Numerical Simulation of Non-Equilibrium Conjugate Heat Transfer in Tubes Partially Filled with Metallic Foams*

Numerical simulation with the Forchheimer flow model and local thermal non-equilibrium model for porous region is performed on forced convective heat transfer in a tube partially filled with metallic foams. Flow and heat transfer of fluid in the hollow region and those of fluid in the porous region are conjugated together via the coupling conditions at porous-fluid interface. A heat flow model is proposed with special numerical treatments employed for non-equilibrium conjugated heat transfer in foam-fluid system. Velocity and temperature profiles in the flow direction are obtained and validated with analytical results. Effects of porosity, pore density, dimensionless interfacial radius and fluid-to-solid thermal conductivity ratio on flow characteristics and thermal performance are examined. Accordingly, the entrance effect is analyzed through the numerical simulation in terms of both flow and heat transfer. The present tube exhibits more excellent heat transfer performance at the expense of moderate pressure drop compared with the tube without porous material. The numerical work is not only developed for forced convection in metal-foam partially filled tube, but can also be extended to similar problem with porous-fluid interface for other porous media with significant thermal non-equilibrium effect.