Faculty Publications

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    Investigation of Mixed Convection Heat Transfer Through Metal Foams Partially Filled in a Vertical Channel by Using Computational Fluid Dynamics
    (American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) infocentral@asme.org, 2018) Kotresha, B.; Gnanasekaran, N.
    Two-dimensional computational fluid dynamics simulations of mixed convection heat transfer through aluminum metal foams partially filled in a vertical channel are carried out numerically. The objective of the present study is to quantify the effect of metal foam thickness on the fluid flow characteristics and the thermal performance in a partially filled vertical channel with metal foams for a fluid velocity range of 0.05-3 m/s. The numerical computations are performed for metal foam filled with 40%, 70%, and 100% by volume in the vertical channel for four different pores per inch (PPIs) of 10, 20, 30, and 45 with porosity values varying from 0.90 to 0.95. To envisage the characteristics of fluid flow and heat transfer, two different models, namely, Darcy Extended Forchheirmer (DEF) and Local thermal non-equilibrium, have been incorporated for the metal foam region. The numerical results are compared with experimental and analytical results available in the literature for the purpose of validation. The results of the parametric studies on vertical channel show that the Nusselt number increases with the increase of partial filling of metal foams. The thermal performance of the metal foams is reported in terms of Colburn j and performance factors. © Copyright 2018 by ASME.
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    A Synergistic Combination of Thermal Models for Optimal Temperature Distribution of Discrete Sources Through Metal Foams in a Vertical Channel
    (American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) infocentral@asme.org, 2019) Kotresha, B.; Gnanasekaran, N.
    This paper discusses about the numerical prediction of forced convection heat transfer through high-porosity metal foams with discrete heat sources in a vertical channel. The physical geometry consists of a discrete heat source assembly placed at the center of the channel along with high thermal conductivity porous metal foams in order to enhance the heat transfer. The novelty of the present work is the use of combination of local thermal equilibrium (LTE) model and local thermal nonequilibrium (LTNE) model for the metal foam region to investigate the temperature distribution of the heat sources and to obtain an optimal heat distribution so as to achieve isothermal condition. Aluminum and copper metal foams of 10 PPI having a thickness of 20 mm are considered for the numerical simulations. The metal foam region is considered as homogeneous porous media and numerically modeled using Darcy Extended Forchheimer model. The proposed methodology is validated using the experimental results available in literature. The results of the present numerical solution indicate that the excess temperature of the bottom heat source reduces by 100 °C with the use of aluminum metal foam. The overall temperature of the vertical channel reduces based on the combination of LTE and LTNE models compared to only LTNE model. The results of excess temperature for both the empty and the metal foam filled vertical channels are presented in this work. © 2019 by ASME.
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    A Parametric Study on Mixed Convection in a Vertical Channel in the Presence of Wire Mesh
    (Taylor and Francis Ltd., 2021) Kotresha, B.; Gnanasekaran, N.
    A numerical study on mixed convection is carried out through a partially filled brass wire mesh in a vertical channel. A heater embedded with aluminum plates is placed at the center of the vertical channel. The aluminum heater assembly is wrapped with brass wire mesh to facilitate more heat transfer. The vertical channel that consists of aluminum heater assembly with the brass wire mesh is considered as the numerical model. Local thermal non-equilibrium and Darcy extended Forchheimer models are used to accomplish the numerical simulations for thermal and flow characteristics of the considered domain. The aim of the study is to find out the optimum filling of the brass wire mesh in the channel which gives a higher heat transfer rate with low pumping power of the fluid. In the present analysis, three different filling conditions of wire mesh are considered: (i) fully filled channel, (ii) 70% filled channel, and (iii) 40% filled channel. From the results, it is inferred that the vertical channel partially filled with 70% of wire mesh porous medium predicts 89% of heat transfer of the completely filled channel with 41% reduced pressure loss. As a result, the proposed parametric study is good enough to prove that the partly filled wire mesh can be used in the thermal applications where augmentation of heat transfer is required with less pressure drop. © 2020 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
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    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 SAS
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    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.
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    Conjugate heat transfer study comprising the effect of thermal conductivity and irreversibility in a pipe filled with metallic foams
    (Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH, 2021) Jadhav, P.H.; Gnanasekaran, N.; Arumuga Perumal, D.A.
    A parametric study is proposed in this paper to examine heat dissipation rate and entropy generation of a forced convection in a horizontal pipe which is filled with high porous metallic foams. The study quantifies the effect of thermal conductivity and pore density on entropy generation when the pipe is fully filled with copper, aluminium and nickel metallic foams of 0.6 m length in the fluid flow direction. To predict fluid flow and heat transfer features through these metallic foams the Darcy-extended Forchheimer (DEF) flow and the local thermal non-equilibrium (LTNE) models are employed. The characteristics of laminar, transition and turbulent in the non-foam region of the pipe are captured by considering the appropriate flow models. To affirm the methodology adopted in this work, the results of the present numerical solutions are validated with the available experimental results reported in the literature. Colburn j factor and thermal performance factor are the important factors that decide the performance and efficiency of any heat exchange device. Hence, these parameters are critically evaluated and are observed to increase with increasing pore densities of the metal foams and decrease with increasing flow rates of the fluid. Furthermore, the numerical analysis is extended to obtain the results of wall temperature, Nusselt number, heat transfer enhancement ratio, frictional irreversibility and Bejan number. © 2020, Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.
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    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. © 2021
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    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 SAS
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    Numerical Study for Enhancement of Heat Transfer Using Discrete Metal Foam with Varying Thickness and Porosity in Solar Air Heater by LTNE Method
    (MDPI, 2022) Diganjit, R.; Gnanasekaran, G.; Mobedi, M.
    A two-dimensional rectangular domain is considered with a discrete arrangement at equal distances from copper metal foam in a solar air heater (SAH). The local thermal non-equilibrium model is used for the analysis of heat transfer in a single-pass rectangular channel of SAH for different mass flow rates ranging from 0.03 to 0.05 kg/s at 850 W/m2 heat flux. Three different pores per inch (PPI) and porosities of copper metal foam with three different discrete thicknesses at equal distances are studied numerically. This paper evaluates the performance of SAH with 10 PPI 0.8769 porosity, 20 PPI 0.8567 porosity, and 30 PPI 0.92 porosity at 22 mm, 44 mm, and 88 mm thicknesses. The Nusselt number for 22 mm, 44 mm, and 88 mm thicknesses is 157.64%, 183.31%, and 218.60%, respectively, higher than the empty channel. The performance factor for 22 mm thick metal foam is 5.02% and 16.61% higher than for 44 mm and 88 mm thick metal foam, respectively. Hence, it is found that metal foam can be an excellent option for heat transfer enhancement in SAH, if it is designed properly. © 2022 by the authors.
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    Analysis of functionally graded metal foams for the accomplishment of heat transfer enhancement under partially filled condition in a heat exchanger
    (Elsevier Ltd, 2023) Jadhav, P.H.; Gnanasekaran, N.; Mobedi, M.
    The use of partially filled high porosity graded aluminum and copper foams is explored to satisfy both heat transfer and pressure drop in a heat exchanger. Both positive and negative orientations are accomplished for the enhancement of heat transfer with reduction in the pressure drop. The present research includes three different configurations M1, M2 and M3 (porous layer inner diameter = 0.06 m, 0.04 m, and 0.02 m, respectively, while outer diameter = 0.10 m) partially filled with positive (i.e., increasing, 20/45 PPI) negative (i.e., decreasing, 45/20 PPI) and compound (i.e., 45 Cu/20 Al PPI) graded porous layer thickness. Each configuration involves three different graded porous layer to present the optimum graded porous layer thickness. The thermo-hydrodynamic characteristics are apprehended by using Darcy Extended Forchheimer (DEF) flow and local thermal non-equilibrium (LTNE) models for the partially filled graded porous structure and k-ω turbulence model is accomplished in open passage flow of the conduit. The decreasing graded foam located inside the models M1 and M2 performed 1.68%–12.85% and 13.42%–23.32% higher heat transfer rate compared to without graded metal foam of models M2 and M3, respectively accompanied with 55.43%–84.02% and 35.69%–50.31% lesser pumping power. © 2022 Elsevier Ltd