aUniversity of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA;bApplied Research Associates, Inc., Panama City, FL, USA;cLiebert Corporation, Columbus, OH, USA
Abstract:
Heat transfer and fluid flow characteristics through a porous medium were investigated using numerical simulations and experiment. For the numerical simulations two models were created: a two-dimensional numerical model and a Fluent™ computational fluid dynamics (CFD) porous media model. The experimental investigation consisted of a flow channel with a porous medium section that was heated from below by a heat source. The results of the numerical models were compared to the experimental data in order to determine the accuracy of the models. The numerical model was then modified to better simulate a matrix heat exchanger. This numerical model then generated temperature profiles that were used to calculate the heat transfer coefficient of the matrix heat exchanger and develop a correlation between the Nusselt number and the Reynolds number.