Investigation of aerodynamic processes in porous materials based on triply periodic minimal surfaces

RELEVANCE: The relevance of this work lies in the study of new porous materials for use in compact, highly efficient heat exchange devices. PURPOSE: To investigate the hydro-aerodynamic properties of flows passing through porous inserts based on triply periodic minimal surface (TPMS) topologies. To develop a methodology for studying porous materials with ordered structures. To identify potentially suitable TPMS-based porous materials for application in heat exchange equipment. METHODS: Numerical (CFD) and experimental methods were used to address the research objectives. Ansys Fluent 2019 R3 software was utilized for numerical modeling. Experimental samples for the physical experiments conducted on the VENT-08-7LR-01 laboratory setup were fabricated using SLA additive technologies. The porosity of the samples ranged from 0.73 to 0.89. The experiment was conducted with inlet velocities ranging from 0.3 to 4.5 m/s. RESULTS: New empirical dependencies of pressure drop on flow velocity were obtained for inserts based on the surfaces: Primitive (P), Fischer Koch S (FKS), Neovius (N), and Schoen's I-WP (IWP). The airflow through the N structure showed the highest pressure drop, while the P structure had 8 times less pressure drop at the same velocity. Stagnation zones, which can negatively impact heat transfer, were identified in the porous inserts. Changes in local flow velocity in the porous inserts were determined to correlate with the insert's transparency. CONCLUSION: The research results can be used for designing cooling systems with TPMS-based ribbing. Based on the analysis of the velocity vector field distribution and pressure drops, the FKS and IWP structures have potential applications in heat exchange equipment.