Heat Transfer Investigation of a Tube Partially Wrapped by Metal Porous Layer as a Potential Novel Tube for Air Cooled Heat Exchangers

Abstract

Laminar forced convection heat transfer from a constant temperature tube wrapped fully or partially by a metal porous layer and subjected to a uniform air cross-flow is studied numerically. The main aim of this study is to consider the thermal performance of some innovative arrangements in which only certain parts of the tube are covered by metal foam. The combination of Navier–Stokes and Darcy–Brinkman–Forchheimer equations is applied to evaluate the flow field. Governing equations are solved using the finite volume SIMPLEC algorithm and the effects of key parameters such as Reynolds number, metal foam thermophysical properties, and porous layer thickness on the Nusselt number are investigated. The results show that using a tube which is fully wrapped by an external porous layer with high thermal conductivity, high Darcy number, and low drag coefficient, can provide a high heat transfer rate in the high Reynolds number laminar flow, increasing the Nusselt number almost as high as 16 times compared to a bare tube. The most important result of thisstudy is that by using some novel arrangements in which the tube is partially covered by the foam layer, the heat transfer rate can be increased at least 20% in comparison to the fully wrapped tube, while the weight and material usage can be considerably reduced.