Thermal and Fluid Transport in Micro-Open-Cell Metal Foams: Effect of Node Size

Open-cell metal foams exhibit distinctive advantages in fluid control and heat transfer enhancement in thermal and chemical engineering. The thermofluidic transport characteristics at pore scale such as topological microstructure and morphological appearance significantly affect fluid flow and conjugated heat transfer in open-cell metal foams, important for practically designed applications. The present study employed an idealized tetrakaidecahedron unit cell (UC) model to numerically investigate the transport properties and conjugated heat transfer in highly porous open-cell metal foams (porosity—0.95). The effects of foam ligaments and nodes (size and cross-sectional shape) on thermal conduction, fluid flow, and conjugated heat transfer were particularly studied. Good agreement was found between the present predictions and the results in open literature. The effective thermal conductivity was found to decrease with increasing node-size-to-ligament ratio, while the permeability and volume-averaged Nusselt number were increased. This indicated that the effects of node size and shape upon thermofluidic transport need to be considered for open-cell metal foams having high porosities.