Experimental characterization of single and two-phase flow through nickel foams

Experimental tests are performed to determine the hydraulics parameters, which characterize one-phase (air) and two-phase flow (air and water) in thin metallic foams (thickness of the order of 1.5 mm). Three types of nickel foams produced by INCO and RECEMAT are considered. The specific experimental set-up allows the study of low in-situ compression effects on the foam sample. Regarding one-phase flow, intrinsic permeability and inertial coefficient (also named passability) are determined from a semi-analytical solution of the Darcy–Forchheimer–Brinkman equation, whereas concerning two-phase flow only gas phase relative properties are estimated through the generalized Darcy–Forchheimer equation. For the used experimental flow range, the results which are in line with former studies show the importance of the inertial effects. The in-situ foam compression and tightening effects lead to higher permeability and passability values, knowing that permeability coefficient is determined with a better accuracy than the inertial coefficient.