ORIGINAL PAPER The effect of obstacles’ characteristics on heat transfer and fluid flow in a porous channel S Chatti*, C Ghabi and A Mhimid Laboratory of Thermal and Energy Systems Studies, National Engineering School of Monastir, Monastir University, 5019 Monastir, Tunisia Received: 21 November 2017 / Accepted: 17 May 2018 Abstract: The fluid flow and heat transfer around obstacles are an engineering and research interest. This paper dealt with this matter in a porous channel. It explained the features of the presence of hot solid obstacles in porous media. These obstacles were located at different positions inside the medium. The particularity of this work is coupling two complex phenomena: the heat transfer in porous media and the presence of hot solid obstacles. This is the first time that these phenomenona were studied. The diffusion–convection equation is adopted to calculate the temperature. The viscous heat dissipation and compression work due to the pressure were not taken into consideration. This choice and assumptions were based on our previous work. The numerical simulation was done using the generalized lattice Boltzmann method. To ensure that our numerical code is free of errors, we resorted to benchmark cases. Then, we were interested in the effect of triangular and rectangular obstacles on the heat transfer and fluid flow in a porous channel. The isotherms and the velocity contours were studied for several dynamic parameters. The fluid behavior was described by the streamlines and the velocity fields. The velocity profile was followed along the porous channel. These results allow concluding that the Reynolds number increment led to the increase in the heat transfer and the fluid velocity. The increment of the distance between the inlet and the obstacle generates the same conclusion. Keywords: Thermal lattice Boltzmann method; Porous channel; Laminar fluid flow; Convection; Obstacle position and geometries PACS No.: 44.05.?e; 44.25.?f; 44.30.?v; 02.70.-c List of symbols c Lattice spacing c i Discrete velocity for D2Q9 model c pf Specific heat capacity of fluid c pc Specific heat capacity of solid c 0 Coefficient c 1 Coefficient Da Darcy number dx,dy Spatial step f Density distribution function f eq Density equilibrium distribution function F Total body force F e Geometric factor G An external force g 0 Gravity acceleration g Thermal distribution function g eq Thermal equilibrium distribution function H Channel width i Lattice index in the x direction j Lattice index in the y direction K Permeability k Thermal conductivity m Fluid particle mass n The position on the right boundary p Pressure Pr Prandtl number Ra Rayleigh number Re Reynolds number T Fluid temperature t Time T c Cold temperature T h Hot temperature U Fluid velocity U in X-Component velocity in the inlet U 0 Top wall velocity m Temporal velocity m n Y-Component velocity of the upper plate m 0 Injection velocity *Corresponding author, E-mail: chatti_saida@yahoo.com Indian J Phys https://doi.org/10.1007/s12648-018-1272-7 Ó 2018 IACS