Natural convection in a cubical porous cavity with partially active lateral walls

Natural convection in a porous medium filled cubical cavity subjected to differential heating through partially active lateral walls is considered. A finite volume based numerical solution is obtained and the results are analyzed through temperature, velocity and Nusselt number plots. It is found that the heat transfer rate across the cavity increases against S, the heater/cooler size. Three dimensional effects play a significant role when convection becomes strong enough. Moreover the hydrodynamic disturbances caused by the end walls reach the cavity interior for higher values of S and the transverse flow within the cavity gets restricted near the end walls for lower values of S.