The study on the heat transfer mechanisms through the aluminium foam with a fluid in void cells of that foam was reported in this paper. Based on laboratory experiments, the effective thermal conductivity coefficient values were found for various type aluminum foams which had been filled up with a gas or a liquid. The significant effects were observed from porosity as well as from metal and fluid properties on the heat transfer capacity in a foam-fluid system. The convective heat transfer phenomenon was identified to occur in the foam cellular space. That phenomenon affected the effective thermal conductivity much more for liquid-filled foams than for gas-filled foams

This paper describes experimental investigations of single-phase and two-phase gas–liquid flow through channels with a diameter of 20 mm and length of 2690 mm, filled with metal foams. Three types of aluminium foams with pore densities of 20, 30 and 40 PPI and porosities ranging from 29.9% to 94.3% were used. Air, water and oil were pumped through the foams. The tests covered laminar, transitional and turbulent flow. We demonstrated that the Reynolds number, in which the hydraulic dimension should be defined based on foam porosity and pore diameter d_e = ϕd_p/(1 − ϕ), can be used as a flow regime assessment criterion. It has been found that fluid pressure drops when flowing through metal foams significantly depends on the cell size and porosity of the foam, as well as the shape of the foam skeleton. The flow patterns had a significant influence on the pressure drop. Among other things, we observed a smaller pressure drop when plug flow changed to stratified flow. We developed a model to describe pressure drop in flow through metal foams. As per the proposed methodology, pressure drop in single-phase flow should be determined based on the friction factor, taking into account the geometrical parameters of the foams. We propose to calculate pressure drop in gas–liquid flow as the sum of pressure drops in gas and liquid pressure drop corrected by the drop amplification factor.

This paper reports the results of a study concerned with air−water and air−oil two–phase flow pattern analysis in the channels with open–cell metal foams. The research was conducted in a horizontal channel with an internal diameter of 0.02 m and length of 2.61 m. The analysis applied three foams with pore density equal to 20, 30 and 40 PPI (pore per inch) with porosity, typical for industrial applications, changing in the range of 92%–94%. Plug flow, slug flow, stratified flow and annular flow were observed over the ranges of gas and liquid superficial velocities of 0.031–8.840 m/s and 0.006–0.119 m/s, respectively. Churn flow, which has not yet been observed in the flow through the open–cell foams, was also recorded. The type of flow patterns is primarily affected by the hydrodynamic characteristics of the flow, including fluid properties, but not by the geometric parameters of foams. Flow patterns in the channels packed with metal foams occur in different conditions from the ones recorded for empty channels so gas−liquid flow maps developed for empty channels cannot be used to predict analyzed flows. A new gas−liquid flow pattern map for a channel packed with metal foams with the porosity of 0.92–0.94 was developed. The map is valid for liquids with a density equal to or lower than the density of water and a viscosity several times greater than that of water.

This paper analyses the experimental findings within heat transfer when heating up air, water and oil streams which are passed through a duct with internal structural packing elements in the form of metal foams. Three types of aluminum foams with different cell sizes, porosity specifications and thermal conductivities were used in the study. The test data were collected and they made it possible to establish the effect of the foam geometry, properties of fluids and flow hydrodynamic conditions on the convective heat transfer process from the heating surface to the fluid flowing by (wetting) that surface. The foam was found to be involved in heat transfer to a limited extent only. Heat is predominantly transferred directly from the duct wall to a fluid, and intensity of convective heat transfer is controlled by the wall effects. The influence of foam structural parameters, like cell size and/or porosity, becomes more clearly apparent under laminar flow conditions.