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Article Type

Original Study

Abstract

Porous metal foams have emerged as a promising medium for thermal management due to their high surface area, low density, and excellent thermal conductivity. This study investigates the effect of copper porous foam baffles with different pore densities (5 and 10 PPI) on the thermal and hydraulic performance of a shell-and-U-tube water–water heat exchanger. An experimental setup was developed to evaluate the Nusselt number, heat transfer coefficient, pressure drop, and friction factor over a range of Reynolds numbers across the annular side. The results revealed that incorporating porous metal foam significantly enhanced heat transfer compared with the smooth-tube configuration. At Re ≈ 7600, the 5 PPI and 10 PPI foams increased the Nusselt number by approximately 21% and 50%, respectively. However, these enhancements were accompanied by notable increases in pressure drop and friction factor due to the reduced permeability and increased flow resistance of the porous structure. The 10 PPI foam provided the highest heat transfer improvement but at the expense of greater hydraulic losses. Overall, the 5 PPI configuration achieved a balanced trade-off between thermal efficiency and pumping power, confirming that optimizing pore density is essential for practical heat-exchanger design using porous media.

Keywords

Porous metal foam, Copper baffles, Heat transfer enhancement, Thermal–hydraulic performance, Double-pipe heat exchanger, Pressure drop

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