| Abstract Scope |
Nickel foams with high surface to volume ratio and lightweight structure have found applications in filtering, catalysis, and heat exchangers. Accurate measurement of flow in the porous structure is crucial for development and optimization of many applications. In this study, tomographic images of nickel foams (courtesy of Professor Patrick Perre, Barbara Malinowska, Cyril Breton, laboratory LGPM, Centralesupelec) were used to measure the pore-density and ligament thickness distribution. In addition, the permeability of the porous structure was directly estimated from the tomographic images using the Lattice Boltzmann method. A cluster environment was used to execute the high-performance calculations of the permeability simulations. The permeability was also estimated via the representative pore network model (PNM) and the results of the two techniques were compared with each other. Finally, the image was converted from 3D CT image to a tetrahedral mesh with different accuracies for the foam, open pores, and closed pore spaces. |