Numerical study of an oscillatory piston-driven flow through open cell metal foam like stirling engine regenerator

• Published in: International journal of heat and mass transfer 2023-10, Vol.213, p.124196, Article 124196
• Main Authors: Zahi, Nesrine, Alkabsh, Asma, Bouhjar, Feriel, Derbali, Lotfi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Heat transfer; Metal foam; Numerical study; Oscillating flow; Pressure drop
• ISSN: 0017-9310; 1879-2189
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2023.124196

In Stirling engine, the regenerator operates with oscillating flow, a detailed description of fluid flow and heat transfer become crucial. The oscillating flow is driven by a piston to assure an expansion-compression cycle. The scope of this work involves the development of a computational model of flow and heat transfer in a two-dimensional horizontal cylinder partially filled with an open cell metal foam block attached strip heat source at the lateral wall. The governing equations in two-dimensional laminar regime are written in local thermal equilibrium (LTE). The presence of the open-cell metal foam is modeled as a porous media by means of the Darcy-Brinkman-Forchheimer law. The numerical study is conducted by MVCEF Method, which is an efficiently way compared to that of the traditional continuum Navier-Stokes method, for a non-structured moved grid. The SIMPLER algorithm has been implemented. The effect of the foam on hydrodynamic and heat transfer behavior is showed. Simulations were performed for a fixed piston speed (Re=100) and for various metal foam radius (0.2R≤Rp≤R), porosity (0.5≤ε≤0.9), Darcy number (10−5≤Da≤10−3) and Womersley number (5≤Mo≤15).