Characteristics of heat transfer for narrow gap on horizontal heated surface with porous media

Experiments were carried out to study the characteristics of heat transfer on a downward-facing heated surface with porous media in narrow horizontal gap at atmosphere pressure using water as working fluid. The boiling curves were obtained under different conditions. The heat transfer increases significantly with porous media in the gap especially under boiling condition. The heat transfer in narrow horizontal gap can be enhanced by increasing the gap size and by using porous media with high thermal conductivity and appropriate porosity. Based on the mechanism of heat transfer in porous media, the correlations for natural convection and nucleate boiling were proposed to predict the heat transfer under the present condition. (authors)