Ricerc@Sapienza

In this research, the lattice Boltzmann (LB) method is used to simulate fluid flow and heat transfer through porous media in a horizontal channel. A two-dimensional single-relaxation-time lattice Boltzmann model is developed with two populations. In the model, a nine-speed square lattice (D2Q9) is adopted to simulate the flow field and the temperature field. Importantly, in this research, pore-scale modeling is using to simulate isothermal flow and forced convection heat transfer through porous media. The obstacles are defined as walls with no-slip boundary conditions and they are arranged differently in order to obtain different porosity and tortuosity ranges. As regards, porosity and tortuosity factors are two essential parameters for describing porous media so the effect of these parameters will be investigated in a wide range. The obtained results from the present SRT-LB model will be compared by benchmark results to evaluated the accuracy of the simulation. However, the effect of using the porous medium on improving heat transfer will be evaluated. The different arrangements of obstacles related to different porosity and tortuosity factor will be simulated in case of different thermal boundary conditions and the significant effects on the characteristics of the flow field and temperature field in the channel will be evaluated. This study will provide a platform for using the LBM to examine fluid flow through discrete obstacles in different positions.