Analytical and numerical solution of heat transfer equation in rectangular composite fins

Abstract

Today, the use of composites has received widespread attention due to their special properties that cannot be found in alloys. Kevlar-Epoxy composite is one of the most widely used materials. In this paper, we analyses the heat transfer in rectangular fin and presents an exact, Differential Transform Method and FEM solution for steady-state conduction heat transfer in rectangular composite laminates. Differential Transformation Method (DTM), is applied for predicting the temperature distribution in a rectangular composite fin. Laminate with fiber orientations 0° are considered for the analysis. By validating the results in one composite layer, the temperature changes and heat flux in several composite layers were finally simulated in ABAQUS software and the effect of the number of layers and time on these parameters was investigated. The results indicate that the temperature variation in the plane of the plate (x-y plane). The selected composite fin’s material is Kevlar-epoxy. The results show that the exact solution and DTM predict the same trend compared to the FEM result and are very accurate and there is a good match between FEM results with DTM method and exact solution. The results show increasing the number of layers of the composite has a significant effect on changes in temperature and thermal flux. Also the results show an increase of time of temperature distribution and the flux becomes more uniform along the fin.