Exergy Transfer and Irreversibility of Metal Foams Filled in a Vertical Channel

The aim of this work is to unveil the exergy transfer and overall thermal performance of the metal foams partially filled in varying thicknesses in the vertical channel. The numerical examination performed in this study consists of a heater cum plate assembly which is sited at the core of the vertical channel and the heat transfer from the plates is augmented by placing metal foams with high heat conducting capacities on either side of the channel. The uniqueness of the current investigation is to determine the optimum filling rate in various thicknesses of the channel with respect to overall thermal performance along with exergy transfer. Four different partial filling rates are considered in each thickness of the channel to find the optimum exergy transfer. The integrated Darcy Extended Forchheimer and local thermal non-equilibrium models are used for predicting the flow and heat transfer features via metal foam porous medium. The methodology implemented in this study is affirmed by validating the findings with the literature. The flow and heat transfer, along with exergy and irreversibility parameters are presented and discussed. Results showed that higher working limits permitted by exergy (WLPE_Re) are obtained for lesser metal foam filling rate as well as for higher metal foam thicknesses for all the cases examined in the study.