Unlocking the Thermal Efficiency of Irregular Open-Cell Metal Foams: A Computational Exploration of Flow Dynamics and Heat Transfer Phenomena

Qian Xu, Yunbing Wu, Ye Chen and Zhengwei Nie ()
Additional contact information
Qian Xu: School of Mechanical and Power Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing 211816, China
Yunbing Wu: School of Mechanical and Power Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing 211816, China
Ye Chen: School of Mechanical and Power Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing 211816, China
Zhengwei Nie: School of Mechanical and Power Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing 211816, China

Energies, 2024, vol. 17, issue 6, 1-21

Abstract: An open-cell metal foam has excellent characteristics such as low density, high porosity, high specific surface area, high thermal conductivity, and low mass due to its unique internal three-dimensional network structure. It has gradually become a new material for enhanced heat transfer in industrial equipment, new compact heat exchangers, microelectronic device cooling, etc. This research established a comprehensive three-dimensional structural model of open-cell metal foams utilizing Laguerre–Voronoi tessellations and employed computational fluid dynamics to investigate its flow dynamics and coupled heat transfer performance. By exploring the impact of foam microstructure on flow resistance and heat transfer characteristics, the study provided insights into the overall convective heat transfer performance across a range of foam configurations with varying pore densities and porosities. The findings revealed a direct correlation between convective heat transfer coefficient ( h ) and pressure drop (Δ P ) with increasing Reynolds number (Re), accompanied by notable changes in fluid turbulence kinetic energy ( e ) and temperature ( T ), ultimately influencing heat transfer efficiency. Furthermore, the analysis demonstrated that alterations in porosity ( ε ) and pore density significantly affected unit pressure drop (Δ P/L ) and convective heat transfer coefficient ( h ). This study identified an optimal configuration, highlighting a metal foam with a pore density of 20 PPI and a porosity of 95% as exhibiting superior overall convective heat transfer performance.

Keywords: Laguerre–Voronoi tessellation; open-cell metal foam; coupled heat transfer; pressure drop; computational fluid dynamics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/17/6/1305/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/17/6/1305/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:17:y:2024:i:6:p:1305-:d:1353787

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().