Forced convective heat transfer in channels with internal longitudinal fins

American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc. 1987. A computational study is conducted to examine the fully developed laminar flow and heat transfer characteristics in a parallel plate channel with internal, longitudinal fins. The fins are integrally attached to the channel top wall whose outer surface is heated uniformly. The bottom wall is adiabatic. The objective of the study is to determine the effects of varying the thermal conductivities of the wall and the flowing fluid, the inter-fin spacing, the fin length, the channel wall thickness, and the fin thickness on the surface heat transfer from the fins and the exposed channel wall. The conjugate problem encompasses laminar flow in the channel, heat conduction in the finned top wall, and convective heat transfer between the flowing fluid and the channel wall and fin surfaces. The results, which are applicable to the design of heat exchangers, include the distributions of the local heat flux on the exposed channel wall and fin surfaces; the overall heat transfer; the pressure drops along the flow direction in the channel; the detailed distributions of the velocity in the flow cross section; and the distributions of the temperature in the finned channel wall and the flow.

Forced convective heat transfer in channels with internal longitudinal fins Conference Paper