Analysis of forced convection heat transfer through graded PPI metal foams

Abstract

A forced convection heat transfer through high porosity graded Pores per inch (PPI) metal foam heat exchanger is numerically solved in this paper. The physical domain of the problem consists of a heat exchanger system attached to the bottom of a horizontal channel to absorb heat from the exhaust gas leaving the system. Two different pore densities of the metal foam 20 and 40 along with two different metal foam materials are considered for the enhancement of heat transfer in the present numerical investigation. The metal foam heat exchanger is considered as a homogeneous porous medium and is modeled using Darcy Extended Forchheirmer model. The heat transfer through the metal foam porous media is solved by using local thermal equilibrium (LTE) model. The effect of graded pore density and graded thermal conductivity is investigated and compared with the nongraded PPI metal foam. The heat exchanger system is simulated over a velocity range of 6–30 m/s. The pressure drop decreases for the graded pore density metal foams compared to the higher PPI metal foam and also increases with increase in the fluid inlet velocity. The results of temperature and velocity distribution for the graded and nongraded metal foams are compared and discussed elaborately. © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2019.