Numerical modeling of high-performance metallic fibrous heat sinks for external cooling

A numerical study is reported for high Reynolds number forced convection in a channel filled with rigid metallic fibrous materials of high porosity. These metallic fibrous media are envisaged as effective heat sinks for external liquid cooling of mainframe computers. The effects of inertia and thermal dispersion are modeled using the results from previous experimental and theoretical studies. The numerical results suggest that heat transfer rate increases with increasing Reynolds number and stagnant thermal conductivity, and decreases with Darcy number. The fiber thickness was found to have significant influence on thermal dispersion. The resulting numerical model will assist in the design of heat sinks and the choice of the material to be used in the proposed fibrous heat sinks.