The forced convection in a saturated porous medium subjected to heating with a permeable wall perpendicular to the flow direction is investigated analytically. It is shown that the heat transfer rate from the permeable wall to the fluid can be described by a simple equation: Nu = Pc. As compared with Nu proportional to Pe(1/2) for the case of boundary lay flow over a flat plate embedded in a porous medium, the linear relationship between Nu and Pc indicates that heat transfer can be remarkably enhanced for the case when the fluid Row direction is opposite to the heat Row direction. To verify the analytical solution, experiments were carried out in a porous structure consisting of glass beads heated by a finned surface. The analytical solution is shown to be reasonable agreement with the experimental data. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.