Journal
APPLIED ENERGY
Volume 184, Issue -, Pages 531-547Publisher
ELSEVIER SCI LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2016.10.044
Keywords
Metal foam; Particulate fouling; Air cooled heat exchanger
Categories
Funding
- Australian Research Council [ARC-DECRA 130101183]
- Australian Postgraduate Award scholarship (APA) - Australian government
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Metal foams have gained popularity in the renewable energy industry due to their superior thermophysical properties. In the present study, a coupled finite volume and discrete element numerical method is used to numerically investigate the mechanisms that govern particle-laden gas flows and particulate fouling in idealized metal foam air-cooled heat exchangers. This paper provides a systematic analysis of the foulant distribution and the pressure drop due to the metal foam structure and the presence of fouling. The idealized Weaire-Phelan metal foam geometry serves as a good approximation to a real metal foam geometry. The pressure drop and deposition fraction follows a linear relation for sandstone cases, whereas for the sawdust cases, the pressure drop is sensibly invariant with time although a noticeable increase in deposition fraction with time is realized. The foulant residence time in addition to the correlations between pressure drop, deposition fraction, and inlet velocity can be used to optimize metal foam heat exchanger designs. Optimum heat exchanger performance is achieved by keeping the same fiber thickness of 0.17 mm at a high porosity at 97.87%. An increase in fluid carrier velocity promotes particle transport by means of particle interception thereby reducing the deposition fraction irrespective of foam geometry. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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