Numerical Analysis of Heat Transfer and Pressure Drop in Metal Foams for Different Morphological Models

Because of their light weight, open porosity, high surface area per unit volume, and thermal characteristics, metal foams are a promising material for many industrial applications involving fluid flow and heat transfer. The pressure drop and heat transfer in porous media have inspired a number of experimental and numerical studies, and many models have been proposed in the literature that correlate the pressure gradient and the heat transfer coefficient with the mean cell size and porosity. However, large differences exist among results predicted by different models, and most studies are based on idealized periodic cell structures. In this study, the true three-dimensional microstructure of the metal foam is obtained by employing x-ray computed microtomography (XCT). This is the “real” structure. For comparison, ideal Kelvin foam structures are developed in the free-to-use software “surface evolver” surface energy minimization program. These are “ideal” structures. Pressure drop and heat transfer are then investigated in each structure using the CFD module of COMSOL® Multiphysics code. A comparison between the numerical predictions from the real and ideal geometries is carried out. The predictions showed that heat transfer characteristics are very close for low values of Reynolds number, but larger Reynolds numbers create larger differences between the results of the ideal and real structures. Conversely, the differences in pressure drop at any Reynolds number are nearly 100%. Results from the models are then validated by comparing them with experimental results taken from the literature. The validation suggests that the ideal structure poorly predicts the heat transfer and pressure drops.