Open Access

ARTICLE

Estimation of Heat-Transfer Characteristics from Fins Mounted on a Horizontal Plate in Natural Convection

Han-Taw Chen¹, Li-Shie Liu¹, Shin-Ku Lee¹

1 Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan, 701

Computer Modeling in Engineering & Sciences 2010, 65(2), 155-178. https://doi.org/10.3970/cmes.2010.065.155

Abstract

The finite difference method in conjunction with the least-squares scheme and experimental measured temperatures is proposed to solve a two-dimensional steady-state inverse heat conduction problem in order to predict the natural-convection heat transfer coefficient under the isothermal situation h^−iso from a three fin array mounted on a horizontal plate and fin efficiency η_f for various values of the fin spacing and fin height. The measured fin temperatures and ambient temperature are obtained from the present experimental apparatus conducted in a small wind tunnel. The heat transfer coefficient on a fin is non-uniform for the present problem, and its functional form can be difficult to be obtained. Thus the whole fin is divided into several sub-fin regions in order to predict the h^−iso and η_f values. These two estimated values for various values of the fin spacing and fin height can be obtained using the present inverse scheme in conjunction with experimental measured temperatures. The present estimates of h^−iso can be applied to obtain two different modified correlations of the Nusselt number and Raleigh number and compare with those obtained from the correlations recommended by current textbooks and other references. The results show that the present estimates of h^−iso are in good agreement with those obtained from the correlations recommended by the present study, current textbooks and other references.

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Keywords

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