The 5

th
National Conference on CFD Applications in Chemical & Petroleum Industries
21 May 2014, Iran University of Science and Technology, Tehran, Iran





Analysis of Natural Convection and Radiation Heat Transfer in Porous
Fins (Metal-Foam) by Orthogonal Collocation






Abstract. The effect of radiation losses and the natural convection heat transfer from metal-foam fin of
convex parabolic profile is studied in this paper.The CFD Solution(Orthogonal collocation method) is
obtained. Two models, with and without effect of radiation, are introduced based on using energy balance
and Darcys model to formulate the heat transfer equation. Air and Aluminum are employed as the cold
fluid and porous medium, respectively, and the effects of radiation, pore density(PPI), Rayleigh
number(Ra) and porosity on the heat transfer rate are studied in detail. The results show that, as PPI
increases, the heat transfer rate decreases as permeability decreases. As Ra increases the heat transfer rate
increases. Furthermore, the effects of porosity on heat transfer in model without effects of radiation is
negligible but the effects in model with effects of radiation are significant and significantly increases the
heat transfer rate.

Keywords: Porous fin,Metal foam, Radiation, Natural convection, Heat transfer, Orthogonal collocation
method.

1.Introduction

As porous media can significantly increase the contact surface area with fluid inside, it
has been regarded as an effective way to enhance heat transfer by using porous media.
Although the effective thermal conductivity of the porous fin decreases, due to the
removal of the solid material, the increase in the effective surface area may overcome this
reduction. Kiwan and Al-Nimr[1]introduced the concept of using porous fins to enhance
the heat transfer from a given porous surface. An analytical prediction for performance of
porous fins was presented by Kundu and Bhanja[2].Gorla and Bakier investigate the
effect of radiation on the performance of porous fins in a natural convection
environment[3].Yang and et al. using CFD simulation the forced connective heat transfer
in three-dimensional porous fin channels[4]. Ganji et al. [5] study the heat transfer
mechanism for a steady-state condition in a rectangular porous fin (Si3N4 and Al) with
temperature-dependent internal heat generation. High porosity, open celled metals foam
shave emerged as one of the most promising materials for thermal management
applications where a large amount of heat needs to be transported over a small volume.
In the present work, the effect of radiation losses on the natural convection heat transfer
from metal foam-fin (Aluminum) of convex parabolic profile is studied and the CFD
solution of governing equations are obtained.


The 5
th
National Conference on CFD Applications in Chemical & Petroleum Industries
21 May 2014, Iran University of Science and Technology, Tehran, Iran


2. Mathematical model and assumptions
Fig.1 depicts a straight porous fin of convex parabolic profile attached to a vertical
constant temperature wall. As the fin is porous, it allows fluid to penetrate through it,
which enhances the convective heat transfer. In order to simplify the solution, the
following assumptions are considered:
I. Porous medium is homogeneous, isotropic and saturated with a single phase fluid.
II. Both the fluid and the solid matrix have constant physical properties except the
density in the buoyancy term where Boussenesq approximation is used.
III. The solid matrix and fluid are assumed to be at local thermal equilibrium with
each other.
IV. Darcy formulation is used to simulate the interaction between the porous medium
and fluid.
V. Temperature variation inside the fin is one-dimensional.
VI. In order to reduce the complexity of the problem the radiate- heat flux inside the
porous medium is assumed to behave as an optically thick gas.
Now applying energy balance equation at steady state condition, we have:

1)without radiation effects

J
JX
_X
1
2
J0
JX
_ =
Ro o
k

z
2
0
2
+
2 Bi
k
]
(1 -)k
s
+1
z
2
0 (1)


2) with radiation effects

J
JX
_X
1
2
J0
JX
_ =
Ro o
k

z
2
0
2
+
2 Bi
k
]
(1 -)k
s
+1
z
2
0 +RJz
2
((0 +)
4
-
4
) (2)



With non-dimensional parameters :0 =
1-1

1
b
-1

, X =
x
L
.


The 5
th
National Conference on CFD Applications in Chemical & Petroleum Industries
21 May 2014, Iran University of Science and Technology, Tehran, Iran



Figure 1. Schematic plot for the problem under consideration


The permeability (K) is calculated with the correlations developed from high porosity
metal foams by Bhattacharya et al. [6] and Calmidi and Mahajan [7].



3.CFD simulation using orthogonal collocation method

There is a variety of methods to solve a nonlinear PDE. One of the most useful groups is
called weighted residual methods. These methods are more reliable in case of having an
appropriate answer. In this work the orthogonal collocation, a weighted residual method
with weight function of Diracs delta function will be used. This method is based on the
approximation of the answer function [8-9].
Suppose that the equation (3) is going to be solved.


L{y} = 0 (3)


In the equation above, L{y} is an operator consist of a combination of zero order
derivative (function itself) up to nth order derivative. Considering ya as an approximated
answer in collocation method well have:

y
a
= L
I
. y
I
(4)
N+1
I=1






The 5
th
National Conference on CFD Applications in Chemical & Petroleum Industries
21 May 2014, Iran University of Science and Technology, Tehran, Iran


Lis are the lagrange coefficients. Lagrange coefficients are calculated by:

I

(x) = _
x -x
]
x

-x
]
(S)
N+1
=1
=]

Xis are the nodes of CFD simulation.
As one of the boundary conditions in this study is dirichlet type, one of the nodes is
always x=1 and the other nodes will be calculated from the roots of the nth order
Jacobean polynomial.By replacing these polynomials in the PDE equation, there will be a
system of N+2 unknowns that are coefficients of the polynomial. Solving the system will
lead us to the answer.The number of the nodes used for simulation should be optimized;
because increasing the number of nodes makes the calculations more complex and in the
other hand lead to get a more precise answer. Simulation proves that 7 points is enough
and additional nodes males no difference to the answer. So simulations will be made by 7
points.





4.Results and Discussion

The equations(1,2) are solved by using the Orthogonal Collocation Method. Fig.2 shows
the variation of dimensionless temperature distribution with the dimensionless axial
distance along the fin. The results indicate that the numerical data and analytical method
are in agreement with each other. From the graph, can be emonstrated that a greater
variation of temperature occurs in model with radiation compared to without radiation.
The variations in heat transfer rate per unit width from the base with Rayleigh number are
presented in fig 3. Data indicate that heat transfer rate with radiation is greater than heat
transfer with natural convection and in two models, the heat transfer rate increases as
Rayleigh number increases. As pore density (PPI) increases, the permeability decreases
rapidly and therefore the volumetric flow rate from porous media decreases, as shown in
fig 4. the heat transfer rate from fin decreases as PPI increases. Fig 5. Presents the ratio
of heat transfer rate from porous fin and solid fin. It is clear from the figure that heat
transfer rate from porous fin is larger than solid fin as we consider model that radiation
heat transfer is considered, as we aspect the heat transfer rate from model without
radiation has less heat transfer rate.In this figure can see as porosity increases from 0.8 to
0.96 the heat transfer rate increases for both model but for model considered radiation
that is has much higher ratio.





The 5
th
National Conference on CFD Applications in Chemical & Petroleum Industries
21 May 2014, Iran University of Science and Technology, Tehran, Iran


Figure 2. The distribution of axial non-dimensional temperature along the fin
(=0.8,Ra=202.7,=12.5,Rd=1.910-5,Bi=0.0013,keff=47.6)



Figure 3. The variation of heat transfer rate with Rayleigh number


100 150 200 250 300 350 400
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
1000
Ra number
H
e
a
t

t
r
a
n
s
f
e
r

r
a
t
e

Variation of Heat transfer rate with Ra number


Without radiation
With radiation

The 5
th
National Conference on CFD Applications in Chemical & Petroleum Industries
21 May 2014, Iran University of Science and Technology, Tehran, Iran


Fig 4. The effects of PPI on heat transfer rate



Fig 5. The plot of heat transfer ratio of porous fin to solid fin vs. porosity


5.Conclusions
The natural convection and radiation heat transfer in metal-foam fin are analytically and
numerically studied in this paper. Air and Aluminum are employed as the cold fluid and
porous medium, respectively, and the effects of radiation, pore density(PPI), Rayleigh
number(Ra) and porosity on the heat transfer rate are carefully investigated. The major
findings are as follows:
10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
Pore density(PPI)
H
e
a
t

t
r
a
n
s
f
e
r

r
a
t
e


Without Radiation
With Radiation
0.8 0.82 0.84 0.86 0.88 0.9 0.92 0.94 0.96 0.98
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
4.5
5
Porosity
Q
p
/
Q
s


Without radiation
With Radiation

The 5
th
National Conference on CFD Applications in Chemical & Petroleum Industries
21 May 2014, Iran University of Science and Technology, Tehran, Iran

1. As pore density, PPI, increases, 20<PPI<40, the heat transfer rate decreases as
permeability decreases.
2. As Ra increases the heat transfer rate increases.
3. The effects of porosity on heat transfer in model without effects of radiation is
negligible but the effects in model with effects of radiation are significant .
4. Heat transfer rate increases with increasing the porosity of metal foam,from 0.8
to 0.96.







Nomenclature Greek symbols
Bi Biot Number coefficient of volumetric thermal expansion(K
-1
)
cp Specific heat, ht/ks emissivity
Da Darcy number, K/
2
fin efficiency
f2(x) Profile function dimensionless parameter, L/
g Gravity constant(ms
-2
) porosity
Gr
Grashof number,
g[0
b
6
3
v
2


dimensionless temperature,
1-1

1
b
-1

h heat transfer coefficient (Wm
-2
K
-1
)
Dimensionless notation,
1

1
b
-1

k thermal conductivity (Wm
-1
K
-1
) StefenBoltzaman constant (Wm
-2
K
-4
)
K permeability of the porous fin Density of fluid (kgm
-3
)
L length of porous fin Kinematic viscosity
Pr Prandtl number, /
q heat transfer rate
qw heat transfer rate through the base of fin Subscript
Ra Rayleigh number, GrPr s Solid properties
Rd Radiation-conduction parameter,
2cc60
b
3
k
c]]

f Fluid properties
T local fin temperature eff Porous properties
Tb fin base temprature
vw velocity of fluid passing through the fin
at any point (ms
-1
)

x Axial coordinate
X dimensionless axial coordinate, x/L
PPI Pore density


References

[1] S. Kiwan, M.A. Al-Nmir, Using porous fins for heat transfer enhancement, ASME
Journal of Heat Transfer 123 (2001) 790795.
[2] B. Kundu, D. Bhanja, An analytical prediction for performance and optimum design
analysis of porous fins, IJ. Refrigeration. 34 (2011) 337-352.
[3] Gorla RS Reddy, Bakier AY. Thermal analysis of natural convection and radiation in
porous fins. IntCommun Heat Mass Transf;38(2011)63845.

The 5
th
National Conference on CFD Applications in Chemical & Petroleum Industries
21 May 2014, Iran University of Science and Technology, Tehran, Iran

[4] J. Yang, M. Zeng, Q. Wang. Forced Convection Heat Transfer Enhancement by
Porous Pin Fins in Rectangular Channels. ASME Journal of heat transfer 132 (2010)
[5] M. Hatami, A. Hasanpour, D.D. Ganji, Heat transfer study through porous fins (Si3N4
and AL) with temperature-dependent heat generation, J. Energy Conversion and
Management.74 (2013) 9-16
[6]A. Bhattacharya, V.V. Calmidi, and R.L. Mahajan. Thermophysical Properties of High
Porosity Metal Foams, Int. J. Heat and Mass Transfer, 45 (2002) 10171031.
[7] V.V. Calmidi, and R.L Mahajan .Forced Convection in High Porosity Metal Foams,
ASME J. Heat Transfer, 122(2000) 557565.
[8] J.V. Villadsen , W.E. Stewart, Che.Eng.Sci, 22,1483-1501 (1967)
[9] B.A.Finalayson, The Method of Weighted Residuals and Variational Principles,
Academic, New York, 1970






























The 5
th
National Conference on CFD Applications in Chemical & Petroleum Industries
21 May 2014, Iran University of Science and Technology, Tehran, Iran



( ) Orthogonal Collocation

( )
.


.

) PPI ) ( Ra (
.
PPI
.

.
.

.

:
Orthogonal collocation