Assessment of numerical tools and models for the simulation of flow through TPMS structures
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The exploitation of renewable and sustainable energy sources is a key point to reach the objectives of decarbonization. The power production sector is rapidly evolving with the introduction of innovative and more efficient technologies, with several components subjected to high heat fluxes (of the order of some MW/m2). Thus, the implementation of new cooling strategies is crucial. For this purpose, structured porous media have been proved to be effective, and in particular Triply Periodic Minimal Surfaces (TPMS) have gained more and more interest in the last years. TPMS are three dimensional mathematically defined smooth surfaces from which it is possible to generate solid structures via Additive Manufacturing. Their application in cooling devices introduces significant advantages with respect to traditional solutions as they provide a large surface-to-volume-ratio, enhancing the mixing mechanism, despite the contained pressure drop in the fluid flow. Two rectangular stainless-steel samples with different TPMS have been tested at the Energy Department of Politecnico di Milano to assess their hydraulic performance at different water flowrates. The present work aims at comparing and validating computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models with the obtained experimental results. The simulations have been carried out using different RANS models and different CFD tools, namely STAR-CCM+, Ansys Fluent and OpenFOAM, to identify the most suitable ones.
