Experimental and Numerical Study of Transport Phenomena in a Simulated Hydrothermal Crystal Growth System of Fluid-Saturated Porous Layer

A simulated, non-pressurized hydrothermal system consisting of a fluid-superposed porous layer is fabricated and used for visualization and measurement of the temperature field using liquid crystal thermography. The system is used for various boundary conditions with pure glycerine as the working fluid and the porous layer is made of 3mm diameter glass beads. Experimental data is recorded using a color CCD camera and flow visualization is obtained through a long exposure video photography. A calibration is performed to relate the temperature with scattered colors at an orthogonal angle to the incoming white light sheet. Quantitative temperature data is obtained through this calibration and compared with the numerical predictions. For numerical studies the system is modeled as a composite layer of fluid and porous charge using the Darcy-Brinkman-Forchheimer flow model. A two-dimensional curvilinear algorithm using finite volume technique with a non-staggered grid is used to simulate the temperature field and transport phenomena for various Rayleigh–Darcy number combinations of varying aspect ratio. The results, for the first time, make an attempt towards understanding the transport process in hydrothermal system through both numerical simulation and experimental validation.