Engineering Analysis with Boundary Elements 28 (2004) 2341

www.elsevier.com/locate/enganabound

Dual reciprocity boundary element method solution of natural convection

in Darcy Brinkman porous media
Bozidar Sarlera,*, Janez Perkoa, Dominique Gobinb, Benoit Goyeaub, Henry Powerc
a

Laboratory for Multiphase Processes, Nova Gorica Polytechnic, Vipavska 13, SI-5000 Nova Gorica, Slovenia
b
Laboratoire FAST, URA CNRS 871, Bat. 502, Campus Universitaire, 91405 Orsay, France
c
School of Mechanical, Manufacturing Engineering and Management, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK
Received 10 October 2002; revised 8 May 2003; accepted 14 May 2003

Abstract
This paper describes the solution of a steady natural convection problem in porous media by the dual reciprocity boundary element
method. The boundary element method for the coupled set of mass, momentum, and energy equations in two-dimensions is structured by the
fundamental solution of the Laplace equation. The dual reciprocity method is based on augmented scaled thin plate splines. Numerical
examples include convergence studies with different mesh size, uniform and non-uniform mesh arrangement, and constant, linear, and
quadratic boundary field discretisations for differentially heated rectangular cavity problems at filtration with Rayleigh number of Rap 25;
50, and 100, Darcy numbers Da 1023 ; and 1025, and aspect ratios A 1=2; 1, and 2. The solution is assessed by comparison with reference
results of the fine-mesh finite volume method.
q 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: DarcyBrinkman porous media; Dual reciprocity boundary element method; Natural convection; Primitive variables; Thin plate splines

1. Introduction
By a porous medium we mean a material consisting of a
solid matrix with interconnected voids filled with liquid
and/or gas. The porous media can be naturally formed (e.g.
rocks, sand beds, sponges, woods) or fabricated (e.g.
catalytic pellets, wicks, insulations). The analysis of
transport phenomena in porous media is of great importance
in science and engineering. The related human efforts
appear to be increasing due to many new technologies, such
as for example the safe and reliable radioactive waste
disposal.
Ever since the original work of Darcy [1] in 1856, the
transport phenomena in porous media have been studied
both experimentally and theoretically [2]. Despite the
development of very sophisticated and relevant analytical
techniques [3] a great majority of porous media models
could be solved only by using discrete approximate
solutions.
These solutions in parallel with the development of
computers nowadays allow the evaluation of physically
* Corresponding author.
0955-7997/04/$ - see front matter q 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/S0955-7997(03)00090-0

very complex situations. Moreover, the respective computational modelling gives an insight into the behaviour of
porous media in situations which are experimentally
difficult, impossible, or too expensive to perform [4].
However, the diversity of the involved length scales,
non-linearities, inhomogeneities, anisotropies, together with
the justification of using different classical models (Darcy,
Brinkman, Forchheimer) in a specific situation still
represents a largely unresolved problem. An elaboration
of the state-of-the-art in respective theoretical, experimental, and computational developments can be found in the
book by Kaviany [5].
A frequently encountered physical situation is the porous
media natural convection problem, extensively treated in
the book by Nield and Bejan [6].
The problem of natural convection in porous media
was first numerically studied by Chan et al. [7] in 1970,
using the finite difference method (FDM) [8]. A similar
study was performed approximately a decade later by
Hickox and Gartling [9], using the finite element method
(FEM) [10]. Prasad and Kulacki [11] pioneered the use of
the finite volume method (FVM) [12] for solving this
problem.

24

B. Sarler et al. / Engineering Analysis with Boundary Elements 28 (2004) 2341

The described natural convection problem represents,

from the physical and computational points of view, a wellcoped-with situation. However, such problems have been up
to now very modestly treated [13,14] by any of the boundary
element method (BEM) techniques.
This fact represents the first principal motivation for
present research in the sense of broadening the spectra of
physical situations for which BEM might be used.
The BEM [15] is a weighted residual method for solving
partial differential equations (PDEs), characterised by
choosing an appropriate fundamental solution as a weighting
function and by using the generalised Greens formula for
complete transfer of one or more partial differential operators
to the weighted function. The main comparative advantage of
the BEM over the discrete approximative methods is
demonstrated in cases where this procedure results in the
boundary integral equations only. This turns out to be
possible only for some PDEs. In general, the procedure
results in a boundary-domain integral equation. For example,
when dealing with the BEM for the general transport
equation structured by weighting with the fundamental
solution of the Laplace equation, domain integrals appear at
least from the transient, convective, and source terms. Such a
boundary-domain integral method (BDIM) has been applied
for the solution of natural [16] and mixed convection [17] in
rectangular cavity by using the Darcy Brinkman porous
media model and velocity vorticity formulation.
The dual reciprocity boundary element method (DRBEM)
[18] represents one of the possibilities for transforming the
resultant domain integrals into a finite series of boundary
integrals. The key point of the DRBEM is the approximation
of the field in the domain by a set of global approximation
functions and subsequent representation of the domain
integrals of these global approximation functions by the
boundary integrals. The discretisation of the domain is,
respectively, represented only by grid points (poles of the
global approximation functions) in contrast to the FEM,
FVM or BDIM methods, where appropriate polygonisation
needs to be generated in addition. The DRBEM meshes thus
in the domain resemble FDM meshes. However, the
discretisation of the geometry and fields on the boundary is
piecewise polygonal, which gives the method greater
flexibility over the FDM methods in coping with the
boundary quantities. In the DRBEM all calculations reduce
to the evaluation of boundary integrals only. The mentioned
DRBEM characteristics might be advantageous in geometrically complex situations, which are often encountered in
the context of porous media transport phenomena.
Despite the proven practical applicability of the
DRBEM, important theoretical questions remain. For
example, which global interpolation functions are most
suitable for representation of the fields in the domain, and
where should the collocation points of these global
interpolation functions be specified. Up to now, both
questions have been addressed mostly from the heuristic
point of view. The most popular global interpolation

functions used in the majority of the DRBEM calculations

so far in the field of transport phenomena are the conicals
1 rn ; with rn representing the Euclidean distance between
a field point p and a collocation point pn : The convergence
of these functions was studied both numerically and in a
more formal way in Ref. [19]. Up to now, only ad hoc
distributed collocation points have been used, as an
appropriate error estimator does not exist. Some mathematically substantiated answers to the first question have
recently been discovered by Golberg and Chen in works
concerning the theory of radial basis functions [20]. It has
been demonstrated [21] that the use of augmented thin plate
spline radial basis functions gives an approximation which
minimises its curvature. The first theoretical investigations
of the convergence of these functions were carried out in
Ref. [22]. An error and convergence analysis for the
DRBEM for the Poisson equation have been recently
reported by Golberg et al. [23]. A typical example of a
completely non-uniform DRBEM collocation point mesh in
axis-symmetry, based in augmented thin plates splines [24],
can be found in Ref. [25].
The global interpolation of the fields over a domain
introduces unknowns in the domain in addition to
the unknowns at the boundary. The number of these
additional unknowns usually exceeds the number of boundary
unknowns. The systems of algebraic equations resulting from
DRBEM are thus large, fully populated and non-symmetric.
A third important, but not sufficiently investigated aspect of
the DRBEM method, is the possible economic solution of
associated systems of algebraic equations, an issue of utmost
importance when solving large-scale problems. There are
three principal strategies how to speed-up the computations.
Bulgakov et al. [26] have recently proposed two iterative
solution techniques for DRBEM matrices originating from
the diffusion equation. Power with his team [2729] made a
domain splitting in order to make the resultant matrix sparse.
The matrix sparseness has been achieved by Chen and
Golberg [30] through compactly supported radial basis
functions. This strategy has been further speed-up by the
multilevel approach [31].
The DRBEM for solving the energy transport was first
applied to simple diffusion-governed linear [32] and nonlinear problems [33], then to steady convective diffusive
problems [34], and finally successfully used in a completely
non-linear transient convective diffusive context including
phase-change effects and non-linearities arising simultaneously from material properties and boundary conditions
[35,36].
The DRBEM for solving the steady momentum transport
in porous media was first demonstrated by El Harrouni et al.
[37] through use of the piezometric head variable and
inhomogeneous permeability cast in hydraulic conductivity.
Recently, the DRBEM was upgraded [38] for solving the
related transient flow problem. In a later study, global
interpolation functions of the type 1 rn as well 1 rn rn2
were used.

B. Sarler et al. / Engineering Analysis with Boundary Elements 28 (2004) 2341

Very recently, Rahaim and Kassab [39] proposed a

solution to coupled fluid-flow and heat transfer problem
by the DRBEM. However, they show solutions based on
1 rn global approximation functions only for relative
simple unidirectional flow in a tube. A primitive variable
DRBEM solution of incompressible Navier Stokes
equations for Reynolds numbers up to 100 have been
developed by Sarler and Kuhn [40] by using the SIMPLElike [12] pressure correction algorithm and calculation of
the velocity and pressure derivatives by the integral
representation formula.
The second principal motivation for present research is in
assessing the suitability of the DRBEM method in coupled
recirculating flow situations. For this purpose, a comparatively simple (no convection term, no diffusion term in
momentum equation) Darcy natural convection flow has
been used as a logical starting point [41] which should lead to
treatment of more complicated fluid flow situations in future.
This paper extends the referenced work by using the Darcy
Brinkman porous media model. Emphasis is on demonstration of the DRBEM for solving the viscous flow problems
with the thin boundary layers. This model differs from the
Darcy one by involving the viscous term and thus the no-slip
boundary conditions instead of the slip ones. This complication introduces new, much more involved treatment of
momentum, pressure, and pressure correction equations. The
convective term has been added for completeness. The
algorithm for calculating the pressure in this work differs
from the one in Ref. [40]. Here, we calculate directly the
pressure and afterwards the pressure correction and the
algorithm thus resembles the SIPMLER [12] like procedure.
The problem is solved as a weak non-linear coupled system
of Poisson equations. Particular emphasis is placed on the
simple global approximation functions representation of the
involved pressure, velocity, pressure correction and temperature derivatives, principally differing from the integral
representation formulas used in Ref. [41].

25

with P denoting pressure and f the body force. The variation

of the density with temperature is included through the body
force term only by using the Boussinesq approximation
f @g1 2 bT 2 Tref ;

with g denoting the acceleration vector, b the volumetric

thermal expansion coefficient, T the temperature and Tref the
reference temperature. The energy conservation equation is

@cp 7vT k72 T:

The solutions of Eqs. (1) and (2) are constructed by

assuming impermeable and no-slip velocity boundary
conditions along the whole boundary G
vnG 0;

p [ G;

vnG 0;

p [ G;

5
6
G

where nG denotes the normal, and n denotes the tangent on

the boundary G; i.e. nG nG 0; and p is the position vector.
The no-slip boundary conditions are additionally required in
the Brinkman extended Darcy model to the impermeable
boundary conditions that are valid in the pure Darcy model.
This is due to the addition of the viscous forces. Eqs. (5) and
(6) imply the following Dirichlet velocity boundary
conditions on the whole boundary
v 0;

p [ G:

The solution of Eq. (4) is constructed by assuming the

division of the boundary G into not necessarily connected
parts GD and GN with the Dirichlet and Neumann thermal
boundary conditions
T TG ;
2k

p [ GD ;

T
FG ;
nG

p [ GN ;

8
9

respectively, where TG and FG represent known functions.

The solution of the posed steady natural convection problem
represents the velocity, pressure, and temperature distribution over the domain V and the boundary G:

2. Governing equations
This paper deals with homogenous porous media with
porosity e and permeability K; confined to a twodimensional domain V with the boundary G: The rigid
porous matrix and the incompressible fluid, with Darcy
viscosity mD and Brinkman viscosity mB saturating the
pores, have the same constant density @; effective thermal
conductivity k; and the specific heat at constant pressure cp :
The mass conservation for the defined system is
7v 0;

where v stands for the seepage velocity. The momentum

conservation is assumed to obey the Darcy Brinkman law

@
m
7vv 27P 2 D v mB 72 v f;
K
e2

3. Solution procedure
3.1. Integral equations
The construction of the solution is represented in three
steps. The first step involves the conversion of the PDEs into
integral equations as well as basic elements of the iterative
procedure. The second step focuses on the discretisation and
the last one on the setup and solution of the algebraic
systems of equations.
The momentum equation is coupled with the energy
equation through the body force. The energy equation is
coupled with the momentum equation through the velocity
field. Consequently, the solution inherently involves
iterations. The solution steps are explained in a continuous

B. Sarler et al. / Engineering Analysis with Boundary Elements 28 (2004) 2341

26

setting, where no reference need to be made regarding the

discretisation, which is explained afterwards.
Let us assume the velocity, pressure, and temperature
fields are all known at iteration level m: The discussion of
the iteration cycle that follows explains how the velocity,
pressure and temperature fields are calculated at the next
iteration level m 1:
The solution of the momentum equation at the iteration
level m 1 is obtained in the following way.
The pressure Poisson equation (PPE) is constructed by
taking the divergence of the momentum conservation (2) to
obtain



@
m
72 Pm1 7 2 2 7vm vm 2 D vm mB 72 vm f m :
K
e
10
The velocity field is iteratively approaching solenoidality
but, the mth iterative estimate of the velocity field cannot, in
general, be considered to be solenoidal. The Neumann
pressure boundary conditions can be defined along the whole
boundary G by taking the scalar product of the momentum
equation with the normal on the boundary. This gives



@
mD m
m1
m m
2 m
m
7P nG 2 2 7v v 2
v mB 7 v f nG ;
K
e
p [ G:
11
Since the impermeable velocity boundary conditions
(5) are valid in all velocity iterations, upper equation
reduces to



Pm1
@
2 2 7vm vm mB 72 vm f m nG ; p[ G:
12
nG
e
The PPE with the boundary conditions (12) is solved
by weighting Eq. (10) with the fundamental solution of
the Laplace equation T p p;s (where the parameter s
denotes the source point position) over the domain V:
This gives the following integral equation, after application of the Greens second identity for scalars,
Pm1

T p
T p dG 2 Pm1
dG 2 cps Pm1
s
nG
G nG
G




@
mD m
m m
2 m
m
v m B 7 v f T p dV :

7 2 2 7v v 2
K
e
V
13
The superscript s denotes the evaluation of a quantity
at the source point s and cps denotes the fundamental
solution related coefficient. The present paper is limited
to two-dimensional Cartesian system, e.g.
Tp

1
r
log 0 ;
2p
r

14

where r0 represents the reference radius and r is given

by
r 2 rr;

r rx ix ry iy ; rx px 2 sx ; ry py 2 sy :

15

px ; and py denote Cartesian co-ordinates (base vectors ix ;

iy ) of point p; and sx ; and sy the Cartesian co-ordinates
of the fundamental solution source point s; respectively.
Eq. (13) is first used for determining the pressure
distribution on the boundary G and subsequently explicitly
in the domain V:
The pressure gradients on the boundary and in the
domain are calculated from the global approximation of the
pressure field (Section 3.2).
After calculating the pressure gradient field, the velocity
field at iteration level m 1 can be calculated from the
momentum equation. For this purpose the momentum Eq.
(2) is weighted by the fundamental solution of the Laplace
equation over the domain V: This gives the following
velocity Poisson integral equation (VPE), after application
of the Greens second identity for vectors,

v^ m1
T p
T p dG 2 v^ m1
dG 2cps v^ m1
s
nG
G nG
G

1
@
mD m1 m p
m m1
m1
v^

7^v v^
7P

2f T dV;
2
K
V mB e
16
which is solved with respect to the Dirichlet representation
(7) of the impermeable and no-slip velocity boundary
conditions (5) and (6). The hat on the velocity denotes
that, in general, the velocity field does not correspond to the
mass conservation. The velocity gradients at the boundary
and in the domain are calculated from the global
approximation of the velocity field, described in Section
3.2. The incompressibility is enforced through the pressure
P~ m1 and velocity v~ m1 corrections which ensure
7vm1 7^vm1 v~ m1 0:

17

Consider that the velocity correction v~ m1 occurs

exclusively due to the action of the pressure correction
P~ m1

@ m1
27P~ m1 ;
v~
Dt

18

with Dt standing for the heuristic velocity pressure

correction relaxation factor. The pressure correction can
thus be calculated from the velocity field v^ m1 through
the pressure correction Poisson equation (PCPE) is given
by
72 P~ m1

@
7^vm1 ;
Dt

19

deduced from Eqs. (17) and (18). The boundary-domain

integral equivalent for solving the PCPE is
P~ m1

T p
T p dG 2 P~ m1
dG 2cp P~ m1
s
nG
G nG
G
@
7^vm1 T p dV;

V Dt
with the Neumann boundary conditions

20

B. Sarler et al. / Engineering Analysis with Boundary Elements 28 (2004) 2341

P~ m1
0;
nG

p [ G:

21

The pressure correction gradients on the boundary and in

the domain are calculated from the global approximation of
the pressure correction field, described in Section 3.2. The
pressure and pressure gradient fields are updated as follows
Pm1 Pm1 P~ m1 ;
7Pm1 7Pm1 7P~ m1 :

22

The velocity field is updated through the pressure

gradient corrections
vm1 v^ m1 2

Dt ~ m1
7P :
@

23

The iteration cycle is completed by calculating the

temperature field at iteration level m 1 (and with this also
f m1 ). This is accomplished by weighting the energy
conservation equation by the fundamental solution of the
Laplace equation and by using the Greens second identity
for scalars
T m1

T p
T p dG 2
T m1
dG 2 cps Tsm1
nG
G nG
G
1

7vm1 T m1 T p dV;
V a

24

with a k=@cp denoting the thermal diffusivity. The

energy Poisson equation (EPE) (24), together with the
thermal boundary conditions (8) and (9), is used to
simultaneously solve the unknown temperature distribution in the Neumann part of the boundary, the
unknown temperature derivative in the normal boundary
direction in the Dirichlet part of the boundary, and the
unknown temperatures in the domain. The temperature
gradients on the boundary and in the domain are
calculated from the global approximation of the temperature field, see Section 3.2.
The iteration cycle is completed with the calculation of
the updated body force

27

systems for the solution of the unknowns is elaborated

below.
3.2. Discretisation
The velocity, pressure, and temperature fields are all
calculated in the same grid-points pn ; n 1; 2; ; N; N
NG NV : The first NG grid-points are distributed on the
boundary and the last NV in the domain. The three simplest
discretisation alternatives are used to approximate the
boundary integrals in Eqs. (13), (16), (20), and (24): the
boundary geometry is approximated by N G straight-line
segments, and the spatial variation of the fields on each of
the boundary segments is represented by constant interpolation functions, with grid-points coinciding with the
geometrical centres of the straight-line segments, or with
linear interpolation functions with the two grid-points
standing symmetrically with respect to the geometrical
centres of the straight-line segments, or with quadratic
interpolation functions with the three grid-points standing as
a geometrical combination of constant and linear cases. In
the constant case, NG N G ; in the linear case NG 2N G ;
and in the quadratic case, NG 3N G : The Einstein
summation convention is used in this text, i.e. any index
which is repeated twice in a product is summed and an
underlined index is not summed. This for boundary integrals
of a scalar valued function F; which in present context
denotes pressure, pressure correction, temperature, or
velocity component, gives
F

T p
Tlp dG 2
F
dG 2 cpl Fl
nG l
G nG
G
F i
< Glk dki
2 Hlk dki Fi 2 cpl dli Fi ;
28
nG
where k 1; 2; ; NG and i; l 1; 2; ; N; the index l
denotes sl pl ; and d represents the Kronecker symbol.
The matrix elements Glk and Hlk are defined as follows
Glk

Gk

Fk Tlp dG;

Hlk

Gk

Fk

Tlp
d G;
nG

29

25

where Gk and Fk represent the boundary segment and the

boundary field shape function associated with the boundary
grid-point pk ; and cpl is equal to

26

cpl 0;

are satisfied with ve and Te representing the velocity and

temperature convergence criterions, respectively. In the
case when the iteration conditions (26) are not satisfied, new
iteration cycles start with the relaxed valued of the body
force

sl [ V:

f m1 @g1 2 bT m1 2 Tref :
The iterations are stopped when the conditions
llv

m1

m1

l 2 lvm ll , ve ;

f crel f

m1

llT m1 l 2 lT m ll , Te ;

2 f ;

27

with crel representing the heuristic relaxation factor. The

discretisation of the involved boundary-domain integral
equations and respective formation of the algebraic equation

sl  V < G; cpl

1
2

sl [ G; cpl 1;
30

The shape functions are in local boundary element coordinate system 21 # f # 1 equal to

F 1;
for constant elements and
!
!
1
f
1
f
12
1
;
;
F2
F
2
2
f
f

31

32

B. Sarler et al. / Engineering Analysis with Boundary Elements 28 (2004) 2341

28

for linear elements and

are of the form cv1 ; cv2 ; ; cvN3 ; and the last three rows
v N 1; N 2; N 3
are
of
the
form
c1v ; c2v ; ; cNv ; 0; 0; 0; where the notation has been
shortened to Fn ; Fpn ; cnu ; cu pn : The coefficients
6u follow by inverting the system (39), i.e.

!!

1
f
f
2
;
12
2
f
f
!
!
f
f
12
;
F0 1
f
f
!!
1
f
f

;
F
1
2
f
f

F2

33

for quadratic elements, with 21 , f , 1 measuring the

relative position of the two ex-centric boundary element
grid-points with respect to the geometrical centre of the
boundary element [42]. The domain integrals in Eqs. (13),
(16), (20) and (24) are transformed by considering the
approximation of the spatial variation of the fields in V by
the global interpolation functions of the form
Fp < cu p6u ;

u 1; 2; ; N 3:

34

Calculation of the velocity, pressure, and pressure

correction gradients that are used in the present formulation
can be represented with the gradients of the global
approximation functions
7Fp < 7cu p6u ;

u 1; 2; ; N 3:

35

Calculation of the Laplacian of the velocity component,

used in PPE, can be represented with the Laplacian of the
global approximation functions

6 C21 F :

40

Consequently, the domain integrals on the righthand side of Eqs. (13), (20), and (24) can be written
in a compact dual reciprocity form k 1; 2; ; NG ; i; l
1; 2; ; N; u 1; 2; ; N 3

21

7G
GTlp dV < C ;xlu C21
41
ui Gxi C;ylu Cui Gyi ;
V

with G standing for a vector-valued function with Cartesian

components Gx ; Gy : The vector G is associated with the
body force in PPE (13), with incompressibility in PCPE
(20), or with convection in EPE (24), and
c
u p
C ;jlu ;
T l dV ;
42
V pj
with j denoting x or y: The integral C ;jlu is calculated by
defining the harmonic functions c^u
72 c^u p cu p;

43

which allow the integral to be represented as

36

c^ T p
2 c^u p
c^ s
u
T dG 2
dG 2 cps u :
pj nG
pj
G pj nG
44

Two-dimensional scaled augmented thin plate splines

are used in this work, due to theoretical considerations
[21] namely

The upper boundary integrals are numerically evaluated

by using the same discretisation strategy that leads to
expression (28), namely

72 Fp < 72 cu p6u ;

cn p

1 2
2 rn

log rn2 ;

u 1; 2; ; N 3:

cN1 p px 2 p0x ;
cN2 p py 2 p0y ;
cN3 p 1;
37

The scaling constants p0x and p0y have been set to

p0x

1
2

2
p
x 2 px ;

p0y

1
2

2
p
y 2 py ;

2 c^iu
c^
c^
C ;jlu < Gclk dki
2 Hlkc dki iu 2 cpl dli iu :
pj nG
pj
pj

n 1; 2; ; N;

rn2 p 2 pn p 2 pn :

C ;jlu

38

where p
x and py represent the maximum and px and py
the minimum co-ordinates px ; py ; respectively, of the
domain V:
Coefficients 6u are calculated by constructing a system of
N 3 algebraic equations

However, matrices Gc and Hc could differ from the

matrices G and H because the boundary discretisation that
corresponds to the calculation of the fields on the
boundary and integrals C lu could, in general, differ. Let
us denote the number of boundary grid-points leading to
the calculation of matrices Gc and Hc with NGc : Therefore, the index k in Eq. (45) runs as k 1; 2; ; NGc :
The adjacent harmonic functions c^u to the thin plate
splines (37) are given by
1 4
1 4
r log rn 2
r ;
c^n
16 n
32 n

c^N1

1
6

px 2 p0x 3 ;

39

c^N2

1
6

py 2 p0y 3 ;

where 6 61 ; 62 ; ; 6N3 T and F F1 ; F2 ; ; FN

; 0; 0; 0T : The first v 1; 2; ; N rows of the matrix C

c^N3

1
4

px 2 p0x 2

C6 F ;

45

1
4

py 2 p0y 2 :

46

B. Sarler et al. / Engineering Analysis with Boundary Elements 28 (2004) 2341

3.3. Systems of algebraic equations

After discretising the boundary, and transforming and
discretising the domain integrals in PPE (13) as described,
the following compact form is obtained
m1
P Cli
P Cli Pi

Pm1
P Cl ;
nG i

47

with the coefficients

P Cli
P

2Hlk dki 2 cpl dli ;

48

Cli Glk dki

49

"
!
m
@ m vmx
m
21
m v x

2 D vm
2 2 vxi
vyi
P Cl C;xlu Cui
p xi
py i
K xi
e
#
!
2 vmx
2 vmx
m
fxi
mB

p2xi
p2yi
"
!
m
@ m vmy
21
m v y

C;ylu Cui 2 2 vxi
vyi
p xi
p yi
e
#
!
2 vmy
2 vmy
mD m
m
v mB
2
fyi :
50

K yi
p2xi
p2yi
The terms P Cli and P Cli arise from the left-hand side
and the term P Cl from the right-hand side of Eq. (13).
Application of the boundary conditions (12) yields the
following system of NG algebraic equations for calculating the pressure at the boundary
A P x P bP ;

51

with the system matrix AP in the form

APli P Cli :

52

The vector of unknowns xP is

;
xPl Pm1
l

53

and the adjacent right-hand side vector is

bPl 2P Cli

P
C;
nGi P l

54

The pressure in the domain nodes is calculated from

the discrete analogue of the formula (13), namely
"
#
1
Pm1
m1
m1
:
56
2 p P Cl Glk
Hlk Pk
Pl
cl
nG k
The pressure gradient components at the boundary and
in the domain nodes are calculated from

Pm1
c 21 m1

C P :
pz l
pzlu ui i

"

m
P
@ m vmx
m v x
C ;xlu C21
2
v

v
ui
yi
nG i
p yi
e 2 xi pxi
#
!
2 m
2 m
vx
vx
fxim nGxi
mB

2
px i
p2yi
"
!
m
@ m vmy
21
m v y

C;ylu Cui 2 2 vxi
vyi
p xi
p yi
e
#
!
2 vmy
2 vmy
fyim nGyi :
mB

2
px i
p2yi

57

After discretising the boundary, and transforming and

discretising the domain integrals in VPE (16), the
following two compact forms are obtained
^ m1
v^ x Cli v
xi

v^ x Cli

v^ m1
x
v^ x Cl ;
nGi

^ m1
v^ y Cli v
yi

v^ y Cli

v^ m1
y
v^ y Cl ;
nGi

58

with the coefficients

!
1 
@ v^ mx
mD
21
;
2
C C

v^ x Cli 2Hlk dki 2

mB lu ui e 2 pxi
K
!
1 
@ v^ my
mD
p
21
;
C C

v^ y Cli 2Hlk dki 2 cl dli 2

mB lu ui e 2 pyi
K
cpl dli

59
v^ x

Cli Glk dki ;

v^ y

Cli Glk dki ;

@ 
v^ mx
^m
Clu C21
;
ui v
yi
2
p yi
e
^m
@ 
21 m v
^ xi x :
v^ y Cl 2 Clu Cui v
p xi
e
v^ x Cl

60

61

The terms in the upper coefficients that involve C lu came

from the dual reciprocity transformation of the convective
term. The other terms correspond to the diffusive term.
Application of the Dirichlet boundary conditions gives the
following system of N algebraic equations for calculating
the unknown velocity in the domain and the unknown
velocity derivatives at the boundary
Av^ x xv^ x bv^ x ;

with

29

Av^ y xv^ y bv^ y ;

62

with the system matrix in the form

^

i 1; 2; ; NG ;

v^

i 1; 2; ; NG ;

i NG 1; NG 2; ; N;

v^

i NG 1; NG 2; ; N:

Alivx v^ x Cli ;
Aliy v^ y Cli ;
Alivx v^ x Cli ;
55

Aliy v^ y Cli ;

63

B. Sarler et al. / Engineering Analysis with Boundary Elements 28 (2004) 2341

30

The vectors of unknowns xv^ x and xv^ y are given by

^

xvi x
v^

xi y

v^ m1
x
;
nGi

i 1; 2; ; NG ;

v^ m1
y
;
nGi

i 1; 2; ; NG ;

xvi x vm1
xi ;

i NG 1; NG 2; ; N;

v^
xi y

i NG 1; NG 2; ; N;

vm1
yi ;

with

P~ m1
0:
nG i

64

and the adjacent right-hand side vector which involves the

boundary conditions is given by
v^

blvx v^ x Cl ;

bl y v^ y Cl :

65

The velocity gradient components at the boundary and in

the domain nodes are calculated from

v^ m1
c 21 m1
x

C v^ ;
p zl
pzlu ui xi
v^ m1
y
p zl

66

c 21 m1
C v^ :
pzlu ui yi

P Cli

P~ m1
P~ Cl ;
nG i

67

with the coefficients

P~ Cli
P~

2Hlk dki 2 cpl dli ;

68

Cli Glk dki ;

P~ Cl

69

@ 
@ 
C C21 v^ m1
C C21 v^ m1 :
Dt ;xlu ui xi
Dt ;ylu ui xi

70

The terms P~ Cli and P Cli arise from the left-hand side and the
term P~ Cl from the right-hand side of Eq. (20). Application of
the boundary conditions (21) yields the following system of
NG algebraic equations for calculating the pressure correction at the boundary
P~ P~

P~

A x b ;

71
~

with the system matrix AP in the form

~

APli P~ Cli :

72
P~

The vector of unknowns x is given by

~
xPl

P~ m1
;
l

73

P~ m1
2 Cli
P~ Cl ;
nGi
P~

The pressure gradient correction components at

the boundary and in the domain nodes are calculated from

P~ m1
c 21 ~ m1

c P :
p zl
pzlu ui i

77

After discretising the boundary, and transforming and

discretising the domain integrals in Eq. (24) as described,
the following compact form is obtained
m1
T Cli Ti

T Cli

T m1
0;
nG i

78

p
T Cli 2 Hlk dki 2 cl dli 2

1 
m1
C C21 vm1 C ;ylu C21
ui vyi ;
a ;xlu ui xi
79

Cli Glk dki :

80

The terms in the upper coefficients that involve C ;jlu

came from the dual reciprocity transformation of the
convective term. The other terms correspond to the diffusive
term. Application of the boundary conditions (8) and (9)
yields the following system of N algebraic equations for
calculating the unknown temperatures in the domain and
unknown temperatures or temperature derivatives at the
boundary
AT xT bT ;

81
T

with the system matrix A in the form

ATli xi TCli 1 2 xi T Cli :

82

The vector of unknowns xT is given by

xTi xi Tij1 1 2 xi
xTi Ti ;

T j1
;
nGi

i 1;2;;NG ;

i NG 1;NG 2;;N;

74

83
84

and the adjacent right-hand side vector which involves the

boundary conditions is given by
bTl 21 2 xi T Cli TGi 2 xi T Cli FGi :

and the adjacent right-hand side vector is given by

~
bPl

Pressure correction in the domain nodes is calculated

from the discrete analogue of the formula (20), namely
"
#
1
P~ m1
m1
~Pm1
~
:
76
2 p P~ Cl Glk
Hlk Pk
l
cl
nG k

with the coefficients

After discretising the boundary, and transforming and

discretising the domain integrals in PCPE (20), the
following compact form is obtained
~ m1
P~ Cli Pi

75

85

The boundary conditions indicator xi is defined to be 0

for pi [ GD < V and to be 1 for pi [ GN : The temperature
gradient components at the boundary and in the domain

B. Sarler et al. / Engineering Analysis with Boundary Elements 28 (2004) 2341

The Neumann boundary conditions with FG 0 apply at

both insulated boundaries

nodes are calculated from

T m1
c 21 m1

c T
:
p zl
pzlu ui i

31

86

FG px ; p2
y 0;

89

FG px ; p
y 0:

90

The posed classical natural convection problem can be

written in a dimensionless form by defining the dimensionless co-ordinates p~ x and p~ y ; namely

4. Numerical examples
4.1. Numerical implementation
The elements of the involved four boundary element
matrices G; H; Gc ; and Hc ; are all calculated analytically.
The corresponding formulas for the constant field shape
functions can be found in Ref. [43] and the closed-form
expressions for the linear shape functions will appear
elsewhere. The fundamental solution reference radius is set
to r0 1; the heuristic velocity pressure relaxation factor
Dt 1; and body force relaxation factor to crel 1: The node
position f is set to one-half in linear elements and two-third
in quadratic elements. This choice assures an equidistant
arrangement of the boundary nodes of two adjacent equallength and type boundary elements positioned on an straight
line. The temperature and velocity iteration tolerances are set
to Te 1023 ; ve 1023 : The related criterion (26) is
evaluated in all grid-points. The involved systems of
algebraic Eqs. (51), (62), (71), and (81) are in the present
work solved by the standard subroutines from Ref. [44]. The
regular systems (62) and (81) are solved by LU decomposition and back-substitution by using sub-routines LUDCMP
and LUBKSB. The systems (51) and (71) are singular since
the pressure and pressure corrections are unknown up to an
additive constant [45] in the two posed Neumann problems.
Thus these systems are solved by the Householder reduction
to bi-diagonal form and QR diagonalisation with shifts [42, p.
469] by using sub-routines SVDCMP and SVBKSB. At this
point it should be noted that intensive investigation is
underway to solve both systems (62) and (81) in an iterative
way. The first contributions to this issue are described in Ref.
[26]. The DRBEM code has been coded in Compaq Visual
Fortran with double precision accuracy. Test cases have been
run on an HP-Omnibook XE3 notebook with an Intel Pentium
III 933 MHz processor and 256 MB memory.
4.2. Differentially heated rectangular cavity
Consider a rectangular impermeable cavity p2
x # px #
# py # p
with
heated
boundary
at
p

p2
y
x and
x

cooled boundary at px px : The boundaries at py p2

y and
the boundary at py p
are
insulated.
The
heated
and
the
y
cooled boundaries are subject to Dirichlet boundary
conditions
2
p
x py

TG p2
x ; py T ;

87

2
TG p
x ; py T :

88

pj 2 p0j
;
Dpy

p~ j

91

2
with Dpj p
j 2 pj : The cavity height/width aspect ratio
A; the dimensionless velocity v~ ; and the dimensionless
~ are defined as follows
pressure P;

Dpy
;
Dpx

92

v~

Dpy
v;
a

93

K
P:
P~
amD

94

The porous media Rayleigh number Rap ; and the Darcy

number Da; both based on cavity height, are defined as
Rap

@KgbDpy DT
;
amD

95

Da

K
;
Dpy 2

96

with DT T 2 T 2 : The dimensionless temperature T~ is

defined as
T 2 Tref
;
T~
DT

97

Table 1
FVM reference solution in terms of Rayleigh number, Darcy number,
Nusselt number Nuref and streamfunction minimum c0ref
min at different aspect
ratios and porous media Rayleigh numbers
A

Rap

Da

Nuref

c0ref
min

1.0
1.0
0.5
1.0
2.0
1.0

25
50
100
100
100
100

1023
1023
1023
1023
1023
1025

1.2643
1.6884
2.9967
2.4262
1.5384
3.0296

21.4440
22.4750
23.1411
23.9219
23.5643
24.6151

All solutions with A 1 are obtained using a mesh consisting of 202

202 40; 804 grid-points that correspond to 100 100 10; 000 square
finite volumes. The solution with A 0:5 is obtained by mesh consisting of
402 402 81; 204 square finite volumes. The solution with A 2:0 is
obtained by mesh consisting of 102 202 20; 604 square finite volumes.
The residue has been chosen sufficiently small and the mesh sufficiently fine
that further refinement gives no change in the five presented digits of the
Nusselt number and the streamfunction extreme.

B. Sarler et al. / Engineering Analysis with Boundary Elements 28 (2004) 2341

32
Table 2
The seven DRBEM meshes used
Mesh

Dimension

Boundary elements type

Layout

NG

NG

NV

I
II
III
IV
V
VI
VII

1.0
1.0
1.0
1.0
1.0
0.5
2.0

20 20
20 20
20 20
30 30
30 30
40 20
10 20

Discontinuous constant
Discontinuous linear
Discontinuous quadratic
Discontinuous linear
Discontinuous linear
Discontinuous linear
Discontinuous linear

Uniform
Uniform
Uniform
Uniform
Non-uniform
Uniform
Uniform

80
80
80
120
120
120
60

80
160
240
240
240
240
120

400
400
400
900
900
800
200

480
560
640
1140
1140
1040
320

The length of the boundary elements and positions of the domain nodes increases for 7% from the edge in the non-uniform mesh.

and the Boussinesq reference temperature is set to Tref

1=2T 2 T 2 :
The dimensionless mass, momentum and energy conservation equations become
~ v 0;
7~

98

Da ~
~ 2 v~ Da mB 7
~ 2 v~ Rap Ti
~ y;
7~vv~ 27P
mD
Pr e 2

99

~ vT
~ 7~ 2 T;
~
7~
with the Brinkman viscosity based Prandtl number
m
Pr B :
@a

100

101

The corresponding dimensionless boundary conditions

are given by
v~ nG 0;

102

v~ nG 0;

103

v~ 0;

104


~TG ^ 1 ; p~ y ^ 1 ;
2A
2

105


1
F~ G p~ x ; ^
0:
2

106

Let us fix e 1; Pr 10; and the ratio between the both

viscosities mB =mD 1: The posed natural convection
problem can now be numerically investigated through
variation of the three dimensionless parameters only:
the aspect ratio A; the vertical filtration Rayleigh number
Rap ; and the vertical Darcy number Da:
4.3. Reference solution
Since the analytical solutions to the problem is not
known, the characteristics of the developed method could
be assessed only by comparing them with the solution
obtained by some other numerical method. Surprisingly,
the present authors have not found any fine-grid reference
solution to the defined problem in the literature as, for
example, exists for the natural convection of laminar

Fig. 1. Schematics of the meshes IV (uniform) and V (non-uniform). The

boundary grid-points are represented with X, the domain grid-points are
represented with W, and the borders between the boundary elements are
represented with . (a) Mesh IV (uniform) and (b) mesh V (non-uniform).

B. Sarler et al. / Engineering Analysis with Boundary Elements 28 (2004) 2341

33

Fig. 2. Isotherms and velocity vectors for A 1; Rap 100; Da 1023 : Same symbols as in Fig. 1. (a) Mesh I, (b) mesh II, (c) mesh III, and (d) mesh IV.

Newtonian incompressible fluid in differentially heated

rectangular cavity [46]. Instead, the FVM is used to
generate a fine-grid reference solution to the governing
equations. This discretisation technique is well known and
a detailed description is not needed, only the main
characteristics are presented hereinafter. Discrete temperature and pressure values are computed at the nodes of
computational grid defined on the two-dimensional
rectangular domain, while the velocity components are
calculated at the nodes of two staggered sub-grids. The
conservation equations are integrated over the corresponding control volumes, leading to a local balance of the
fluxes through the surfaces of the volume. The integrated
equations are discretised using a combination of the
centered and upwind schemes, according to the value of

the local mesh Peclet number (the hybrid scheme of

Patankar [12]). As the momentum equation is formulated
in terms of the primitive variables (velocity and pressure),
the iterative procedure includes a pressure correction
calculation method to solve the pressure velocity coupling. The code uses the classical SIMPLE technique [12]
for the pressure and velocity correction. The set of linear
discretised equations derived from each conservation
equation is solved using an alternating direction implicit
(ADI) procedure allowing for the use of the fast Thomas
algorithm to solve tridiagonal equation systems. The
convergence criterion is based on the average residue of
the continuity equation on the whole domain
and convergence is reached when this residue is less
than 1027.

34

B. Sarler et al. / Engineering Analysis with Boundary Elements 28 (2004) 2341

Fig. 3. Dimensionless horizontal velocity V~ x at p~ x 0 as a function of cavity height for A 1; Rap 100: Dots represent the reference FVM solution. The
solid line represents the calculated global interpolation of the velocity component. (a) Da 1023 ; mesh IV; (b) Da 1025 ; mesh IV; (c) Da 1023 ; mesh V.

The validation of the numerical code was performed

over a large range of parameters for purely thermal
natural convection in fluids [47,48] or in porous media.
The numerical method was successfully used for solving
double diffusive natural convection problems in fully [4] or
partially [49] filled porous cavities, using the extended
Brinkman formulation of the Darcy law. The FVM
calculations were performed on a NEC-SX5 supercomputer.
4.4. Discussion of the results
The main purpose of the numerical test presented in this
paper is to investigate the convergence and robustness of the
developed method.

The DRBEM solution is compared with the reference

solution for the six sets of dimensionless parameters listed in
Table 1. The parameters of the seven DRBEM meshes used
in the computations are shown in Table 2. Examples of
uniform and non-uniform meshes are depicted in Fig. 1.
The following discretisation errors are involved in the
present DRBEM formulations: discretisation error due to the
shape function representation of the fields on the boundary,
the discretisation error due to the global approximation of the
fields in the domain, and the discretisation error that occurs
by the boundary integral representation of the domain
integrals of the global approximation functions. They
interplay in the following characteristics of the developed
method.

B. Sarler et al. / Engineering Analysis with Boundary Elements 28 (2004) 2341

35

Fig. 4. Dimensionless horizontal velocity V~ y at p~ x 0 as a function of cavity width for A 1; Rap 100: Dots represent the reference FVM solution. The solid
line represents the calculated global interpolation of the velocity component. (a) Da 1023 ; mesh IV; (b) Da 1025 ; mesh IV; (c) Da 1023 ; mesh V.

The corresponding isotherms and velocity vector are for

aspect ratio 1, porous media Rayleigh number 100, and
Darcy number 1023 shown in Fig. 2. All figures show
qualitative correctness of the temperature and velocity
fields.
The comparison of calculated dimensionless horizontal
velocity with the reference solution is shown for Rap
100; Da 1023 in Fig. 3(a), and for Rap 100; Da
1025 in Fig. 3(b) and (c). The match between the
results shown in Fig. 3(a) is almost perfect. However in
the DRBEM results, oscillations are present in cases with
Da 1025 : These oscillators are due to the extremely

thin velocity boundary layer and the relative coarse

DRBEM discretisation. The comparisons of Fig. 3(b)
and (c) show how the DRBEM error can be suppressed by
a redistribution of the nodes into boundary layer by using
the non-uniform mesh. The same conclusions are
valid also for the dimensionless vertical velocity shown
in Fig. 4.
The comparison of calculated dimensionless midplane
and surface temperature with the reference solution is
shown for Rap 100; Da 1023 in Fig. 5(a) and (b) and
for Rap 100; Da 1025 in Fig. 5(c) and (d).
The comparison of the results between Fig. 5(a) and (b)

36

B. Sarler et al. / Engineering Analysis with Boundary Elements 28 (2004) 2341

Fig. 5. Dimensionless temperature T~ at p~ x and p~ x 0 as a function of cavity width for A 1; Rap 100: (a) Da 1023 ; mesh II; (b) Da 1023 ; mesh IV; (c)
Da 1025 ; mesh II; (d) Da 1025 ; mesh IV.

shows convergence of the method with finer mesh, and

comparison of the results between Fig. 5(c) and (d) shows
convergence of the method with mesh redistribution.
A comparison between the calculated local Nusselt
number at the heated boundary and the reference one is for
Rap 100; Da 1023 depicted in Fig. 6(a) and (b) and for
Rap 100; Da 1025 in Fig. 6(c) and (d). The solid dots
represent the heat flux Nusng calculated from the integral
equation (i.e. the calculated unknown boundary heat fluxes
in grid-points) and the solid line represents the calculated
boundary heat flux Nuc from the global approximation of
the fields.
The comparison of the results between Fig. 6(a) and (b)
shows convergence of the results with finer mesh.

Comparison of the results between Fig. 6(c) and (d) shows

convergence of the results with mesh redistribution. The
discrepancy of the DRBEM and FVM results is quite big in
cases with Da 1025 because of the thin boundary layer that
is difficult to be represented by coarse meshes used in present
DRBEM. However, at least Nuc behaves qualitatively
correct. The finer mesh Nusng develops an oscillation near
the bottom boundary. This could be explained by the fact that
such primitive discontinuous linear order of boundary
element field shape functions [42] could not properly
represent the boundary heat flux near the corner where it
experiences a discontinuity.
Fig. 7 shows the calculated streamlines for A 1;
Rap 100; Da 1023 and three different aspect ratios

B. Sarler et al. / Engineering Analysis with Boundary Elements 28 (2004) 2341

37

Fig. 6. Hot side Nusselt number as a function of cavity height for A 1; Rap 100: Dots represent the reference FVM solution. The solid circles represent the
calculated local Nusselt number in boundary grid-points, evaluated from the boundary heat fluxes. The solid line denotes the calculated local Nusselt number
from the global approximation of the heat flux. (a) Da 1023 ; mesh II; (b) Da 1023 ; mesh IV; (c) Da 1025 ; mesh II; (d) Da 1025 ; mesh IV.

obtained by using the meshes II, VI, and VII. In this paper
the Nuc and the streamfunction have been calculated
through the global approximation of the thermal and
velocity fields. Related analytical expressions are summarised in Appendices A and B.
Table 3a gives a comparison between the DRBEM
solution and the reference solution in terms of the streamfunction minimum for the six different physical situations from
Table 1. The CPU time for solving the problem with A 1;
and Ra 100 is approximately 5 min for Da 1023 and
around 7 min for Da 1025 with the Mesh IV on the
computational platform defined in Section 4.1.
The accuracy degrades with higher porous media
Rayleigh number and smaller Darcy number. A comparison

of the results obtained with meshes II, IV, and V shows

convergence of the method with finer discretisation and mesh
redistribution. The results with meshes I, II, and III, where the
order of the boundary elements have been increased show no
significant change in the results obtained for the present noslip no-penetration boundary conditions and peacewise
constant temperature and heat flux boundary conditions.
The number of required iterations to reach the solution
grows with decreasing A; increasing Rap ; and decreasing
Da; as shown in Table 3a. The relative difference in the
calculated streamfunction minimum between the DRBEM
and FVM method is always less than 9%, even for
the physically most severe case, calculated with the coarse
mesh II.

38

B. Sarler et al. / Engineering Analysis with Boundary Elements 28 (2004) 2341

Fig. 7. Streamlines. (a) A 1:0; Rap 100; Da 1023 ; mesh II. (b) A 0:5; Rap 100; Da 1023 ; mesh VI. (c) A 2:0; Rap 100; Da 1023 ; mesh
VII. All streamlines are equidistantly spaced with 0.25 step.

Table 3b gives a comparison between the DRBEM

solution and the reference solution in terms of the
Nusselt number for the six different physical situations
from Table 1.
The Nusselt number of the DRBEM solution is
calculated in two different ways. The first one (denoted
with subscript sng) originates from the direct calculation of
the normal components of the temperature derivatives on
the boundary from the equation system (81). The second one
(denoted with subscript c) originates from the derivation of
the global approximation representation (34) of the
temperature field.
The accuracy of the calculated Nusselt number as a
function of the dimensionless physical parameters and
meshes used behaves similar as accuracy of the streamfunction minimum.

Table 3a
Accuracy of the DRBEM solution in terms of streamfunction minimum for
different porous media Rayleigh numbers and Darcy numbers as a function
of meshing from Fig. 1(a,b,c)
Mesh
I
II
II
III
II
IV
II
IV
V
VI
VII

A
1.0
1.0
1.0
1.0
1.0
1.0
1.0
1.0
1.0
0.5
2.0

Rap

Da

c0min

Dc0min

Mmax

100
25
50
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100

1023
23

23.8881
21.4321
22.4531
23.8712
23.8436
23.8759
24.2788
24.3725
24.4493
23.1031
23.4994

20.0086
20.0082
20.0088
20.0129
20.0199
20.0117
20.0857
20.0526
20.0359
20.0120
20.0182

159
123
144
158
203
208
269
285
306
157
142

10
1023
1023
1023
1023
1025
1025
1025
1023
1023

0ref
0ref
Dc0min c0min 2 c0ref
min =c min with c min listed in Table 1. Mmax
represents the number of required iterations for reaching the convergence
with e T 0:001; e v 0:001:

B. Sarler et al. / Engineering Analysis with Boundary Elements 28 (2004) 2341

Table 3b
Accuracy of the DRBEM solution in terms of Nusselt number for different
aspect ratios and porous media Rayleigh numbers as a function of meshing
from Fig. 1
Mesh

Rap

Da

Nusng

Nuc

DNusng

DNuc

I
II
II
III
II
IV
II
IV
V
VI
VII

1.0
1.0
1.0
1.0
1.0
1.0
1.0
1.0
1.0
0.5
2.0

100
25
50
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100

1023
1023
1023
1023
1023
1023
1025
1025
1025
1023
1023

2.3939
1.2553
1.6644
2.3691
2.3911
2.4062
2.7507
2.8300
2.7881
2.9337
1.5036

2.3136
1.2519
1.6554
2.3521
2.3540
2.3920
2.6896
2.8197
2.9932
2.9073
1.4978

20.0133
20.0071
20.0142
20.0235
20.0145
20.0082
20.0921
20.0659
20.0797
20.0210
20.0226

20.0464
20.0098
20.0195
20.0305
20.0297
20.0141
20.1122
20.0693
20.0120
20.0298
20.0264

DNu DNu 2 DNuref =DNuref with Nuref listed in Table 1. Subscripts

sng, and c of Nu are explained in the text.

5. Conclusions
This paper describes the first attempt at solving the
problem of Darcy Brinkman natural convection in porous
media by the DRBEM. Results are obtained for the
rectangular cavity with aspect ratio 0.5, 1, and 2, porous
media Rayleigh numbers 25, 50, and 100, and Darcy
numbers 1023, and 1025. Discretisation is based on the
most simple geometrically straight line, constant, linear,
and quadratic field shape function boundary elements. The
dual reciprocity transformation is based on augmented
scaled thin plate splines. The solution is shown for
uniform and non-uniform meshes. The calculation of the
pressure, velocity, pressure correction and temperature
gradients is performed through the global approximation
functions instead the integral representation formula [41].
This approach is much simpler and circumvents the use of
the hyper-singular integrals. The calculation of the Nusselt
number has been performed in two different ways in
which the global approximation function representation
has been found to be physically more consistent. The
calculation of the streamfunction and Nusselt number
from the global approximation representation of the fields
leads to closed form expressions as shown in Appendices
A and B.
It has been found that the physics of the problem are
qualitatively properly described even with the very coarsemesh DRBEM results, which quantitatively do not differ
substantially from the fine-mesh FVM values.
The results show convergence [50] of the h- (mesh
refinement, compare results between meshes II, IV), and r(redistribution, compare results between the meshes IV and
V) types. The results are for the present problem almost
insensitive to p- (increased order of boundary field shape
functions, compare results between the meshes, I, II and III)
refinement type.
The strength of the present method lies in the accuracy,
robustness and in the simple mesh structure, which can

39

straightforwardly cope with geometrically complicated

shapes. One drawback is the more complicated formulation of the solution procedure compared with the
established numerical methods and the resulting full
asymmetric matrices that are difficult to solve in an
economic way. Successful solution of the Darcy model
[41] and Darcy Brinkman model in the present paper
shows that the represented method might in the future
potentially be extended to a wide variety of porous media
situations in engineering practice.
Therefore, our future efforts will be oriented towards
physically more involved situations and towards numerical method improvements. In the first direction, solutions
for higher Rayleigh number flows will be attempted, as
well as solutions for inhomogeneous, anisotropic and
temperature-dependent materials, which frequently appear
in practical problems. The described principal solution
procedure elements would most probably remain
unchanged in such extensions. A formulation of the
DRBEM solution for physical model that involves
temperature dependent material properties and inhomogeneous permeability is shown in Ref. [51]. Another
interesting field of application for the present method are
in external natural convection problems. In such cases,
that extend to infinity, another type of global interpolation functions that decay with rn should replace the
ones used in the present paper to properly match the farboundary conditions. In the second direction, Trefftz
method can be used to replace the boundary integrations,
as shown in Ref. [53] and generalised in Ref. [52] for
non-linear transport phenomena. Since higher Rayleigh
number flow situations require more dense meshes, the
iterative solution of the relevant systems of algebraic
equations would be of utmost importance. For this
purpose, very recently developed DRBEM iterative
solvers [26] will be employed.

Acknowledgements
The Slovenian and the French authors are grateful for
the support provided through bilateral French Slovene
scientific programme Proteus. The English author is
grateful for the support provided through European
concerted action COST-P3: Simulation of Physical
Phenomena in Technological Applications. The Slovenian
authors would like to acknowledge the Republiska uprava
za jedrsko varnost (RUJV), Ljubljana for financial
support. The French authors would like to acknowledge
the Institut de Protection et Surete Nucleaire (IPSN),
Cadarache for financial support. The reference solution
calculations were performed on the NEC-SX5
supercomputer of the CNRS at IDRIS (Orsay) under
grant 00-0336 from the Engineering Sciences Department
of the CNRS.

B. Sarler et al. / Engineering Analysis with Boundary Elements 28 (2004) 2341

40

functions

Appendix A. Calculation of the streamfunction

The velocity streamfunction relationship are given by
vx

0
c;
py

vy 2

0
c;
px

A1

and the streamfunction is calculated from the velocity

components as
py
px
c0
vx dpy ;
c0 2
vy dpx :
A2
py2

px2

A variation of the velocity components over the domain

V and boundary G is based on global approximation
functions
vj < cn C21
nm vjm ;

A3

and, respectively, the streamfunction can be calculated as

py
c0
cn dpy C21
nm vxm ;
py2

c 2

px
px2

A4

cn dpx C21
nm vym :

The involved integrals are evaluated analytically, namely

py
1
cn dpy 2py 6p2x p2y 6p3x arctan
9
px
q
2
2
2
2
A5
3py 3px py log px py C;

cN1 dpy py px 2 p0x C;

A6

p2y
2 p0y py C;
2

A7

cN2 dpy

cN3 dpy py C:

A8

Appendix B. Calculation of the Nusselt number

In the present work, the local Nusselt number Nupy is
calculated as

Tpx2 ; py
px
;
B1
Nupy
ADT
and the overall cavity Nusselt number Nu is calculated as
py
p ; p dy
p x x2 y
p
Nu y2
:
B2
ADT
The variation of the temperature over the domain V
and boundary G is based on the global approximation

Tpx ; py <
c p ; p C21 T :
px
px n x y nm m
Respectively, Nupy can be evaluated as

c p ; p C21 T
px n x2 y nm m
Nuc py
;
ADT
and Nu can be evaluated as
py
cn px2 ; py dpy C21
nm Tm
py2 px
Nu
:
ADT

B3

B4

B5

The involved integrals are evaluated analytically,

namely




q

py
cn dpy px 2px arctan 2py 122log p2x p2y C;
px
px
B6

c dp p C;
px N1 y y

B7

c dp C;
px N2 y

B8

c dp C:
px N3 y

B9

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