The influence of pore size variation on the pressure drop in open-cell foams

The paper concerns pressure drop in open-cell foam structures in correlation with variation in size of pores. The foam structures with different coefficients of variation of the pore volume CV(V) were designed using procedure based on Laguerre–Voronoi tessellations (LVT). Geometry of the generated structures was compared with the geometry of alumina foam filters used for casting. Pressure drop was calculated for structures with various pore volume distributions using the finite volume method (FVM). Validation of the LVT algorithm was performed by comparing the pressure drop obtained for modeled structures with the pressure drop of commercial alumina foam filters for aluminum casting. Two of the designed set of porous structures were printed using fast prototyping with the selective laser melting process (SLM). The pressure drop for these structures was measured experimentally and compared with the modeling results. The results show that the pressure drop is strongly related with the distribution of pore volume. Furthermore, for the investigated range of the coefficients of pore volume variation, a relationship was found between CV(V) and pressure drop. [Display omitted] •We designed a set of foam structures with varying pore size distribution.•Calculated permeability of the designed structures was compared with commercial foam filters.•Two chosen structures were printed using SLM technique to verify modeling results.•We report a relationship between pore size distribution and permeability.