CFD study of the hydraulic and thermal behavior of spherical-void-phase porous materials

Abstract

To investigate the feasibility of the use of foams with an interconnected spherical pore structure in heat transfer applications, models for heat transfer and pressure drop for this type of porous materials are developed. Numerical simulations are carried out for laminar periodic, thermo-fluid flow in an idealized pore geometry of foams with a wide range of geometry parameters. Semi-heuristic models for pressure drop and heat transfer are developed from the results of simulations. The model developed for pressure drop is based on Carman–Kozeny theory. An Ergun-like quadratic extension is added to the model for higher Reynolds number regimes. The variation of the resulting Kozeny constant is consistent with that reported in literature for other types of pore geometry. Presence of a cubic behavior of pressure drop in terms of velocity in the weak inertia flow regime was explored and observed, which was in agreement with the theory of weak inertia flow in existing literature. A heat transfer model is developed using parametric study on the data from the simulations. The proposed models can be used as outlines for future experimental studies.