Single and double diffusive free convective flows in finite porous enclosures subject to modulation

Numerical studies on free convective flows of viscous incompressible fluids in finite porous enclosures, both rectangular and non-rectangular, have been carried out extensively in the literature because of wide ranging real life applications in a number of fields. While the effects of temperature as well as gravity modulations have been shown to play vitally important role in stabilizing or destabilizing convective processes in many applications involving porous media, such modulation effects have received much less attention when dealing with finite permeable enclosures. This project will thus focus on free convective flows, involving both single and double diffusive convection, in vertical rectangular or non-rectangular permeable cavities subject to thermal or gravity modulation effects. The governing coupled partial differential equations, modeling different aspects of the flows and associated physically plausible hydrodynamic, thermal, and, where necessary, mass transfer conditions, will be solved using a suitable numerical method. The main aim of the project will be to analyze in detail the effects of a number of key governing parameters, characterizing different processes, on all physical quantities of interest.