Characterization of High Porosity Open-Celled Metal Foam Using Computed Tomography

2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric N. Schmierer ◽  
Arsalan Razani ◽  
Scott Keating ◽  
Tony Melton
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Computed Tomography ◽  
Thermal Conductivity ◽  
Effective Thermal Conductivity ◽  
Surface Area ◽  
Metal Foam ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Metal Foams ◽  
High Porosity ◽  
Interfacial Surface

High porosity metal foams have been the subject of many investigations for use in heat transfer enhancement through increased effective thermal conductivity and surface area. Convection heat transfer applications with these foams have been investigated for a large range of Reynolds numbers. Common to these analyses is the need for quantitative information about the interfacial surface area and the effective thermal conductivity of the metal foam. The effective thermal conductivity of these metal foams have been well characterized, however little investigation has been made into the actual surface area of the foam and its dependence on the foam pore density and porosity. Three-dimensional x-ray computed tomography (CT) is used for determining interfacial surface area and ligament diameter of metal foam with porosities ranging from 0.85 to 0.97 and pore densities of 5, 10, 20, and 40 pores per inch. Calibration samples with known surface area and volume are utilized to benchmark the CT process. Foam results are compared to analytical results obtained from the development of a three-dimensional model of the high porosity open-celled foam. The results obtained are compared to results from previous investigations into these geometric parameters. Results from calibration sample comparison and analysis of the foam indicate the need for additional work in quantifying the repeatability and sources of error in CT measurement process.

Experimental and numerical investigation on the effective thermal conductivity of stochastic structure

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (8) ◽  
pp. 861-871
Author(s):  
Milad Saljooghi ◽  
Younes Bakhshan ◽  
Saeid Niazi ◽  
Jamshid Khorshidi
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Thermal Conductivity ◽  
Effective Thermal Conductivity ◽  
Metal Foam ◽  
Metal Foams ◽  
Open Cell ◽  
Geometrical Properties ◽  
Copper Aluminum ◽  
Thermo Physical Properties ◽  
Modern Technologies

The Conception of thermo-physical properties of porous materials is a challenging task for scientists to conquer. The open cell metal foam increases heat transfer while energy dissipation, dimension and density of them which are constraints for modern technologies significantly reduce. In the present study, the open cell metal foams with four kinds of structures have been investigated numerically and experimentally and the effective thermal conductivity (ETC) of them have been extracted with using different base fluids such as water, air and paraffin. Also, various metals have been considered copper, aluminum, nickel and silver. Finally, a validated correlation for calculation of ETC of open cell metal foams has been developed which is function of thermal conductivity of fluid and metal, porosity and geometrical properties of pore that is applicable for all open cell metal foam approximately. The results show, good agreements between the modeling results and experimental data.

Analytical and Numerical Modeling of Conductive and Convective Heat Transfer Through Open-Cell Metal Foams

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mehrdad Taheri ◽  
Sanjeev Chandra ◽  
Javad Mostaghimi
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Thermal Conductivity ◽  
Numerical Modeling ◽  
Convective Heat Transfer ◽  
Effective Thermal Conductivity ◽  
Convective Heat ◽  
Thermal Equilibrium ◽  
Metal Foams ◽  
Local Thermal Equilibrium ◽  
High Porosity

In this paper, a comprehensive analytical and numerical study of conductive and convective heat transfer through high porosity metal foams is presented. In the first part a novel theoretical model for determination of effective thermal conductivity of metal foams is introduced. This general analysis can be applied to any complex array of interconnected foam cells. Assuming dodecahedron unit cell for modeling the structure of metal foams, an approximate equation for evaluation of effective thermal conductivity of foam with a known porosity is obtained. In this approximation method, unlike the previous two-dimensional (2D) models, porosity is the only geometric input parameter used for evaluation of effective thermal conductivity, while its predictions of effective thermal conductivity are in excellent agreement with the previous models. In the second part a 3D numerical model for conduction in metal foam is constructed. The foam has a square cross section and is exposed to constant temperature at both ends and constant heat flux from the sides. We assume local thermal equilibrium (LTE), i.e., the solid and fluid temperatures are to be locally equal. Comparison of the 3D numerical results to the experiments shows very good agreement. The last part of the study is concerned with the 3D numerical modeling of convective heat transfer through metal foams. Experimentally determined values of permeability and Forchheimer coefficient for 10 pores per inch (PPI) nickel foam are applied to the Brinkman-Forchheimer equation to calculate fluid flow through the foam. Local thermal equilibrium (LTE) and local thermal non-equilibrium (LTNE) methods were both employed for heat transfer simulations. While LTE method resulted in faster calculations and also did not need surface area to volume ratio (αsf) and internal convective coefficient (hsf) as its input, it was not accurate for high temperatures. LTNE should be used to obtain distinct local solid and fluid temperatures.

Jet Impingement Heat Transfer Enhancement by Packing High-Porosity Thin Metal Foams Between Jet Exit Plane and Target Surface

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Srivatsan Madhavan ◽  
Prashant Singh ◽  
Srinath Ekkad
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Heat Transfer Enhancement ◽  
Metal Foam ◽  
Jet Impingement ◽  
Target Surface ◽  
Metal Foams ◽  
Thin Metal ◽  
High Porosity ◽  
Pumping Power ◽  
Transfer Enhancement

High-porosity metal foams are known for providing high heat transfer rates, as they provide a significant increase in wetted surface area as well as highly tortuous flow paths resulting in enhanced mixing. Further, jet impingement offers high convective cooling, particularly at the jet footprint areas on the target surface due to flow stagnation. In this study, high-porosity thin metal foams were subjected to array jet impingement, for a special crossflow scheme. High porosity (92.65%), high pore density (40 pores per inch (ppi)), and thin foams (3 mm) have been used. In order to reduce the pumping power requirements imposed by full metal foam design, two striped metal foam configurations were also investigated. For that, the jets were arranged in 3 × 6 array (x/dj = 3.42, y/dj = 2), such that the crossflow is dominantly sideways. Steady-state heat transfer experiments have been conducted for varying jet-to-target plate distance z/dj = 0.75, 2, and 4 for Reynolds numbers ranging from 3000 to 12,000. The baseline case was jet impingement onto a smooth target surface. Enhancement in heat transfer due to impingement onto thin metal foams has been evaluated against the pumping power penalty. For the case of z/dj = 0.75 with the base surface fully covered with metal foam, an average heat transfer enhancement of 2.42 times was observed for a concomitant pressure drop penalty of 1.67 times over the flow range tested.

Convective Heat Transfer Analysis of Open Cell Metal Foam for Solar Air Heaters

Solar Energy ◽  
2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nihad Dukhan ◽  
Pablo D. Quinones
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Thermal Conductivity ◽  
Effective Thermal Conductivity ◽  
Metal Foam ◽  
Heat Transfer Analysis ◽  
Transfer Model ◽  
Aluminum Foams ◽  
Maximum Heat ◽  
Open Cell ◽  
Maximum Heat Transfer

A one-dimensional heat transfer model for open-cell metal foam is presented. Three aluminum foams having different areas, relative densities, ligament diameters, and number of pores per inch were analyzed. The effective thermal conductivity and the heat transfer increased with the number of pores per inch. The effective thermal conductivity of the foams can be up to four times higher than that of solid aluminum. The resulting improvement in heat transfer can be as high as 50 percent. The maximum heat transfer for the aluminum foams occurs at a pore Reynolds number of 52. The heat transfer, in addition, becomes insensitive to the flow regime for pore Reynolds numbers beyond 200.

An Analytical Unit Cell Model for the Effective Thermal Conductivity of High Porosity Open-Cell Metal Foams

2014 ◽  
Vol 102 (3) ◽  
pp. 403-426 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiao Hu Yang ◽  
Jia Xi Bai ◽  
Hong Bin Yan ◽  
Jiu Jie Kuang ◽  
Tian Jian Lu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Conductivity ◽  
Effective Thermal Conductivity ◽  
Cell Model ◽  
Metal Foams ◽  
Unit Cell ◽  
High Porosity ◽  
Unit Cell Model ◽  
Open Cell

Thermal Characterization of Aluminum and Steel Foams

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
James D. Playford ◽  
S. Midturi ◽  
S. B. Pidugu
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Thermal Conductivity ◽  
Effective Thermal Conductivity ◽  
Accurate Determination ◽  
Thermal Characterization ◽  
Metal Foams ◽  
Published Data ◽  
Heat Transfer Characteristics ◽  
Transfer Characteristics ◽  
Energy Absorbers

Metallic foams are a new class of ultra-lightweight materials with potential applications in such industries as automobile, aerospace, and energy industries. These materials when realized in product form can serve as efficient heat exchanges, energy absorbers, and thermal protective and hydrogen storage devices. Accurate determination of thermal conductivity and understanding of heat transfer characteristics is important in designing such products incorporating metal foams. The present research characterizes the effective thermal conductivity and heat transfer characteristics of DUOCEL AL 6106-T6 and Stainless Steel 314 open cell foams by experiments at near room temperature conditions. The effective thermal conductivity of these materials has been determined experimentally. Thermal conductivity of metal foams increased with increasing mechanical stress. The effect of porosity on the thermal conductivity of ERG supplied aluminum and NASA-GRC supplied SS 314 are also studied and compared with the published data in literature, however, in our studies systematic dependency of porosity is not observed. Experiments also conducted to quantify forced convective heat transfer characteristics under laminar flow conditions. Heat transfer coefficient increases with increased Reynolds number but results are not conclusive in case of natural convection.

Effect of thickness and thermal conductivity of metal foams filled in a vertical channel – a numerical study

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 184-203 ◽  
Author(s):  
Banjara Kotresha ◽  
N. Gnanasekaran
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Thermal Conductivity ◽  
Metal Foam ◽  
Numerical Study ◽  
Flow Characteristics ◽  
Vertical Channel ◽  
Metal Foams ◽  
Heat Transfer Analysis ◽  
Transfer Model ◽  
Content Type

PurposeThis paper aims to discuss about the two-dimensional numerical simulations of fluid flow and heat transfer through high thermal conductivity metal foams filled in a vertical channel using the commercial software ANSYS FLUENT.Design/methodology/approachThe Darcy Extended Forchheirmer model is considered for the metal foam region to evaluate the flow characteristics and the local thermal non-equilibrium heat transfer model is considered for the heat transfer analysis; thus the resulting problem becomes conjugate heat transfer.FindingsResults obtained based on the present simulations are validated with the experimental results available in literature and the agreement was found to be good. Parametric studies reveal that the Nusselt number increases in the presence of porous medium with increasing thickness but the effect because of the change in thermal conductivity was found to be insignificant. The results of heat transfer for the metal foams filled in the vertical channel are compared with the clear channel in terms of Colburn j factor and performance factor.Practical implicationsThis paper serves as the current relevance in electronic cooling so as to open up more parametric and optimization studies to develop new class of materials for the enhancement of heat transfer.Originality/valueThe novelty of the present study is to quantify the effect of metal foam thermal conductivity and thickness on the performance of heat transfer and hydrodynamics of the vertical channel for an inlet velocity range of 0.03-3 m/s.

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