Influence of natural convection on the heat explosion in porous media

Abstract

The interaction between natural convection and the heat explosion in porous media is studied. The model consists of a nonlinear heat equation coupled with the Darcy equation for the motion of an incompressible fluid in a porous medium. Numerical simulations are performed using the alternate direction finite difference method and the fast Fourier transform method. A complex behavior of solutions is observed, including periodic and aperiodic oscillations and an oscillating heat explosion. It is shown that convection can decrease the risk of the explosion due to additional mixing and heat loss, but it can also facilitate the explosion due to temperature oscillations arising as a result of instability of stationary convective regimes.