Free Convection inside Greenhouse Cavity Partially Filled with Bottom Porous Layer: The Influence of Soil's Porosity and Permeability

This article presents a geothermal investigation numerically performed on the selection of soils for greenhouses.The primary objective is to analyse the effects of soil properties on heat transfer within greenhouse configurations.Steady free convection phenomenon inside a two-dimensional cavity configuration partially filled from below by a porous layer, and covered by a semi-elliptical upper boundary, mimicking a greenhouse above the soil.The analysis was conducted using the Galerkin finite element technique.The cavity is subjected to a hot isothermal temperature Th along the bottom wall, while a cold temperature Tc is applied to the top wall.To simulate momentum transfer in a porous medium, the Darcy-Brinkman model, due to the non-Darcian flow, is used.This work covered numerous parameters, including Rayleigh numbers (10 4 <Ra<10 6 ), Darcy numbers (10 -4 <Da<10 -2 ), and porosities (0.3<<0.9).Findings show that heat transfer is significantly affected by raising the Rayleigh number.Additionally, the impact of porosity is relatively small, while the rise in permeability through increasing the Darcy number value enhances the heat transfer for high Rayleigh values.In conclusion, the study demonstrates that Rayleigh and Darcy numbers play crucial roles in optimizing heat transfer for greenhouse applications, while porosity has a lesser effect.