A Comprehensive Thermo-mechanical Analysis of a Tapered Solid and Porous Fins Using Inline and Staggered Arrangements

Abstract

The current study presented a coupled thermo-structural and steady-state thermal analysis of an array of solid and porous fins subjected to two-dimensional convection inside a rectangular enclosure. The study investigated the heat transfer parameters, such as the Nusselt number, heat transfer coefficient, fin surface temperature, and thermal stresses of inline and staggered fins (solid and porous). An in-depth examination of the inline and staggered fin configurations demonstrated that the staggered arrangement provided better performance up to Reynold number 8000. However, once the Reynolds number was increased over this threshold, both configurations exhibited similar performances. The outcomes of the study revealed that the configuration of the fins had a significant impact on the Nusselt number and coefficient of heat transfer of porous fins. However, the effect of the fin arrangement had little impact on the average temperature of the porous fin. Furthermore, the thermo-structural analysis revealed a significant amount of thermal stresses generated at the joint of the fin and base. Thus, care should be taken while designing, arranging, and selecting the fin material to keep the generated stresses within the yield strength of the material.