Performance of Forced Convection Heat Transfer in Porous Media Based on Gibson–Ashby Constitutive Model

Abstract

A novel simulation model is developed for predicting the performance of forced convection heat transfer in the porous metal foam. Based on the physical geometry of the Gibson-Ashby constitutive model, the theoretical model proposed is able to predict the mechanical behaviors and thermal physical properties of porous materials simultaneously. The theoretical predictions of the overall heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop were compared with available experimental data for two different porous foam tubes. The first tube has a porous diameter of 0.6mm and porosity of 0.402, and the other tube has a diameter of 1.6mm and porosity of 0.462. The results show that the relative deviation of the flow pressure drop between the prediction and the experimental data are in the range from 5% to10% while the relative deviation of the overall heat transfer coefficient is about 20%. These deviations are acceptable for applications in engineering. So the feasibility of the Gibson-Ashby constitutive model to be used to predict the performance of flow resistance and convective heat transfer in porous foam ducts is satisfactorily validated.