Heat transfer augmentation in a foam-material filled duct with discrete heat sources

A heat treatment augmentation technique utilizing a foam-material system for potential application to electronics cooling is presented. The geometry under consideration is a foam-material filled duct with discrete heat sources on its walls. The volume-averaged momentum and energy equations are used to analyze the flow and heat transfer. The present analysis includes the boundary, inertial, and dispersion effects. Thermal dispersion caused by the presence of the solid matrix plays a key role in heat transfer augmentation. Numerical simulations are carried out to obtain the Nusselt number and wall temperature distributions. The results show that an increase of two to four times in heat transfer is achievable as compared to that of laminar slug-flow in a clear duct