Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Automation 2015, 5(3A): 26-32

DOI: 10.5923/c.jmea.201501.05

Entropy Analysis of Combined Heat and Mass Transfer

over a Plate Embedded in a Porous Medium
Meisam Habibi Matin

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kermanshah University of Technology, Kermanshah, Iran

Abstract In this paper the second law analysis for heat and mass transfer over a plate embedded in a porous medium is
conducted numerically. The governing continuity, momentum, energy and concentration equations are reduced to ordinary
differential equations using similarity transformations. These equations are subsequently solved using an implicit finite
difference scheme known as Keller-box method. The numerical data for velocity, temperature and concentration fields are
used to compute local entropy generation, total entropy generation and Bejan number. The effects of Reynolds number,
Schmidt number, Prandtl number, mass diffusion parameter, and concentration difference parameter on local entropy
generation, total entropy generation, and Bejan number are reported.
Keywords Porous medium, Heat transfer, Mass transfer, Entropy generation

in porous medium due to solar radiation. Forced convection

1. Introduction over a vertical plate in a porous medium was studied by
Murthy et al. [10] with a non-Darcian model. They showed
Convective heat transfer over a plate embedded in a that the increase of solar radiation flux and also suction
porous medium has many applications such as in petroleum causes increase in Nusselt number and heat transfer rate.
production, separation processes in chemical engineering, Kayhani et al. [11] studied local thermal non-equilibrium in
thermal insulation systems, buildings, and nuclear reactors. porous media due to sudden temperature change and heat
In a pioneering paper, Cheng and Minkowycz [1] studied generation.
natural convection over a vertical plate with variable The use of second law of thermodynamics to analyze heat
surface temperature with the plate embedded in a porous and fluid flow in engineering devices and systems has
medium. Bejan and Poulikakos [2] investigated free become increasingly important. This approach is driven by
convective boundary layer in a porous medium for the realization among the thermal science community that
non-Darcian regime. The mixed convective flow boundary the systems must be designed and operated so that the
layer over a vertical plate in porous medium was analysed degradation of energy or the generation of entropy is
by Merkin [3]. Kim and Vafai [4] studied the natural minimized. There are various sources for entropy generation
convective flow over a vertical plate embedded in porous in engineering systems. In thermal systems, the main
medium. Chamkha [5] investigated the free convective flow sources of entropy generation are heat transfer, mass
in porous medium with uniform porosity ratio due to solar transfer, viscous dissipation, electrical conduction, chemical
radiation flux. The MHD mixed convective flow over a reaction and coupling between heat and mass transfer as
vertical porous plate in porous saturated medium and discussed by Bejan and co-workers in a series of pioneering
assuming non-Darcian model was studied by Takhar and publications [12-15]. The study of entropy generation in a
Beg [6]. Ranganathan and Viskanta [7] investigated the liquid film falling along an inclined plate was performed by
fluid mixed convective boundary layer over a vertical plate Saouli and Aїboud -Saouli [16]. Mahmud et al. [17] studied
embedded in porous medium. They claimed that the viscous the case of mixed convection in a channel considering the
effects are significant and cannot be neglected. Kayhani effect of a magnetic field on the entropy generation. Aziz
et al. [8] studied the natural convection boundary layer [18] investigated the entropy generation in a plane Couette
along impermeable inclined surfaces embedded in a porous flow for different boundary conditions at the plates. The
medium. Chamkha et al. [9] presented a non-similarity effects of magnetic field and viscous dissipation on entropy
solution for natural convective flow over an inclined plate generation in a falling liquid film were studied by Aїboud
-Saouli et al. [19, 20]. Aїboud -Saouli and Saouli [21]
* Corresponding author:
[email protected] (Meisam Habibi Matin)
conducted entropy generation analysis for viscoelastic MHD
Published online at http://journal.sapub.org/jmea flow over a stretching sheet. They showed that the magnetic
Copyright © 2015 Scientific & Academic Publishing. All Rights Reserved parameter, Hartman, Reynolds and Prandtl numbers cause
 Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Automation 2015, 5(3A): 26-32 27

the local entropy generation to increase. Rezaiguia et al. [22] subject to the following boundary conditions
investigated the effects of Prandtl and Eckert numbers on the
u  0, v  0, T  Tw , C  Cw at y0
local entropy generation in a forced convection boundary (5)
layer flow. They observed that with an increase in Eckert u  u , T  T , C  C as y
number or a decrease in Prandtl number, the local entropy where the coordinate x is the distance along the plate, y is the
generation increases. The general formulation for the local coordinate normal to the plate, u and v are velocity
entropy generation in an incompressible flow of Newtonian components in x and y directions, respectively. The symbols
fluid had been given by Hirschfelder et al. [23]. The entropy T and C denote temperature and mass concentration at a
generation for combined forced convection heat and mass general location (x, y) in the flow field, respectively. The
transfer in a two dimensional channel was investigated by plate is assumed to be a constant temperature Tw . The
San et al. [24].
diffusing species at the plate have a fixed mass concentration
In the present study, the second law analysis for heat and
mass transfer over a plate embedded in a porous medium is Cw . The quantities T and C represent the ambient
investigated numerically. To the best of our knowledge, this temperature and ambient mass concentration, respectively.
problem has remained unexplored. The governing continuity, Here, eff is the effective dynamic viscosity of the fluid,
momentum, energy and concentration equations are reduced  is the fluid density, eff is the effective thermal
to ordinary differential equations with similarity
transformations. The resulting equations are solved using an diffusivity of the medium, and Deff is the effective mass
implicit finite difference scheme known as the Keller-box diffusivity of the medium. The assumption that the effective
method. The local entropy generation is calculated using the viscosity is identical to dynamic viscosity is appropriate for
numerical derived data for the velocity, temperature and packed beds of particles, and commonly used to describe
concentration fields in the entropy generation expression boundary layer flows in a porous medium.
derived by Bejan [12]. The total entropy generation is The following similarity variables are introduced to
evaluated by integrating the local entropy generation data reduce the governing equations to ordinary differential
over the flow domain. equations:
1/ 2
 u   eff x  T  T
   f ( ),  ( )  ,
   T w  T
 
(6)
C  C y
 ( )  ,   Re1/ 2
C w  C x

where the stream function  ( x, y ) is defined as

 
u , v (7)
Figure 1. Schematic of flow model and coordinate system y x
With the use of similarity variables, the continuity
2. Problem Formulation equation is automatically satisfied. The momentum equation
(2), the energy equation (3), and the concentration equation
Consider a stationary flat plate embedded in a porous (4) now appear as a set of coupled ordinary differential
medium of permeability K as illustrated in Fig.1. The equations which may be written as
continuity, momentum, energy and concentration equations
1 1
for the two-dimensional boundary layer flow may be written f   ff   f0 (8)
as 2 NK
u v    Pr f    0 (9)
 0 (1)
x y
   Sc f    0 (10)
 u u   2u eff where primes denote differentiation with respect to  . The
  u  v   eff  u (2)
 x y  y 2 K boundary conditions take the following form:

T T  2T f (0)  0, f (0)  0,  (0)  1,  (0)  1

u v   eff
x y y 2
(3) f ()  1,  ()  0,  ()  0 (11)

The dimensionless parameters Sc, Re, Pr, and NK are

C C  2C
u v  Deff (4)
Schmidt number, Reynolds number, Prandtl number, and
x y y 2 permeability parameter, respectively, and defined as follows:
28 Meisam Habibi Matin: Entropy Analysis of Combined Heat and Mass
Transfer over a Plate Embedded in a Porous Medium

 eff  u x  eff C P  u K Using Eqs. (6) and (13), the entropy generation number is
Sc  , Re  , Pr  , NK  (12) given by the following relationship in terms of the quantities
 Deff  eff k x  eff
appearing in Eqs. (8-10):
In view of the definitions of NK and Re, a true similarity Br Br Re
transformation is not achieved. Equations (8-11) must be N S  Re   2  Re f  2  f2
  NK
interpreted as locally similar. The local similarity solution
often provides a good preliminary insight into the problem. Md M d Re (14)
 Re   2    
  2 
3. Second Law Analysis Where
Using the boundary layer approximation, the entropy k T 2
, S G 0 
SG
NS 
generation can be simplified as follows
S G 0 T 2 x 2
(15)
2 2
k  T    u  
SG        u2 
T 2  y  T 
 
y K T 
(13)
Deff  dC  2 Deff  dC  T 
R    R   
C   dy  T  dy  y 
wherein R is the gas constant.

Figure 4. Local entropy generation for various values of Schmidt number

Sc  0.1,   0.05, Re  1, N K  10, Pr  0.7, Br /   0.1

Figure 2. Local entropy generation for various values of dimensionless

group parameter when M d  1,   0.05, Re  1, N K  10,
Pr  0.7, Sc  0.1

Figure 5. Local entropy generation for various values of Schmidt number

when M d  1,   0.05, Re  1, N K  10, Pr  3, Br /   0.01

Re and Br are the Reynolds number and Brinkman number,

respectively. Also Ω,  M d are the dimensionless
Figure 3. Local entropy generation for various values of dimensionless temperature difference, the dimensionless concentration
group parameter when M d  1, Sc  2, Re  10, N K  10, difference and the mass diffusion parameter, respectively.
These three parameters are defined as follows:
Pr  0.7, Br /   0.1
 Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Automation 2015, 5(3A): 26-32 29

5. Results and Discussion

Numerical computations were performed to study the
effects of various dimensionless parameters on the local
entropy generation, the total entropy generation and Bejan
number. Figure 2 shows the local entropy generation in
boundary layer as function of dimensionless group Br / 
which may be viewed as a measure of viscous dissipation in
the flow. The curves in Fig.2 show that the increase in
viscous dissipation leads to increase in local entropy
generation. Because of large velocity gradients in the region
near the plate, this near-plate region generates more entropy
compared with that generated in the region far from the plate.
As the concentration difference parameter λ is increased, the
local entropy generation is reduced as can be seen in Fig.3.
Figure 6. Local entropy generation for various values of Prandtl number Figure 4 shows as the mass diffusion parameter Md increases,
when M d  1,   0.05, Re  1, N K  10, Sc  0.1, Br /   0.01 the local entropy generation increases. Again, the region near
the plate experiences larger entropy genera- tion compared
C T eff u 2 with the region further into the flow field. Fig. 5 illustrates
 , , Br  , the sensitivity of local entropy generation to Schmidt number
C T k T
Sc. Although the effect of Schmidt number does not appear
R Deff (C )T (16) explicitly in the entropy generation equation (15), its
Md 
k T influence on entropy generation is exerted through the
velocity, temperature, and mass concentration characteristics
The total entropy generation, S, is evaluated by integrating which are governed by Eqs. (8-11) which contain Sc.
of the local entropy generation over whole of the boundary
layer domain as
5
S

0
N s d (17)

The choice of   5 was found to cover the three

boundary layer regions in their entirety. Also, Bejan number
was calculated as the ratio of the entropy generation due to
heat transfer ST to the total entropy generation S i.e.
S
Be  T (18)
S
Figure 7. Local entropy generation for various values of Reynolds
4. Numerical Procedure number when M d  1,   0.05, Pr  0.7, NK  10, Sc  0.1,
Eqs. 8-11 are solved numerically using an efficient Br /   0.01
implicit finite-difference scheme known as Keller-box While in the region near the plate, the local entropy
method. The method is implemented in four steps. First, Eqs. generation increases with Sc, it has an opposite effect in the
8-10 are reduced to seven first-order differential equations. region far from the plate, though the opposite effect is not
Second, the equations are discretized using central finite that distinctly manifested. The effect of Prandtl number on
differences. Third, the resulting nonlinear algebraic the local entropy generation presented in Fig. 6 is similar to
equations are linearized using Newton’s method [26-28] and that of Schmidt number observed in Fig. 5. In the region
written in matrix vector form. The fourth and final step uses closer to the plate, as Prandtl number increases, heat transfer
the block-tridiagonal-elimination technique to solve the from the plate increases which in turn leads to increased
linearized algebraic equations. A step size of Δ𝜂 = 0.005 was entropy generation. Figure 7 displays the local entropy
found to satisfy the convergence criterion of 0.001 in all generation as a function of Reynolds number, Re. The
cases. As noted earlier, the choice of   5 satisfactorily increase in local entropy generation due to increase in Re
covered the three boundary layer regions in their entirety. may be attributed to the increase in free stream velocity u
30 Meisam Habibi Matin: Entropy Analysis of Combined Heat and Mass
Transfer over a Plate Embedded in a Porous Medium

which produces an increase in heat transfer and hence an parameter Md for all four values of Schmidt number Sc. For a
increase in entropy generation. The effect of permeability fixed Md, the total entropy generated increases significantly
parameter NK on local entropy generation is illustrated in as Schmidt number increases from 0.1 to 3.0 but further
Fig.8. For the combination of variables chosen for preparing increase in Schmidt number appears to increase the total
Fig.8, the local entropy generation decreases only slightly entropy generation only slightly. The functional dependence
with the increase in the permeability of the medium. of total entropy generation on Reynolds number and
dimensionless concentration difference is shown in Fig.11.
The total entropy generation increases as Reynolds number
(and hence the transfer) increases, but decreases slightly as
the concentration potential driving the mass transfer i.e. - C
(= λ C) increases. In other words, a stronger mass transfer
process tends to attenuate the total entropy generation
slightly. Fig.12 shows that the total entropy generation
increases as Prandtl number (and hence heat transfer)
increases. However, the increase in permeability of the
medium i.e. NK tends to reduce entropy generation slightly.

Figure 8. Local entropy generation for various values of permeability

parameter NK when M d  1,   0.05, Pr  0.7, Re  1, Sc  0.1,

Br /   0.01

Figure 10. Total entropy generation versus mass diffusion parameter for
various values of Schmidt number when N K  1,   0.05, Pr  0.7,
Re  1, Br /   0.01

Figure 9. Total entropy generation versus Prandtl number for various

values of dimensionless group parameter when M d  1,   0.05,

NK  10, Re  1, Sc  0.1

Attention is now turned to the total entropy generated over

the entire flow field. Figure 9 demonstrates that the total
entropy generated increases significantly as Pr and Br/Ω
increase. The increase in Pr enhances the heat transfer which
in turn increases the entropy generation. However, the effect
of Pr on entropy generation is subdued beyond Pr = 3. The
increase in Br/Ω implies an increase in fluid friction
irreversibility (increase in Br) or a decrease in dimensionless
Figure 11. Total entropy generation versus Reynolds number for various
temperature ratio Ω. In both cases, the result is increased
entropy generation. Figure 10 shows that the total entropy
values of dimensionless concentration difference when M d  1,
generation increases almost linearly with the mass diffusion Br /   0.01, Sc  0.1, Pr  0.7, NK  10
 Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Automation 2015, 5(3A): 26-32 31

The functional dependence of Bejan number on Prandtl

number and dimensionless grouping Br/Ω illustrated in
Fig.13 leads to two observations. First, for a fixed Br/Ω, the
heat transfer irreversibility increases as Prandtl number
increases, which in view of the definition (Eq.18), is
reflected in higher Bejan number. Second, for a fixed Prandtl
number, the entropy generation due to heat transfer ST is
fixed. Now, if Br/Ω is reduced, the total entropy generation S
decreases because of a reduction in friction irreversibility.
For fixed ST, the reduction in S increases the Bejan number as
suggested by Eq. 18. Fig.14 depicts Bejan number as a
function of mass diffusion parameter Md and Schmidt
number Sc. Because the Prandtl and Reynolds numbers are
fixed, the entropy generated due to heat transfer ST is fixed.
Thus any increase in Md and/or Sc increases the total entropy
Figure 12. Total entropy generation versus Prandtl number for various generated S and consequently reduces Bejan number which
values of permeability parameter when M d  1,   0.1, Sc  0.1, is exactly what Fig.14 reveals. As Md increases, the curves
Re  1, Br /   0.01 spread out, indicating that the effect of Sc on Bejan number is
more pronounced. Figure 15 highlights the effect of
concentration parameter λ and Reynolds number Re on Bejan
number. The increase in Bejan number due to increase in Re
is due to the increase in heat transfer irreversibility ST. For
fixed Re, Bejan number increases with λ because increase in
λ reduces the total entropy generation S.

Figure 13. Bejan number versus Prandtl number for various values of
dimensionless group parameter when M d  1,   0.1, Sc  0.1,

Re  1, N K  10

Figure 15. Bejan number versus dimensionless concentration difference

for various values of permeability parameter when M d  1,
Br /   0.01, Sc  0.1, Pr  0.7, Re  1

REFERENCES
[1] P. Cheng, W. J. Minkowycz, Free convection about a
vertical plate embedded in a porous medium with application
to heat transfer from a dike, J. Geophys. 82 (1977)
2040-2044.
[2] A. Bejan, D. Poulikakos, The non–Darcy regime for vertical
Figure 14. Bejan number versus mass diffusion parameter for various boundary layer natural convection in a porous medium, Int. J.
values of Schmidt number when Br /   0.01,   0.1, Pr  0.7, Heat Mass Transfer 27 (1984) 717-722.
Re  1, N K  10 [3] J. H. Merkin, Mixed convection boundary layer flow on a
32 Meisam Habibi Matin: Entropy Analysis of Combined Heat and Mass
Transfer over a Plate Embedded in a Porous Medium

vertical surface in a saturated porous medium, Journal of [17] S. Mahmud, S. H. Tasnim, H. A. A. Mamun,
Engineering Mathematics 14 (1980) 301-313. Thermodynamic analysis of mixed convection in a channel
with transverse hydromagnetic effect, In. J. Therm. Sci. 42
[4] S. J. Kim, K. Vafai, Analysis of natural convection about a (2003) 731–740.
vertical plate embedded in a porous medium, Int. J. Heat
Mass Transfer 32 (1989) 665-677. [18] A. Aziz, Entropy generation in pressure gradient assisted
Couette flow with different thermal boundary conditions,
[5] A. J. Chamkha, Solar radiation assisted natural convection in Entropy 8 (2006) 50-62.
uniform porous medium supported by a vertical flat plate, J.
Heat Transfer 119 (1997) 35-43. [19] S. Aïboud-Saouli, S. Saouli, N. Settou, N. Meza,
Thermodynamic analysis of gravity-driven liquid film along
[6] H. S. Takhar and O. A. Bèg, Effects of transverse magnetic an inclined heated plate with hydromagnetic and viscous
field, Prandtl number and Reynolds number on non-Darcy dissipation effects, Entropy 8 (2006) 188–199.
mixed convective flow of an incompressible viscous fluid
past a porous vertical flat plate in a saturated porous medium, [20] S. Aiboud-Saouli, N. Settou, S. Saouli, N. Meza, Second-law
Int. J. Energy Research 21 (1997)87-100. analysis of laminar fluid flow in a heated channel with
hydro-magnetic and viscous dissipation effects, Appl.
[7] P. Ranganathan, R. Viskanta, Mixed convection Energy 84 (2007) 279–289.
boundary-layer flow along a vertical surface in a porous
medium, Num. Heat Transfer 7 (1984) 305–317. [21] S. Aїboud-Saouli, S. Saouli, Entropy analysis for viscoelastic
magnetohydrodynamic flow over a stretching surface,
[8] M. H. Kayhani, E. A. O. Khaje, M. Sadi, Natural convection International Journal of Non-Linear Mechanics 45 (2010)
boundary layer along impermeable inclined surfaces 482–489.
embedded in porous medium, Mechanika 17 (2011) 64-70.
[22] I. Rezaiguia, K. Mahfoud, T. Kamel, N. Belghar, S. Saouli,
[9] A. J. Chamkha, C. Issa, K. Khanafer, Natural convection Numerical simulation of the entropy generation in a fluid in
from an inclined plate embedded in a variable porosity forced convection on a plane surface while using the method
porous medium due to solar radiation, Int. J. Therm. Sci. 41 of Runge-Kutta, European Journal of Scientific Research 42
(2002) 73-81. (2010) 637-643.
[10] P. V. S. N. Murthy, S. Mukherjee, D. Srinivasacharya, P. V. [23] J. O. Hirschfelder, C. F. Curtiss, R. B. Bird, Molecular
S. S. S. R. Krishna, Combined radiation and mixed Theory of Gases and Liquids, John Wiley, New York, 1954.
convection from a vertical wall with suction/injection in a
non–Darcy porous medium, Acta Mechanica 168 (2004) [24] J. Y. San, W. M. Worek, Z. Lavan, Entropy generation in
145–156. combined heat and mass transfer, Int. J. Heat Mass Transfer,
30 (1987) 1359-1369.
[11] M. H. Kayhani, A. O. Abbasi, M. Sadi, Study of local
thermal nonequilibrium in porous media due to temperature [25] L. C. Woods, Thermodynamics of Fluid Systems, Oxford
sudden change and heat generation, Mechanika 17 (2011) University Press, Oxford, 1975.
57-63.
[26] T. Cebeci, P. Bradshaw, Momentum Transfer in Boundary
[12] A. Bejan, Second-law analysis in heat transfer and thermal Layers, Hemisphere Publishing Corporation, New York,
design, Adv. Heat Transfer 15 (1982) 1–58. 1977.
[13] A. Bejan, Entropy Generation Minimization, CRC Press, [27] T. Cebeci , P. Bradshaw, Physical and Computational Aspects
Boca Raton, Florida, 1996. of Convective Heat Transfer, Springer-Verlag, New York,
1988.
[14] A. Bejan, A study of entropy generation in fundamental
convective heat transfer, J. Heat Transfer 101 (1979) [28] M. Z. Salleh, R. Nazar, S. Ahmad, Numerical solutions of the
718–725. forced boundary layer flow at a forward stagnation point,
European Journal of Scientific Research 19 (2008) 644 – 653.
[15] A. Bejan, The thermodynamic design of heat and mass
transfer processes and devices, Int J. Heat and Fluid Flow, 8 [29] A. Bejan, Convection Heat Transfer. Wiley, New York, 1984,
(1987) 259-276. p. 31.
[16] S. Saouli, S. Aïboud-Saouli, Second law analysis of laminar
falling liquid film along an inclined heated plate, Int. Comm.
Heat Mass Transfer 3 (2004) 879–886.