Microscale vortexes in cellular media

Abstract

Vortex formation is one of the key phenomena of fluid transport within porous foam media, being responsible for improving mass transfer in relevant engineering applications such as separation and catalysis. Here, water flows through SiC open-cell foam media were investigated using the combined experimental and simulation method. Direct observation of pore-scale vortexes in the foam media was achieved experimentally, showing the formation of forced vortexes in foam cells with the constant exchange of fluid elements between vortexes and bulk fluid, which was confirmed by the CFD simulation using the virtual 3D replica of the foam media. Upon the validation of the simulation results by the experimental ones, further investigation of the vortex formation mechanism in the porous foam media was performed. Based on the Galileo invariance, a dimensionless vortex formation number (Vop) with the physical significance of vorticity was proposed, as the criteria to determine vortex formation in the porous channel of open-cell foams.