A Numerical Study on Pores Per Inch Effect on Impinging Round Jets in Channel Partially Filled with Metal Foam

A parallel-plate channel filled partially with a high permeability metal foam and a single round jet impinging on the foam is investigated numerically. The opposite wall to the air round jet is partially heated at uniform heat flux. The fluid flow in the channel is assumed two dimensional and the metal foam is modeled using the Brinkman–Forchheimer-extended Darcy model and the local thermal equilibrium. The porous medium is homogenous and isotropic, the thermophysical properties of the air and the porous medium are temperature independent. The fluid flow is steady state, laminar and incompressible and the buoyancy effect is considered. Results in terms of wall temperature and local heat transfer coefficient profiles along the heated wall are given as well as the average Nusselt number for different porosity and pore density values. Results indicate that the porous medium determines a more uniform temperature values along the heated wall. The average Nusselt number for clear cases is higher than the cases with porous medium up to Peclet number (Pe) <800 whereas for higher Pe the opposite trend is noted. Moreover, average Nusselt number decreases increasing the porosity and the pore density.