LAUSR

The heat transfer and flow characteristics of water in a copper foam tube, a nickel foam tube, and a smooth tube are investigated in this paper. The copper foam tube and nickel foam tube are produced, and an experiment for testing the heat transfer and flow characteristics of water in metal foam tubes is set up. Experimental system validation is done in this paper, and it is found that the experimental results have a good agreement with that of published literature. The effects of two kinds of metal foam tubes and different Reynolds numbers on the heat transfer and flow characteristics of water are investigated. It is found that copper foam tube shows the best heat transfer performance, followed by the nickel foam tube, and the smooth tube has the worst heat transfer performance. It is also found that comprehensive index of heat transfer and flow increases with Reynolds number.