Numerical investigation of heat transfer in a laminar flow in a helical pipe filled with a fluid saturated porous medium: the sensitivity to parameter variations

This paper presents the first attempt to investigate numerically heat transfer in a helical pipe filled with a fluid saturated porous medium; the analysis is based on the full momentum equation for porous media that accounts for the Brinkman and Forchheimer extensions of the Darcy law as well as for the flow inertia. Numerical computations are performed in an orthogonal helical coordinate system. The effects of the Darcy number, the Forchheimer coefficient as well as the Dean and Germano numbers on the axial flow velocity, secondary flow, temperature distribution, and the Nusselt number are investigated. (authors)