Electromagnetic field effects on transport through porous media

The effect of an imposed electromagnetic field on forced convection in porous media is analyzed in this work. The transient Maxwell's equations are solved to simulate the electromagnetic field inside the waveguide and within a porous medium. The Brinkman-Forchheimer extended Darcy (generalized model) equations are used to represent the flow fluid inside a porous medium. The local thermal non-equilibrium (LTNE) is taken into account by solving the two-energy equation model for fluid and solid phases. Computational domain is represented for a range of Darcy number from 10(-5) to 10(-7) and dimensionless electromagnetic wave power P* from 0 to 1600, and dimensionless electromagnetic wave frequency f* from 0 to 8. The effect of variations of the pertinent electromagnetic field parameters in affecting the flow and thermal fields and the Nusselt number are analyzed. This investigation provides the essential aspects for a fundamental understanding of forced convection in porous media while experiencing an applied electromagnetic field such as applications in the material-processing field. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.