A numerical study on determination of volume averaged thermal transport properties of metal foam structures using X-ray microtomography technique

Abstract

Volume averaged thermal transport properties of two metal foams with 10 and 20 PPI are obtained by using microtomography technique. The digital 3D structures of samples are generated in computer environment. The governing equations are solved for the entire domain and the volume averaged technique is used to determine interfacial heat transfer coefficient, longitudinal and transverse thermal dispersion conductivity. The study is performed for the pore scale Reynolds number from 100 to 600. The obtained results are within the ranges of the suggested correlations in literature. The present study supports the correlations suggested by Calmidi and Mahajan (2000) and Zhang et al. (2016).