Faculty Publications
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Item Comparison of fluid flow and heat transfer through metal foams and wire mesh by using CFD(Bentham Science Publishers, 2019) Kotresha, B.; Gnanasekaran, N.Background: The unique structural characteristics of the metal foams, such as low density, large surface area, ability to increase turbulence, and increased heat transfer efficiency, are the advantages associated with thermal applications such as electronics cooling, refrigeration air conditioning, etc. The porous metal foam structures are extensively used to enhance heat transfer. Objective: This paper discusses the numerical simulations of a vertical channel filled with metal foam and wire mesh. The fluid flow and heat transfer phenomena of a wire mesh are compared with two different types of metal foams. Metal foams are made of aluminium and copper while the wire mesh is made of brass. The porosity of the metallic porous structures varies from 0.85 to 0.95. Methods: A Darcy extended Forchheirmer model is considered for solving fluid flow through the porous media while the heat transfer through the porous media is predicted using local thermal non-equilibrium model. Results: Initially, the results obtained using the proposed numerical procedures are compared with experimental results available in the literature. The numerical simulations suggest that the pressure drop increases as the velocity of the fluid increases and decreases as the porosity increases. The heat transfer coefficient and Nusselt number are determined for both the metal foams and the wire mesh. Conclusion: The Nusselt number obtained for wire mesh shows almost 90% of the copper metal foam in the same porosity range. The numerical results suggest that the brass wire mesh porous medium can also be used for enhancement of heat transfer. In this article, patents have been discussed. © 2019 Bentham Science Publishers.Item Numerical Simulations of Flow-Assisted Mixed Convection in a Vertical Channel Filled with High Porosity Metal Foams(Taylor and Francis Ltd., 2020) Kotresha, B.; Gnanasekaran, N.; Balaji, C.In this work, two-dimensional numerical simulations of flow-assisted mixed convection in a vertical channel filled with high porosity metal foams have been carried out by using the commercial ANSYS FLUENT. In order to enhance heat transfer, the vertical channel is filled with aluminum metal foams of different pores per inch (PPI). Four different metal foams PPI 10, 20, 30, and 45, with porosity values varying from 0.90 to 0.95 are considered in this study. The geometry under consideration consists of metal foam attached to the aluminum plate in the vertical channel and the resulting problem becomes conjugate heat transfer. The metal foam region is considered as a homogeneous porous medium with the Darcy Extended Forchheirmer model to evaluate the flow characteristics while the local thermal non-equilibrium heat transfer model is considered for the heat transfer analysis. Initially, numerical results are compared with the experimental results available in literature and the agreement was found to be good. Parametric studies show that as the metal foam PPI increases, the pressure drop increases, while the heat transfer is seen to increase with an increase in the pore density of the metal foam. © 2019, © 2019 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.Item Numerical study on maximizing heat transfer and minimizing flow resistance behavior of metal foams owing to their structural properties(Elsevier Masson SAS 62 rue Camille Desmoulins Issy les Moulineaux Cedex 92442, 2021) Trilok, T.; Gnanasekaran, N.Despite many research works considering metal foams largely involving heat exchange applications, an overall comprehensive view on the performance of metal foams based on their structural properties is hitherto unaddressed in the literature. In the present work, an air forced convection-laminar flow in a vertical channel is considered in which a heated plate along with metal foam is placed at the center. The plate is subject to constant heat flux condition to assess the performance of aluminum metal foam based on their degree of inclination towards maximizing heat transfer and minimizing flow resistance behavior in a vertical channel corresponding to the combination of structural properties they possess. Heat transfer and flow phenomena pertaining to the metal foam are numerically modeled using Local Thermal Non-Equilibrium (LTNE) and Darcy–Forchheimer flow models, respectively to obtain key thermo-hydrodynamic parameters. Both the independent and the combined effects of foam structural parameters viz., porosity and pore density on Nusselt number and friction factor are discussed justifying the effects of interfacial specific surface area and interfacial heat transfer coefficient of fluid saturated foam samples. The Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) a multi attribute decision-making technique is applied to solve the multi objective function to determine the performance of metal foams measured on a scale of 0 to 1. Five distinct criteria are studied involving distributed weights of 0:1, 0.25:0.75, 0.5:0.5, 0.75:0.25 and 1:0 each representing amplitudes of varying importance given to maximizing heat transfer and minimizing flow resistance characteristics of metal foams. Global performance charts are obtained, featuring performance abilities of metal foam samples covering wide ranges of porosity ranging from 0.8 to 0.97 and pore densities ranging from 5PPI to 45PPI corresponding to a given criteria involving a specific weight distribution scenario. The present work provides performance characteristics of available as well as possible foam samples with an overview idea on the range of structural aspects of foam samples, where the enhanced ability of the foam to perform best in meeting the given criteria is witnessed. © 2020 Elsevier Masson SASItem Numerical consideration of LTNE and darcy extended forchheimer models for the analysis of forced convection in a horizontal pipe in the presence of metal foam(American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), 2021) Jadhav, P.H.; Gnanasekaran, N.; Arumuga Perumal, D.The intent of the current research work is to emphasize the computational modeling of forced convection heat dissipation in the presence of high porosity and thermal conductivity metallic foam in a horizontal pipe for different regimes of the fluid flow for a range of Reynolds number. A two-dimensional physical domain is considered in which Darcy extended Forchheimer (DEF) model is adopted in the aluminum metallic foam to predict the features of fluid flow and local thermal nonequilibrium (LTNE) model is employed for the analysis of heat transfer in a horizontal pipe for different flow regimes. The numerical results are initially matched with experimental and analytical results for the purpose of validation. The average Nusselt number for fully filled foam is found to be higher compared to other filling rate of metallic foams and the clear pipe at the cost of pressure drop. As an important finding, it has been observed that the laminar and transition flow gives higher heat transfer enhancement ratio and thermal performance factor compared to turbulent flow. This work resembles numerous industrial applications such as solar collectors, heat exchangers, electronic cooling, and microporous heat exchangers. The novelty of the work is the selection of suitable flow and thermal models in order to clearly assimilate the flow and heat transfer in metallic foam. The presence of aluminum metal foam is highlighted for the augmentation of heat dissipation in terms of PPI and porosity. The parametric study proposed in this work surrogates the complexity and cost involved in developing an expensive experimental setup. © 2021 American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). All rights reserved.Item Optimum design of heat exchanging device for efficient heat absorption using high porosity metal foams(Elsevier Ltd, 2021) Jadhav, P.H.; Gnanasekaran, N.The present research provides a numerical assessment of waste heat recovery system which contains high porosity metal foam that absorbs heat from the hot flue gases. Top wall of the heat exchanging device is designed as a sinusoidal corrugated/wavy wall. Three different wavelengths (Lw) of 39, 24.375 and 17.728 mm and three different wave amplitudes (a) of 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5 mm along with various heights of metallic foam of 0.25H, 0.5H and 0.75H are considered. Two different pore density of 20 and 40 with constant porosity of 0.937 are accomplished for the numerical investigation over wide range of fluid velocities. Local thermal equilibrium (LTE) and Darcy extended Forchheimer (DEF) models are employed at the metallic foam region; k-? turbulence model is accomplished at free flow region of the channel. The heat dissipation rate at the cold wall increases significantly to a maximum height of 0.5H and increases with increasing wave amplitudes of the channel at the expense of pressure drop. On account of smaller wavelength and higher wave amplitude, the heat absorption rate is found to be 26.25% - 32% more than the straight channel with 25% filling rate of metallic foams in the range of fluid velocity considered. © 2021 Elsevier LtdItem Performance evaluation of partially filled high porosity metal foam configurations in a pipe(Elsevier Ltd, 2021) Jadhav, P.H.; Gnanasekaran, N.; Arumuga Perumal, D.A.; Mobedi, M.In this contemporary research, a parametric analysis of partially filled high porosity metallic foams in a horizontal conduit is performed to augment heat transfer with reasonable pressure drop. The investigation includes six different models filled partly with aluminium foam by varying internal diameter of foams from the wall side and external diameter of foam from the core of the tube. The pore density of the foam ranges from 10 to 45 PPI and their porosity varies from 0.90 to 0.95. Flow dynamics are captured using Darcy Extended Forchheimer model for the porous filled region and two-equation turbulence k-? model employed in clear region of the fluid. The local thermal non-equilibrium assumption is incorporated in porous filled region of the conduit to compute the heat transport characteristics. The results showed that the thermal performance factor of 10 PPI aluminium foam performs close to the 10 PPI expensive copper foam. The performance factor is found to be higher for 30 PPI aluminium foam amongst the PPI's of the foam considered. However, the performance factor is found to be 2.93, 2.22 and 1.73 for 30PPI, 45 PPI and 20PPI with their porosities of 0.92, 0.90 and 0.90, respectively for the model 1, model 2 and model 3 at lower Reynolds number of 4500 and then it decreases progressively with increasing flow rates of the fluid. The results of average wall temperature, average Nusselt number and Colburn j factor are also evaluated to obtain best possible performance. © 2021Item Various trade-off scenarios in thermo-hydrodynamic performance of metal foams due to variations in their thickness and structural conditions(MDPI, 2021) Trilok, G.; Gnanasekaran, N.; Mobedi, M.The long standing issue of increased heat transfer, always accompanied by increased pressure drop using metal foams, is addressed in the present work. Heat transfer and pressure drop, both of various magnitudes, can be observed in respect to various flow and heat transfer influencing aspects of considered metal foams. In this regard, for the first time, orderly varying pore density (characterized by visible pores per inch, i.e., PPI) and porosity (characterized by ratio of void volume to total volume) along with varied thickness are considered to comprehensively analyze variation in the trade-off scenario between flow resistance minimization and heat transfer augmentation behavior of metal foams with the help of numerical simulations and TOPSIS (Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution) which is a multi-criteria decision-making tool to address the considered multi-objective problem. A numerical domain of vertical channel is modelled with zone of metal foam porous media at the channel center by invoking LTNE and Darcy–Forchheimer models. Metal foams of four thickness ratios are considered (1, 0.75, 0.5 and 0.25), along with varied pore density (5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 PPI), each at various porosity conditions of 0.8, 0.85, 0.9 and 0.95 porosity. Numerically obtained pressure and temperature field data are critically analyzed for various trade-off scenarios exhibited under the abovementioned variable conditions. A type of metal foam based on its morphological (pore density and porosity) and configurational (thickness) aspects, which can participate in a desired trade-off scenario between flow resistance and heat transfer, is illustrated. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.Item Performance score based multi-objective optimization for thermal design of partially filled high porosity metal foam pipes under forced convection(Elsevier Ltd, 2022) Jadhav, P.H.; Trilok, G.; Gnanasekaran, N.; Mobedi, M.Optimization study in flow through metal foams for heat exchanging applications is very much essential as it involves variety of fluid flow and structural properties. Moreover, the identification of best combinations of structural parameters of metal foams for simultaneous improvement of heat transfer and pressure drop is a pressing situation. In this work, six different metal foam configurations are considered for the enhancement of heat transfer in a circular conduit. The foam is aluminum with PPI varying from 10 to 45 and almost the same porosity (0.90-0.95). The aluminum foams are chosen from the available literature and they are partially filled in the conduit to reduce the pressure drop. For a constant heat flux condition, the goal is to find out the efficient metal foam and configurations when air is considered as a working fluid. A special attention is paid to the preference between pressure drop and heat transfer enhancements. That is why TOPSIS optimization techniques with five different criteria (contains the combination of the weightage/priority of heat transfer and pressure drop) is used. Based on the numerical results of heat and fluid flow in conduit, it is found that when an equal importance is given to both heat transfer and friction effect, 30 PPI aluminum foam with 80% filling on the inner lateral of the pipe provides the best score as 0.8197. The best configuration and PPI for different preferences between friction and heat transfer enhancements is discussed in details. The Reynolds number varies from 4500 to 16500. © 2021 Elsevier LtdItem Numerical assessment of thermal characteristics of metal foams of orderly varied pore density and porosity under different convection regimes(Elsevier Masson s.r.l., 2022) Trilok, G.; Kumar, K.K.; Gnanasekaran, N.; Mobedi, M.The present study is done to analyze heat transfer and fluid flow in a channel with orderly varied pore density and porosity combination of foam samples. Darcy Forchheimer flow and LTNE thermal models are considered to estimate heat transfer characteristics. Considering the effect of orderly varied combinations of the dual structural properties, forced convection over a range of flow velocities and natural convection phenomenon are studied numerically in the channel housing porous samples. Two limiting solutions for Nusselt number (Nu) i.e., Nun (for natural convection) and Nuf (for forced convection) for Ri→∞ and Ri→0 respectively, as a function of independent variable Richardson number (Ri) with structural properties pore density and porosity are obtained with the help of local thermal non-equilibrium (LTNE) thermal model and Darcy-Forchheimer flow model. Further these asymptotic solutions are blended using technique illustrated in the literature in order to obtain solution for Nusselt number for mixed convection (Num). Correlations for Nusselt number as a function of combination of porosity and pore density are obtained emphasizing on the varied significance of these parameters in different convection regime. The present study not only emphasizes on effect of combination of structural properties of metal foams on heat transfer characteristics, but also illustrates a technique that enables to arrive at suitable correlation for an intermediate phenomenon existing between two other extremes, with zero computational cost. Effect of pore density on heat transfer characteristics at a given porosity, is found to be not much influencing in natural convection dominant regime. However, in mixed and forced convection dominant scenario it is illustrated that, effect of variation in pore density and porosity plays a significant role in expressing distinguishable heat transfer characteristics, along with other well-known independent parameters such as porosity and Reynolds number. © 2021 Elsevier Masson SASItem Correlations and Numerical Modeling of Stacked Woven Wire-Mesh Porous Media for Heat Exchange Applications(MDPI, 2022) Trilok, G.; Srinivas, K.E.S.; Harikrishnan, D.; Gnanasekaran, N.; Mobedi, M.Metal foams have gained attention due to their heat transfer augmenting capabilities. In the literature, correlations describing relations among their morphological characteristics have successfully been established and well discussed. However, collective expressions that categorize stacked wire mesh based on their morphology and thermo-hydraulic expressions required for numerical modeling are less explored in the literature. In the present study, cross relations among the morphological characteristics of stacked wire-mesh were arrived at based on mesh-size, wire diameter and stacking type, which are essential for describing the medium and determining key input parameters required for numerical modeling. Furthermore, correlation for specific surface area, a vital parameter that plays a major role in interstitial heat transfer, is provided. With the arrived correlations, properties of stacked wire-mesh samples of orderly varied mesh-size and porosity are obtained for various stacking scenarios, and corresponding thermo-hydraulic parameters appearing in the governing equations are evaluated. A vertical channel housing the categorized wire-mesh porous media is numerically modeled to analyze thermal and flow characteristics of such a medium. The proposed correlations can be used in confidence to evaluate thermo-hydraulic parameters appearing in governing equations in order to numerically model various samples of stacked wire-mesh types of porous media in a variety of heat transfer applications. © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.