Thermal Performance Assessment of a Double-Pipe Heat Exchanger Utilizing Metal Foam and Nanofluids

The current numerical study aims to discover the outcome of the metal foam and nanofluids on the performance of a heat exchanger in contrast with smooth heat exchanger. Water was used as a working fluid at flow rate 2,3,4,5 Lpm. The outer pipe has diameter 60 mm and length 609.6mm, and an inner pipe with an diameter 20 mm. The numerical simulation was conducted by using ANSYS FLUENT 2022 R1 software. Metal foam with the porosity of 0.9 and 40 ppi was used. The cases considered in the analysis including a heat exchanger with a complete fill of copper foam, metal foam with three shapes of holes triangle, square and circle and nano fluid of Al2O3 and CuO. Results showed that heat transfer rate when adding nanofluids Al2O3 increased by 13% while it increased by 17% when using CuO. Also, the improvement in heat transfer rate when added metal foam by 43% and higher heat transfer rate with enhancement percentage 78% when adding metal fluids with triangle holes. The results also showed Nu increase with average 83 % when Re increase from ranging value (7422 to 18556). Also, heat exchanger with metal foam with triangle holes introduce maximum Nu by improvement rate 27% compared with smooth pipe and using metal foam without holes causes the rise in the pressure drop equal on average 4 times in comparison with smooth pipe and metal foam with circular holes provide the maximum value PEC of 1.92