Conductive heat transfer in metallic/ceramic open-cell foams

Numerical simulation models of heat conduction transport in porous open cell foams were developed to calculate the effective thermal conductivity of different ceramic or metallic foams. These models were based on the Finite Element Methods and on the Lattice Boltzman Method and use the same representation of the porous structure of foams. The previous studies of the heat conduction in the foams have laid emphasis on the need of a faithful representation of porous microstructure, while the present model represented the morphology of high porosity foams using the polyhedral cell approach. The struts with a simple cross-sections were modeled and then the influence of the strut cross-section on the conductive properties was investigated. The models' accuracy and validity of the conclusions were checked by comparing the results to experimental values for several high-porosity aluminum foams in air or in water.