Numerical design of dual-scale foams to enhance radiation absorption

Hong-Wei Chen; Fu-Qiang Wang; Yang Li; Chang-Hua Lin; Xin-Lin Xia; He-Ping Tan; Hong-Wei Chen; Fu-Qiang Wang; Yang Li; Chang-Hua Lin; Xin-Lin Xia; He-Ping Tan

doi:10.3934/energy.2021039

AIMS Energy

2021, Volume 9, Issue 4: 842-853. doi: 10.3934/energy.2021039

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Numerical design of dual-scale foams to enhance radiation absorption

1.
College of Petroleum Engineering, Liaoning Petrochemical University, Fushun 113001, China
2.
School of New Energy, Harbin Institute of Technology at Weihai, Weihai 264209, China
3.
School of Energy Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, China

Received: 31 January 2021 Accepted: 23 June 2021 Published: 29 June 2021

Unlike silicon carbide ceramic, the alumina ceramic and zirconia ceramic are by its very nature weakly absorbing in visible and near infrared wavebands. Therefore, open-cell foams made of such ceramics are rarely used in applications requiring strong absorption of radiation energy, such as solar absorbers. In order to improve the potential of such foams, open-cell foams with dual-scale pores were digitally designed in the limit of geometric optics. The first-order pores are obtained by Voronoi tessellation technique and then the second-order pores are realized by the design of 'porous strut'. A Monte Carlo Ray-tracing method is applied in the dual-scale foam structure for radiative transfer calculation. The parameterized study is conducted on the radiation absorption of alumina foam sheets and zirconia foam sheets. The results show that for the present cases, the designed dual-scale alumina foams with strut porosity p_s = 0.3 can increase the normal absorptance within the wavebands from 0.4 μm to 7.0 μm by 62.7% than the foams with single-scale pores. For the zirconia foams, this increase is 115.9% within the wavebands from 1.2 μm to 7.6 μm. The findings can provide strong confidence on dual-scale foams to enhance the absorption of radiation energy in potential applications.
- structure design,
- dual-scale foam (DSF),
- porous strut,
- radiation,
- semitransparent
Citation: Hong-Wei Chen, Fu-Qiang Wang, Yang Li, Chang-Hua Lin, Xin-Lin Xia, He-Ping Tan. Numerical design of dual-scale foams to enhance radiation absorption[J]. AIMS Energy, 2021, 9(4): 842-853. doi: 10.3934/energy.2021039

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Abstract

Unlike silicon carbide ceramic, the alumina ceramic and zirconia ceramic are by its very nature weakly absorbing in visible and near infrared wavebands. Therefore, open-cell foams made of such ceramics are rarely used in applications requiring strong absorption of radiation energy, such as solar absorbers. In order to improve the potential of such foams, open-cell foams with dual-scale pores were digitally designed in the limit of geometric optics. The first-order pores are obtained by Voronoi tessellation technique and then the second-order pores are realized by the design of 'porous strut'. A Monte Carlo Ray-tracing method is applied in the dual-scale foam structure for radiative transfer calculation. The parameterized study is conducted on the radiation absorption of alumina foam sheets and zirconia foam sheets. The results show that for the present cases, the designed dual-scale alumina foams with strut porosity p_s = 0.3 can increase the normal absorptance within the wavebands from 0.4 μm to 7.0 μm by 62.7% than the foams with single-scale pores. For the zirconia foams, this increase is 115.9% within the wavebands from 1.2 μm to 7.6 μm. The findings can provide strong confidence on dual-scale foams to enhance the absorption of radiation energy in potential applications.

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