Enhanced forced convective cooling of heat sources by metal-foam porous layers

A numerical investigation has been conducted for enhanced heat transfer from multiple discrete heated sources in a horizontal channel by metal-foam porous layer. Both Darcy–Brinkman–Forchheimer flow model and two-equation energy model based on local thermal non-equilibrium are used to characterize the thermo-flow fields inside the porous regions. Solution of the coupled governing equations for the porous/fluid composite system is obtained using a stream function–vorticity analysis. The results show that an increase in the solid–fluid interfacial heat exchange results in a decrease in the temperatures difference between the solid and fluid phases for fixed Reynolds number, where the porous media tend to reach local thermal equilibrium (LTE) with the fluid and a larger cooling augmentation of heaters is obtained.