 (1 - ~b)
where ~b is the porosity of the medium. From the above expres-
sion, it is easy to see that there is a physically realistic range
of permeability based on the thickness of the fibers. Either too
thick or too thin fibers break the assumptions made in deriving
the volume-averaged conservation equations. Hence, the range
of Da chosen is 5 X 10 -6 < Da < 10 4. The value of the
inertial coefficient, CF, is taken to be 0.075 (Beavers and Spar-
row, 1969), and the length of the heater is fixed at S (=s/L)
= 0.2.
The height of the channel (H/L) is chosen to be 0.1. This is
done after numerical experiments suggested that larger height
does not necessarily increase heat transfer. Grid-independence
is achieved by varying the number of grid points and calculating
the error in velocity and Nusselt number based on lower number
of grid points. By considering the error asymptotically with
respect to the number of grid points, 61 × 151 grid points were
chosen to keep the errors within 2 percent. Higher accuracy is
possible by increasing the number of grid points. However, the
computational time substantially increases with further refine-
T r a n s a c t i o n s of the A S M E
 0.1 1.2

1
0.08

(a) 0.8 •

0.06

0.6 ................. [~e~-~] I

0.04 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
0,4 ................. IX;;;;[
0.02 0.2

0 .... ; .... i .... i .... ; ....

0.02 0,04 0,06 0.08 0.1
0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 Y
u
Fig. 4 Velocity profiles for fully developed flow: Da = 5 x 10 -e
0.1

0.08
flow in a channel and comparing the results with the classical
(b) solutions. The agreement was good.
0.06 . . . . , . . . . ,. . . . r . . . . . . . . . . .
Fluid Flow Considerations. The numerical model and the
boundary conditions consider the development of the flow field
0.04 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . in the channel from constant velocity at the inlet. Figure 3 shows
the velocity profiles at different locations along the length of
the channel. In the developing region, the maximum velocity
0.02
does not occur in the core of the channel but at the edge of the
"boundary layer" from where it dips to a lower value in the
, i l l i l l i . . . . ,, , , , . . . . . core. These two wall layers never meet in the middle in contrast
0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.2 to a Newtonian fluid flow. The character of the flow medium
U here is entirely different with the presence of the solid matrix.
0.1 Hence, the two layers essentially grow independent of each
other. After the developing length, the boundary layer thickness
remains constant. The channel velocity profile may then be
0.08
considered to be fully developed in the sense of a viscous flow.
(c) Fully developed velocity profiles at two values of Reynolds
0.06 number are shown in Fig. 4. The wall layer is steeper for the
higher velocity because of the larger shearing. The velocity
profiles satisfy mass conservation. As was discussed with refer-
0.04
ence to Darcy number, there is a limitation on the range of
Reynolds number for the other parameters to be physically real-
0.02 istic. At too low values of Re, inertial as well as the viscous
effects are insignificant, and it is unnecessary to solve the equa-
tions in the present form. It takes significantly longer to obtain
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2
steady-state solutions. The variation of the centerline velocity
U
along the length of the channel is shown in Fig. 5. Fully devel-
0.1
oped conditions are established approximately at mid-length of
the channel. The developing region is expectedly larger for
lower Reynolds numbers.
0.08 The effect of the Darey number on the fully developed veloc-
ity profiles is shown in Fig. 6. The wall layer gets thinner
(d)
0.06

1.03
0.04

ili i
0,02

i i i i i , , , , , , , , , , , ....
0.2 0.4 0.6 0,8 1 1.2

Fig. 3 Development of velocity profiles: Re = 104, Da = 10-5; X = (a)

0.0167, (b) 0.0333, (c) 0.0677, and (d) 0.1667

1
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8
ment in grid size without yielding new information on the details
X
of the flow and temperature fields. The numerical code was first
validated by obtaining solutions for the case of Newtonian fluid Fig. 5 Variation of core velocity: Da = 5 × 1 0 -6

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 1.2

~.¢¢ -: - • .:. . . . :. . . . . \ i ~
1
7/ \77\
/ \ \ 16 .....

, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... \
0,8 ' \

,;, . . . . . . . I
°'- 00001
5E-005 . . . . . . . . . .
/
14 ........
0,6

0.4
12

0.2

i , i i I , , i , I , , h i 1 i , , i i , , 10 , , , i i,,,i
0
5000 10000 15000 20000 25000 30000 35000
0 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.1
Re
Y

Fig. 8 Variation of Nusselt number with Reynolds number: Da = 5 ×

Fig. 6 Velocity profiles for fully developed flow conditions: Re = 10 4 1 0 - e and ko/k~ = 1 . 5

with decreasing Darcy number or permeability. This may be was reduced, which is the same as increasing the length of the
explained physically from the relation between fiber thickness channel, the developing length was shorter.
and permeability. Since low permeability means thinner fibers,
H e a t T r a n s f e r Results. The effect of the Reynolds number
the flow is spread more uniformly over the channel cross section
on the heat transfer from a source situated at the mid-length of
at lower Darcy number. Vafai and Kim (1989), through an
the channel is considered first. This is followed by the study of
order of magnitude analysis of boundary layer fully developed
the influence of Darcy number on the heat transfer rates from
flow, have demonstrated that the momentum boundary layer
a source at the same location. The choice of fibrous material is
thickness decreases with increasing inertial effects, i.e., Reyn-
taken up next by varying the thermal conductivity ratio. Finally,
olds number. They have also shown that decreasing the perme-
the location of the heat source is changed from inlet along the
ability (lower Darcy number) decreases the boundary layer
length of the channel.
thickness. Figures 4 and 6 are congruent with these results.
Figure 8 shows the effect of the variation of Reynolds number
The effect of Darcy number on the development of flow in
on the Nusselt number of a single source at the mid-length of
the channel is also quite significant, as shown in Fig. 7. At
the channel. Expectedly, the Nusselt number increases with
higher Darcy numbers, the developing region is larger. The
increasing Reynolds number. Heat transfer rate is increased by
same explanation as given above holds here also. Larger Darcy
number means higher permeability and thicker fibers which reducing the Darcy number as shown in Fig. 9. Equation (25)
implies that a lower value of Darcy number (hence permeabil-
delay mixing of the fluid or the spreading of the flow. To con-
ity, K) corresponds to thinner fibers if the porosity is invariant.
sider Da > 10 4 requires a much longer channel with the conse-
Then the information in Figs. 8 and 9 read together suggest that
quent demand on more computational capacity. It is also not
better heat transfer rates are attained by larger velocities, and
clear if the governing equations are valid for very high values
thinner fibers thereby reducing the permeability without chang-
of the Darcy number, because the basic assumptions in deriving
ing the porosity. Such a design of the medium makes use of
the equations is that the medium can be modeled as having
the dispersion characteristics in an optimum way by distributing
homogenous properties. This requirement breaks down at truly
the flow evenly and mixing it well.
large values of Darcy number because the fiber thickness ap-
The effect of the stagnant thermal conductivity on Nusselt
proaches the value of the characteristic length of the channel.
Flow through such a medium is rather unrealistic. number is listed in Table 1 when the heater is located at the
mid-length of the channel. Larger stagnant conductivities pro-
|n the range of Reynolds number considered to be meaningful
duce higher heat transfer rates. The stagnant conductivity de-
for this problem, fully developed conditions prevailed at about
pends on the thermal conductivities of the solid and the fluid,
mid-length of the channel (Fig. 7). This justifies the outflow
and the porosity. Hence metallic fibers are preferable.
boundary conditions shown in Fig. 3. Only for the higher value
Finally, Table 2 gives the Nusselt number of the heater when
of Da ( = 10-4) the developing flow stretched to the second half
it is situated at different locations along the length of the chan-
of the channel. However, when the nondimensional height, H*

12

1.08 ~" 8 8

1.07

11.5
1.06

1.05

1,04
O 13 O D []

1.03

1.02

10.5
.... i .... i .... i .... J .... I .... i .... i .... ,,,i , , I e-006 I e-005 0.0001
1.01
0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0,8 0.9 Da
X
Fig. 9 Variation of Nusselt number with Darcy number: Re 10 4 and
Fig. 7 Variation of c o r e velocity: Re = 104 kolkf = 1.3. Source location', middle length of the channel.

6 / Vol. 121, MARCH 1999 Transactions of theASME

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 Table 1
ko '~0 Nu
10 9.65
125 1090
1.5 1203
1.75 13.06
2.0 14.02
Table 2
Location of the heater Nu
1 43.57
2 20 49
3 13.56
nel. The channel length is segmented to five strips each of 0.2,
and the heat transfer rates are calculated by placing the heater
at each of the first three locations numbered from the inlet. The
highest heat transfer is attained at the first location, where the
flow is developing. Beyond the developing region the difference
is smaller. In the second half of the channel where the flow is
fully developed, the Nusselt number remained constant equaling
the value at the third location, which was expected.
Conclusions
This paper has reported a comprehensive numerical study of
forced convection heat transfer in a channel filled with fibrous
materials, and with one of the walls flush with a finite heat
source simulating an electronic component cooling problem.
The applicable ranges of some of the parameters were identified.
The parameters cannot be varied independently in an arbitrary
fashion because it violates physical plausibility. Similarly the
assumptions made in deriving the conservation equations also
determine a certain range of values for various parameters.
Metallic fibers are better suited for augmenting heat transfer
rates because of the resultant larger stagnant conductivities.
Thinner fibers and high porosity media enhance heat transfer
because of better distribution flow and mixing. Large velocity
also is a preferred way of enhancing heat transfer. The highest
beat transfer occurs if the heater is located at the developing
region of the channel. Hence short channels are suggested for
efficient cooling.
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