Non-Darcy natural convection in a hydrodynamically and thermally anisotropic porous medium

The natural convective flow and heat transfer in a fluid saturated anisotropic porous medium have been investigated using the generalised non-Darcy model. A semi-implicit, Galerkin, velocity correction procedure has been employed to solve the governing partial differential equations. Numerical results are presented for different inclinations of the principal permeability directions, Rayleigh and Darcy numbers and permeability and thermal conductivity ratios. The comparison of present results with existing analytical and numerical results shows that present formulation is accurate. A parametric study has been carried out and the difference between the Brinkman and the generalised porous medium models in the context of anisotropic flow is discussed. Significant difference between these models is noticed at higher Rayleigh and Darcy numbers. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.