Pore-level structural optimization of porous foams for enhancing heat transfer and reducing pressure drop simultaneously

In this work, the structure of porous foams is optimized for enhancing heat transfer and reducing pressure drop simultaneously at pore level. The optimization model consists of the pyoptsparse package integrates with an adjoint method. The flow and heat transfer characteristics are compared between the original and optimized foams. The influence of the inlet velocity (u_in = 0.2, 1.0 and 5.0 m/s) on optimization is first analyzed. The results show that the pressure drop is significantly reduced, and the maximum decrease of the pressure drop is over 27% after optimization. For the heat transfer enhancement, when the inlet velocity of the fluid is low, the effect of optimization is slight due to the saturation of heat transfer; when the inlet velocity is high, the heat transfer enhancement is obvious, and the maximum increase of the outlet dimensionless temperature is over 12%. Finally, the effect of the porosity on optimization is analyzed, and the results indicate, it is easy to achieve significant pressure drop reduction for all porosities, and heat transfer enhancement can be only achieved for higher inlet velocity. The present work can provide useful guidance for improving the performance of porous materials in thermal applications.