Predicting Inlet Temperature Effects on the Pressure-Drop of Heated Porous Medium Channel Flows Using the M-HDD Model

A Modified Hazen-Dupuit-Darcy (M-HDD) model, incorporating nonlinear temperature-dependent viscosity effects, has been proposed recently for predicting the global pressure-drop of nonisothermal flows across a heated (or cooled) porous medium channel. Numerical simulations, mimicking the flow of a liquid with nonlinear temperature-dependent viscosity, are presented now for establishing the influence of inlet temperature on the pressure-drop and on the predictive capabilities of the M-HDD model. As a result, new generalized correlations for predicting the coefficients of the M-HDD model are derived. The results not only demonstrate the importance of fluid inlet temperature on predicting the global pressure-drop but they also extend the applicability of the M-HDD model.