Numerical analysis of the effects of the structure shape and orientation of kelvin cell porous structures during air forced convection

In recent years, in order to counteract the growth of environmental pollution and the contemporary scarcity of various energy sources, researchers have proposed innovative and efficient solutions for heat transfer applications. Extended surfaces, which can involve the use of fins, open cell metal foams, etc., have been demonstrated to be promising solutions. Open cell metal foams consist of structs intersecting at nodes resulting in stochastic oriented cells. Periodic metal foams have also attracted great interest. These structures are made of a single cell unit periodically replicated. Kelvin cells and Weaire–Phelan ones are two conventional elementary unit cells. In this paper, a numerical model is developed and validated, aiming at analysing the thermal and hydraulic behaviors of modified Kelvin cell-based metal foams during air forced convection. Constant porosity (0.9) and pore density (40 PPI) were adopted. Five different geometrical configurations (one cylindrical and four elliptical) and four orientations (0–15–30–45◦ ) of the struts with respect to the main air flow direction were investigated. The inlet air velocities varied between 0.5 and 4 m s−1 . Interesting results were obtained and discussed in terms of pressure drops, heat transfer coefficients, and pumping power per area density.