Heat transfer performance analysis on lattice core sandwich panel structures

Abstract

A systematic 3D numerical experiment was conducted for forced convection in a series of isothermally heated sandwich panel structures filled with metal foam, rectangular corrugated cellular structures and various lattice core structures, such as vertical lattices, slanted lattices, Kagome lattices, tetrahedral lattices and pyramidal lattices. An in-house computer code based on a finite volume method with SIMPLE algorithm was used to solve the 3D set of the governing equations, namely, the continuity equation, Navier-Stokes equation, fluid phase energy equation and solid phase heat conduction equation, simultaneously. The values of the Nusselt number under equal pumping power were numerically determined to make a fair heat transfer performance evaluation on these various structures. This performance evaluation subsequently led to a proposal for a novel lattice core structure, “windward bend structure”, in which the lattices are bended in the windward direction and arranged in a staggered fashion. This novel structure exhibited an excellent heat transfer performance due to its enhanced macroscopic thermal dispersion closely associated with the flow pathline deflection towards the heated end-walls. This study provides numerical evidence to prove that the windward bend structure is a strong candidate for the new generation of compact heat exchanger systems.