A computational fluid dynamics based study of the thermal hydraulic performance of shell and tube heat exchanger integrated with metal foam

Improving the thermal-hydraulic performance of shell and tube heat exchangers (STHX) is a critical objective in modern engineering to reduce the energy consumption and operational costs while ensuring reliable performance.This study utilises numerical simulation (ANSYS Fluent 2025 R2) to evaluate the performance of STHX using six copper metal foam baffles, compared to a conventional design featuring solid baffles.The study analyses various baffle cut-off ratios (20%, 30%, 40%, and 50%) and thicknesses (2, 6, 10, 14, and 18 mm) across a range of fluid flow rates from 1.2 to 2 kg/s.The results demonstrate that the metal foam baffles reduce system pressure loss by up to 28% compared to solid baffles while simultaneously enhancing heat transfer.The optimum thermal performance factor (TPF) of 2.138 was achieved at a 20% cut-off ratio and a mass flow rate of 1.2 kg/s, resulting in a 48.4% enhancement in the Nusselt number (Nu) compared to the solid baffle arrangement.Moreover, augmenting the baffle thickness to 18 mm resulted in an enhanced TPF of 2.465 at the minimum mass flow rate of 1.2 kg/s.This arrangement enhanced the Nusselt number by 55.8% and reduced the pressure drop by 25.5% compared to similar solid baffles.These results validate that copper foam baffles are an exceptionally effective approach for improving the overall efficiency of STHXs.