Prediction of flow and heat transfer through a microtube filled with bidisperse porous medium under local thermal nonequilibrium condition

Abstract

In this paper, the thermal and hydrodynamic solutions of a microtube filled with bidisperse porous medium (BDPM) under the local thermal nonequilibrium (LTNE) condition are presented. Considering the LTNE condition, the energy equations have been numerically solved. The rarefaction effects are considered for Knudsen numbers ranging from 0 to 0.1; therefore, first-order boundary condition is applied on the wall. The temperature distribution of each phase is examined with respect to the involved parameters in the BDPM system. For the first time, the Nusselt number ratio (NRDP) is introduced to study the influence of Darcy number on the Nusselt number more precisely. Also, the effect of different thermophysical parameters on the Nusselt number is studied. The advantage of BDPM system over monodisperse porous medium (MDPM) structure is examined through the heat transfer performance parameter. The findings exhibit a good agreement with the literature. Also, the LTNE condition produces more realistic results in comparison to local thermal equilibrium assumption. On the whole, although implementing the BDPM enhances the heat transfer rate compared with the MDPM, it does not improve the thermal hydrodynamic performance significantly. K E Y W O R D S bidisperse porous medium, forced convective heat transfer, local thermal nonequilibrium, microtube, rarefaction effect