Porosity: Heat Sink Cooling with a Porous Medium

Fluid Flow Inside a Porous Medium for Heat Sink Cooling

Description

This project simulates the fluid flow inside a porous medium for heat sink cooling using ANSYS Fluent software. The problem is carried out and investigated through CFD analysis.

The study of fluid flow in porous media is one of the most widely used fields in science. A porous medium consists mostly of perforated materials and contains pores and void spaces within itself.

The present model is designed in three dimensions using Design Modeler software. The geometry for this simulation consists of a hollow section that acts as an inlet, followed by a porous aluminum foam in contact with a heat source. The meshing is generated using ANSYS Meshing software. The mesh used for this geometry is structured, and the total number of mesh cells is 7,680.

Heat Sink Cooling Methodology

In this project, the fluid flow and heat transfer inside a porous medium are simulated using ANSYS Fluent software. The porous medium is in contact with a heat source, and the whole setup acts as a heat sink. The flow enters through the inlet boundary with a velocity of 1.99 m/s and a temperature of 300 K, and it flows through the porous medium to absorb heat from it.

The energy model is activated, and the RNG k-epsilon model with the standard wall function is used for the fluid flow analysis.

Heat Sink Cooling Conclusion

At the end of the solution process, the temperature, velocity, and pressure fields are obtained, along with the streamlines and velocity vectors. As shown in the pressure contour, the flow pressure behind the porous medium differs significantly from that at the outlet boundary, owing to the resistance that the porous medium imposes on the system.