heat transfer in porous media

Miko

Is there anyone with experience in simulation of heat transfer in porous media with STAR-CD?

We are working on a project to simulate a heat exchanger with a less complex model in STAR-CD. The idea is to replace the turbulators in the oil cooler by porous media.

We have so far determined the coefficients for the pressure drop by experimental data. So the pressure field as well as the velocity distribution are identical to the experiment. However, the solutions for the heat flux and temperature don't match with the experimental data. There is a higher temperature drop in the simulation then in the experiment (=> 3 to 4 times higher!!).

The problem probably relies on the setting of the thermal properties of the porous region (Effective Conductivity, Turbulent Prandtl Number). How do I have to set these values?

Thanks!!