Buoyancy driven flow in saturated porous media

Measurements are reported of heat transfer coefficients in steady natural convection on a vertical constant flux plate embedded in a saturated porous medium. Results show that heat transfer coefficients can be adequately determined via a Darcy-based model, and our results confirm a correlation proposed by Bejan [Int. J. Heat Mass Transfer. 26(9), 1339-1346 (1983)]. It is speculated that the reason that the Darcy model works well in the present case is that the porous medium has a lower effective Prandtl number near the wall than in the bulk medium. The factors that contribute to this effect include the thinning of the boundary layer near the wall and an increase of effective thermal conductivity.