A study of internal heat transfer in nonuniform porous structures

The results of theoretical and experimental studies of heat transfer and pressure drop in nonuniform porous materials and systems are presented. In experiments, measurements were made of the air flow rate, inlet and outlet air pressures, and air and porous sample temperatures. Experimental determination of the heat transfer coefficient in porous structures is associated with certain difficulties. The problem of determining a temperature difference between coolant and porous skeleton is the most complex. As a rule, under laboratory conditions this difference is small and cannot be found with sufficient accuracy. In the present work, the method of determination of the internal heat transfer coefficient is based on solving the inverse unsteady heat transfer problem for porous structures. Using this approach, the heat transfer coefficient is calculated indirectly or on the basis of the porous material temperature variation over time.