Numerical heat transfer in annular fins of curved profile formed with the intersection of two equal circles

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the heat transfer attributes of annular fins with quarter circle profile in terms of the Biot number Bi and the radius ratio r_r. The latter corresponds to the internal radius of the tube divided by the length of the fin in question.

Design/methodology/approach

To this end, the governing two-dimensional (2-D) heat conduction equation in cylindrical coordinates is numerically solved via finite element analysis for different Bi (i.e., 0.1, 1 and 5) and r_r (i.e., 0.5, 1 and 2).

Findings

The obtained results for the mid-plane and surface temperatures show that these profiles, which exhibit nearly r_r-independent responses, only present one-dimensional (1-D) radially linear distributions for the case Bi = 1. For Bi = 0.1, the temperature profiles also possess a 1-D character but with a clearly defined concave pattern. Finally, for Bi = 5, a 2-D temperature field in a wide zone from the fin base is achieved with a convex pattern for the mid-plane and surface temperatures.

Originality/value

Exhaustive assessment of the heat transfer in annular fins with quarter circle profile in terms of different Biot numbers and radius ratios

Citation

Celentano, D. and Campo, A. (2021), "Numerical heat transfer in annular fins of curved profile formed with the intersection of two equal circles", International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow, Vol. 31 No. 11, pp. 3343-3355. https://doi.org/10.1108/HFF-06-2020-0370