Numerical Simulation of Forced Convection through Metallic Foam (HVAC Heating Coil Application)

Abstract

The hydraulic and thermal performance of a porous medium generating of heat considered as a HVAC heating coil has been established using a numerical simulation The used metallic foam is made from Copper and Aluminum with a porosity of 0 93 The channel has a rectangular shape with an establishment length equal to 5 times of the height The thermal equilibrium in the porous medium is considered between the fluid and solid and he flow regime found is the Darcy regime for input speeds between 0 1 and 3 m s The Aluminum metal foam has the higher temperature inside the porous medium compared to copper one under the same conditions of velocity and heat flux Since it is desired to heat through the hot battery this characteristic can be interesting and it can help to save energy by adopting Aluminum as materials Moreover the aluminum foam has efficiency 5 times greater than that given by the copper foam