Unlocking the Thermal Efficiency of Irregular Open-Cell Metal Foams: A Computational Exploration of Flow Dynamics and Heat Transfer Phenomena

Abstract

An open-cell metal foam has excellent characteristics such as low density, high porosity, high specific surface area, high thermal conductivity, and low mass due to its unique internal three-dimensional network structure. It has gradually become a new material for enhanced heat transfer in industrial equipment, new compact heat exchangers, microelectronic device cooling, etc. This research established a comprehensive three-dimensional structural model of open-cell metal foams utilizing Laguerre–Voronoi tessellations and employed computational fluid dynamics to investigate its flow dynamics and coupled heat transfer performance. By exploring the impact of foam microstructure on flow resistance and heat transfer characteristics, the study provided insights into the overall convective heat transfer performance across a range of foam configurations with varying pore densities and porosities. The findings revealed a direct correlation between convective heat transfer coefficient (h) and pressure drop (ΔP) with increasing Reynolds number (Re), accompanied by notable changes in fluid turbulence kinetic energy (e) and temperature (T), ultimately influencing heat transfer efficiency. Furthermore, the analysis demonstrated that alterations in porosity (ε) and pore density significantly affected unit pressure drop (ΔP/L) and convective heat transfer coefficient (h). This study identified an optimal configuration, highlighting a metal foam with a pore density of 20 PPI and a porosity of 95% as exhibiting superior overall convective heat transfer performance.