Water pool boiling on aluminum foams in a vertical channel

This work presents an experimental and theoretical analysis of water pool boiling heat transfer in a vertical channel partly filled by aluminum foam. The experimental tests are conducted to investigate water pool boiling on heated aluminum surfaces where a 10 mm thick layer of aluminum foam is brazed. The foam samples present 5, 10, and 40 PPI with a mean porosity of 0.92. Furthermore, starting from the experimental results from the open literature, a dimensional analysis approach is undertaken to modify the well-known Rohsenow's formula to account for the foam permeability, porosity, PPI, and foam height. The equation is finally compared against the experiments in order to validate the model during pool boiling of water on heated aluminum foam samples located in a vertical channel.