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Energy Procedia 00 (2018) 000–000
Available
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Energy
EnergyProcedia
Procedia148 (2018) 000–000
00 (2017) 782–789
www.elsevier.com/locate/procedia
73rd Conference of the Italian Thermal Machines Engineering Association (ATI 2018),
73rd Conference of the Italian
12–14Thermal Machines
September 2018, Engineering
Pisa, Italy Association (ATI 2018),
12–14 September 2018, Pisa, Italy
Numerical investigation on a Heat Exchanger in Aluminum Foam
NumericalThe
investigation onSymposium
15th International a Heat Exchanger in Aluminum
on District Heating and Cooling Foam
Bernardo Buonomo11, Anna di Pasqua11, Davide Ercole11, Oronzio Manca11*
Assessing the feasibility
Bernardo Buonomo of using
, Anna di Pasqua
1
theErcole
, Davide heat demand-outdoor
, Oronzio Manca *
Dipartimento di Ingegneria, Università degli Studi della Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”,
temperatureDipartimento
function for ViaaUniversità
di Ingegneria,
1
long-term
Roma 29,degli
Aversa (CE),
Studi district
Italy
della
Via Roma 29, Aversa (CE), Italy
heat
Campania “Luigi demand forecast
Vanvitelli”,

I. Andrića,b,c*, A. Pinaa, P. Ferrãoa, J. Fournierb., B. Lacarrièrec, O. Le Correc

Abstract
a
Abstract IN+ Center for Innovation, Technology and Policy Research - Instituto Superior Técnico, Av. Rovisco Pais 1, 1049-001 Lisbon, Portugal
b
A numerical study Veolia Recherche
is accomplished to evaluate&thermal
Innovation,
and291 Avenue Dreyfous
fluid-dynamic Daniel, 78520
behaviours Limay, France
of a compact heat exchanger in aluminum
c
A numerical
foam. LTNE studyDépartement Systèmes
is accomplished
condition Énergétiques
are assumed.toThe evaluate et Environnement
thermal
purpose of theand - IMT
fluid-dynamic
investigation Atlantique, 4 rue
is to behaviours Alfred Kastler, dimensions
find the heatofexchanger
a compact 44300 Nantes,
toFrance
heat exchanger in aluminum
evaluate a
foam. LTNE condition are assumed. The purpose of the investigation is to find the heat exchanger
compromise between the heat transfer improvement and the increase in pressure drop. The results are showed in terms dimensions to evaluate a
of heat
compromise
and mechanical between
powerthe heatIttransfer
ratio. is foundimprovement
an optimal foamand thickness
the increase
in in pressure
terms of tubedrop. The results
diameter equal are
to 5.showed
At the in
end,terms of heat
the Energy
and mechanical
Performance power
Ratio ratio.
(EPR) It is foundtoandetermine
is evaluated optimal foam thickness of
the efficiency in the
terms of tube
metal foamdiameter
and the equal to 5. is
best value Atobtained
the end, for
theRe=800.
Energy
Abstract
Performance Ratio (EPR) is evaluated to determine the efficiency of the metal foam and the best value is obtained for Re=800.
© 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
©©District
This 2018
2018
is an
heating
The
The
networks
Authors.
Authors.
open accessPublished
are commonly
Published
article underby Elsevier
by Elsevier addressed
Ltd.
Ltd.
the CC BY-NC-ND
in the literature as one of the most effective solutions for decreasing the
license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
greenhouse
This is an opengasaccess
emissions
articlefrom
under thethe
building sector. These
CC BY-NC-ND systems
license require high investments which are returned through the heat
(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
This is an open
Selection access articleunder
and peer-review under responsibility
the CC BY-NC-ND of thelicense (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
scientific committee of the 73rd Conference of the Italian Thermal
Selection
sales. Due andtopeer-review
the changed under responsibility
climate of the
conditions andscientific
buildingcommittee
renovation of the 73rd Conference
policies, heat demand of the
in Italian Thermal
the future couldMachines
decrease,
Selection
Machines
Engineering and peer-review
Engineering under
Association responsibility
(ATI 2018). of the scientific committee of the 73rd Conference of the Italian Thermal
prolonging Association
the investment (ATI 2018).
return period.
Machines Engineering Association (ATI 2018).
The main scope of this paper is to assess the feasibility of using the heat demand – outdoor temperature function for heat demand
Keywords: Heat exchanger; Heat transfer enhancement; Metal foam; Porous media; PPI; Energy efficiency
forecast. The district of Alvalade, located in Lisbon (Portugal), was used as a case study. The district is consisted of 665
Keywords: Heat exchanger; Heat transfer enhancement; Metal foam; Porous media; PPI; Energy efficiency
buildings that vary in both construction period and typology. Three weather scenarios (low, medium, high) and three district
renovation scenarios were developed (shallow, intermediate, deep). To estimate the error, obtained heat demand values were
compared with results from a dynamic heat demand model, previously developed and validated by the authors.
Nomenclature
The results showed that when only weather change is considered, the margin of error could be acceptable for some applications
Nomenclature
(the error in annual demand was lower than 20% for all weather scenarios considered). However, after introducing renovation
Ascenarios, cross section,
the error valuem2increased up to 59.5% (depending on the weather and renovation scenarios combination considered).
A
CTheF cross
drag
value
section,
of factor
m2
coefficient
slope coefficient increased on average within the range of 3.8% up to 8% per decade, that corresponds to the
C
cpdecrease
F drag
in thefactor
specific coefficient
heat,
number Jofkgheating
-1
K-1 hours of 22-139h during the heating season (depending on the combination of weather and
cdprenovationspecific
tube heat,
diameter,
scenarios Jm kg-1 K-1 On the other hand, function intercept increased for 7.8-12.7% per decade (depending on the
considered).
dcoupled tube diameter, m
scenarios). The values suggested could be used to modify the function parameters for the scenarios considered, and
improve the accuracy of heat demand estimations.

© 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

* Oronzio Manca. Tel.: +39-081-5010-217 ; fax: +39-081-5010-204.
Tel.: +39-081-5010-217 ; fax: +39-081-5010-204.
Peer-review under responsibility of the Scientific Committee of The 15th International Symposium on District Heating and
E-mail address:
* Oronzio Manca. oronzio.manca@unicampania.it
Cooling.
E-mail address: oronzio.manca@unicampania.it
1876-6102 © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Keywords: Heat demand; Forecast; Climate change
This is an open
1876-6102 access
© 2018 Thearticle under
Authors. the CC BY-NC-ND
Published license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
by Elsevier Ltd.
Selection
This is an and
openpeer-review under
access article responsibility
under of the scientific
the CC BY-NC-ND licensecommittee of the 73rd Conference of the Italian Thermal Machines Engineering
(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Association
Selection and(ATI 2018). under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 73rd Conference of the Italian Thermal Machines Engineering
peer-review
Association (ATI 2018).
1876-6102 © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
1876-6102 © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Peer-review under responsibility of the Scientific Committee of The 15th International Symposium on District Heating and Cooling.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 73rd Conference of the Italian Thermal Machines
Engineering Association (ATI 2018).
10.1016/j.egypro.2018.08.132
 Bernardo Buonomo et al. / Energy Procedia 148 (2018) 782–789 783
2 Author name / Energy Procedia 00 (2018) 000–000

df fiber diameter, m
dp pore diameter, m
f friction factor
h local heat transfer coefficient, W m-2 K-1
̅
ℎ average heat transfer coefficient, W m-2 K-1
hsf interfacial heat transfer coefficient, W m-2 K-1
H half pitch, m
Htot heat exchanger height, m
j Colburn factor
k thermal conductivity, W m-1 K-1
K porous permeability, m2
L thickness of porous media, m
𝑚𝑚̇ mass flow rate, kg s-1
Nu Nusselt number
NTU number transfer of units
p static pressure, Pa
PPI numbers of pores per inch
Pr Prandtl number
𝑄𝑄̇ heat transfer rate, W
r radius tube, m
Re Reynolds number
s curvilinear abscissa, m
T temperature, K
u x-velocity, m s-1
u0 inlet air velocity, m s-1
v y-velocity, m s-1
𝑊𝑊 ̇ mechanical power, W
x Cartesian axis direction, m
y Cartesian axis direction, m
Greek symbols
sf specific surface area density, m-1
Δ difference
µ dynamic viscosity, kg m-1 s-1
ρ density, kg m-3
 porosity
 number of pores per inch, m—1
Subscripts
0 inlet condition
clean system without foam
d tube diameter
df fiber diameter
eff effective
f fluid phase of metal foam
mf metal foam
s solid phase of metal foam
 Author name / Energy Procedia 01 (2018) 000–000 3

784 Bernardo Buonomo et al. / Energy Procedia 148 (2018) 782–789

Introduction

Metal foams represent a relatively new class of materials are used in fuel cells [1], compact heat sinks [2] and
solar thermal plants [3]. The major advantages for foams are represented by low density, good rigidity, high thermal
conductivity and huge value of surface/volume ratio [4]. A numerical analysis to investigate the heat transfer
increase in a heat exchanger using a porous medium inside its shell and tubes was accomplished by Rad et al. [5].
Inside the tubes, the porous media was situated in two different ways: at the center of the tubes and attached to the
inner wall of the tubes. The second configuration can improve the heat transfer rate better than the pressure drop,
observed a great performance increase. Xu et al. [6] analyzed the convective heat transfer in metal foams imposing
the local thermal equilibrium (LTE) model and the local thermal non equilibrium (LTNE) model with a numerical
study. The results showed that the heat transfer with LTE model is higher than that of LTNE. Odabaee et al. [7]
carried out a numerical analysis to evaluate the heat transfer from a metal foam wrapped solid cylinder in cross-flow.
The system was compared with a finned-tube heat exchanger to discover much higher heat transfer rate with
acceptable excess of pressure drop. The present numerical study is an extension of the work carried out by Buonomo
et al. [8]. The actual analysis examines the performance of the heat exchanger with metal foam with the aim to
search the dimensions of the system that represent a trade-off between the enhancement of heat transfer rate and the
increase of pressure drop. Furthermore, the heat transfer coefficient, the effective Nusselt number along the tube and
the EPR are presented.

1. Physical Domain and Governing Equations

The physical problem is a steady laminar flow in a heat exchanger with metal foam in forced convection. The 2D
sketch of the analyzed tubular heat exchanger is reported in Fig. 1. The tubular heat exchange system is composed
by an array of five tubes enclosed inside the aluminum foam. The center-to-center distance between each tube,
indicated as 2H, is 40 mm and the diameter d of the tubes is 11.2 mm. The heat exchange system is characterized by
the height Htot of 200 mm and the length Lmf of 40 mm.

2H
Htot

Lmf
Fig. 1. Physical Domain

The physical problem is a steady laminar flow in a heat exchanger with metal foam in forced convection. The
local volume averaging process is used in the microscopic flow equations in order to simulate the thermal and fluid-
dynamic behaviour inside the system. The variables of the equations are written estimating the average of the local
variables over an appropriate volume, called Representative Elementary Volume (REV). Whitaker developed the
governing equations from the Navier-Stokes and energy equation. The aluminum foam is considered homogeneous
 Bernardo Buonomo et al. / Energy Procedia 148 (2018) 782–789 785
4 Author name / Energy Procedia 00 (2018) 000–000

and isotropic and the thermophysical properties of the both phases are assumed constant. Furthermore, the buoyancy
force and viscous dissipation are overlooked and the thermal contact resistance between the tube surface and foam is
neglected. The Darcy–Brinkman-Forchheimer model and LTNE condition are assumed to consider the presence of
metal foam. Using the averaging method and remembering the hypothesis indicated, the governing equations are the
following:
-Continuity equation
u v
  0 (1)
x y
-x- momentum equation
 u u v u  p  f   2u  2u   f C
f  2  2     2  2  u  1/F2  f u 2  v 2 u (2)
 x  y   x   x y  K K
-y- momentum equation
 u v v v  p  f   2 v  2 v   f C
f  2  2     2  2  v  1/F2  f u 2  v 2 v (3)
  x  y  y   x y  K K
where ϕ is the porosity, ρf and μf are fluid density and viscosity, u and v are correspondingly the velocity
components in Cartesian coordinates, K and CF are respectively the permeability and the inertial coefficient of metal
foam.
-Fluid phase energy equation
 T T    2T f  2T f 
 
 c p  u f  v f
 x

y 
 k f 
 2
 2   hsf  sf Ts  T f 
y 
(4)
 x
f

-Solid phase energy equation

  2T  2T 
1    ks  2f  2f   hsf  sf Ts  T f  0 (5)
 x y 
where cp is the specific heat, kf and ks are the fluid phase and solid matrix thermal conductivity, Tf and Ts are the
temperature of fluid and solid phase of metal foam, respectively. In the last term in both energy equations, αsf and hsf
are respectively the specific surface area density and the interfacial heat transfer coefficient between the fluid and
solid matrix, due to the LTNE hypothesis.
The correlations of Calmidi are used to evaluate K and CF [9]. The ligament and pore diameter of the metal foam,
correlated with the characteristics of aluminium foam, are calculated as in the work of Bhattacharya et al. [10]. The
parameters sf and hsf are evaluated by the correlations presented in the Calmidi and Majan’s analysis [11].
In this work sf, that depends by the df, dp and porosity, is equal to 980 m-1 while hsf also depends by the inlet
fluid velocity u0 and it assumes these values:

Table 1. Values of coefficient hsf

u0=0.073 m/s u0=0.219 m/s u0=0.365 m/s u0=0.511 m/s u0=0.73 m/s u0=1.10 m/s u0=1.46 m/s
hsf (W/m2K) 61.9 96.1 118 135 156 183 205

The main characteristics of the metal foam, including the porosity  (the ratio between the voids volume and the
total volume) and PPI (numbers of pores per linear inch), are catalogued in Table 2.

Table 2. Parameters of the Aluminum Metal Foam

Parameters PPI  CF K (m2)
Values 20 0.9353 0.1 1.17 e-7
786 Bernardo Buonomo et al. / Energy Procedia 148 (2018) 782–789
Author name / Energy Procedia 01 (2018) 000–000 5

2. Numerical model

Fluent 15.0 is adopted to conduct the numerical analyses. As computational domain is utilized half of a single
tube, as represented in Fig. 2. The half tube is totally surrounded by the aluminum foam. The radius of the tube is
equal to d/2, the height of system is equal to H and the length Lmf is the same of the physical domain. In this
configuration, the heat exchanger is placed in a parallel plates channel with a rectangular cross section of 20 mm
with L1 and L2 equal to 200 mm and 800 mm, respectively.

Inlet H y Exit
x
L1 Lmf L2

Zoom

s r
θ
Median
cross
section
Fig. 2. Computational Domain

In this study, the Reynolds number Red, evaluated as:

Red   f u0d  f (6)
range from 56 to 1120. The inlet air velocities u0 is calculated from the definition of Red. The boundary conditions of
the problem are the following: the upper and bottom edges are symmetric, the tube wall is an isothermal edge at
Ttube=323.16 K, the inlet air velocity u0 is equal to the values above indicated, the inlet temperature, indicated as
Tin,air, is equal to 288.16 K and the overflow condition is imposed at the exit.

3. Results and Discussion

The thermal and fluid-dynamic analyses are accomplished for different inlet air velocities and for a fixed
temperature on the external surface of tube of 323.16 K. The purpose of the study is to determine the dimensions for
the exchanger in order to find a trade-off between the improvement of heat transfer power and the increase of
mechanical power necessary to pump the heat transfer fluid. The geometrical parameter to be determined is the
length of the metal foam Lmf, reported in the Fig. 3.

Lmf
Fig. 3. Metal Foam Sketch
 Bernardo Buonomo et al. / Energy Procedia 148 (2018) 782–789 787
6 Author name / Energy Procedia 00 (2018) 000–000

The ratio Lmf/d, where d is the cylinder diameter, was varied in a range from 1 to 20. In the Fig. 4.a, 4.b and 4.c,
the heat transfer rate 𝑄𝑄̇ , the mechanical power 𝑊𝑊̇ , required to circulate the air inside the heat exchanger, and their
ratio.are reported for different Red and for different Lmf/d:

(a) (b)

(c)
Fig. 4. (a) Heat Transfer Rate 𝑄𝑄̇; (b) Mechanical Power 𝑊𝑊̇ ; (c) their Ratio vs Lmf/d for different Red

It can be seen how the heat transfer power increases with the increase of Red and, in correspondence of some
values of Lmf/d, becomes asymptotic, so it is useless to increase the length of the metal foam. For lower Reynolds
number, the maximum value of 𝑄𝑄̇ is reached for a ratio between Lmf and d minor, while for higher Red, the
asymptotic value of heat transfer rate is for Lmf/d major. For Red = 56 and Red = 168, 𝑄𝑄̇𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚 is obtained for Lmf/d = 3
and for Red from 280 to 1120 is obtained for Lmf/d = 5. In addition, it can be seen as 𝑊𝑊̇ increases with the increment
of ratio between Lmf and d and this increase is higher with Red values. The ratio between the heat transfer rate and
the mechanical power has been reported in order to choose which length Lmf maximizes the thermal power 𝑄𝑄̇ , but at
the same time does not require a high mechanical power 𝑊𝑊̇ . This ratio between thermal and mechanical power
decreases both with the increase of Lmf /d and Red. Moreover, it is possible to observe how from a ratio of Lmf / d
equal to 5 the slope of the curve doesn’t change and so it is useless to use a larger metal foam because 𝑊𝑊̇ increases
without a significant increment of heat transfer power. In conclusion, the optimal metal foam length Lmf is equal to
56.0 mm in corresponding of Lmf/d = 5.
̅̅̅̅̅
For the final configuration, the average heat transfer coefficient ℎ 𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡 and the local effective Nusselt number Nueff ,
both evaluated on the external tube surface, are plotted in the Fig. 5.a and Fig. 5.b.
788 Bernardo Buonomo
Author name et al.
/ Energy / Energy01Procedia
Procedia 148 (2018) 782–789
(2018) 000–000 7

The average htot is defined as:

htot
 h f  hs (7)
where htot Qtot A(Ttube  Tin
  ,air ) , h f ,air ) , hs
Q f A(Ttube  Tin Qs A(Ttube  Tin,air ) with: Qtot
 Q f  Qs in

which Qtot (the total heat transfer rate) is equal to sum of the heat transfer rate referred to the fluid phase ( Q f ) and

the solid matrix ( Q s ); h f and hs are respectively the fluid and solid phase average heat transfer coefficient. It can
be noticed as the heat transfer coefficient increases for higher mass flow rate values, because the heat transfer
improves with the velocity increment.

(a) (b)
Fig. 5. (a) Heat Transfer Coefficient for different values of Mass Flow Rate; (b) Nueff along the external tube surface for different Red

The local effective Nusselt number Nueff is defined in terms of effective quantities, heff and keff and it results [12]:

 1     ks 
Nu f      Nu s
heff d  h f  1    hs  d     k f 
Nu
   (8)
 k f  1    k s
eff
keff  1     ks 
1   
    k f 
where Nu f  h f d k f and Nu s  hs d ks are the fluid and solid phase Nusselt numbers, respectively. In
conclusion, a contrast is accomplished with the clean case without foam in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the
metal foam use in a heat exchanger.
The Energy Performance Ratio (EPR) is evaluated to perceive the advantage of the metal foam considering both
the improvement of heat transfer and the increase of pressure drop. The EPR is calculated as below:

j/ f  1/3
mf
EPR  (9)
j/ f  1/3
clean

where the subscripts mf and clean point out the case with and without metal foam, respectively. The friction factor f
and the Colburn factor j are evaluated as in the work of Odabaee and Hooman [13]. As shown in the Fig. 6, the EPR
is higher than one and this demonstrates the best performance of a metal foam heat exchanger than one clean.
 Bernardo Buonomo et al. / Energy Procedia 148 (2018) 782–789 789
8 Author name / Energy Procedia 00 (2018) 000–000

Fig. 6. EPR for different Red

4. Conclusions

A numerical study on a compact heat exchanger with metal foam has been carried out in order to evaluate the
dimensions of the foam section that represent an agreement between the enhancement of heat transfer power and the
increase of mechanical power. The foam has been modelled assuming the local thermal non equilibrium model. The
computational domain has been a single cylindrical tube in an array. Moreover, the results in terms of heat transfer
coefficient and Nusselt number for the optimal configuration of the heat exchanger show that the application of
metal foam allows to improve the heat transfer from the cylindrical tube. In conclusion, the EPR is evaluated
demonstrating as the use of aluminum foam in a heat exchanger increases its effectiveness than a system without
foam.

References

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(2012): pp. 309–329.
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[12] Chinige, S. K, Satheshkumar, M, Martin, G, Arvind, P. “Numerical investigation on convective heat transfer enhancement in jet
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