Comparative Study between the Darcy-Brinkman Model and the Modified Navier-Stokes Equations in the Case of Natural Convection in a Porous Cavity

The objective of this study is the comparison between the model of Darcy-Brinkman and the Navier-Stokes equations modified, in the case of the natural convection. The study is made in a porous vertical square cavity saturated by a Newtonian fluid. A cylindrical heat source maintained at a uniform heat flux is introduced into porous medium. The equations which describe the thermal transfer and the hydrodynamic flow of the two models are solved numerically by means of the software package Femlab 3.2 based on the finite element method. The results obtained are in the form of average kinetic energy per unit mass, the local and the average Nusselt numbers, the pressure and the viscous force per unit area.