Numerical analysis of heat transfer and fluid flow in the bundle of porous tapered fins

Abstract

The advancements in the materials science and the ability of manufacturing new materials, make it possible for engineers to use the porous medium as a solid body that provide maximum surface contact with the fluid. In this paper, to increase the contact surface area and decrease the flow resistance, the solid tapered fins replace with porous one and its effect on convective heat transfer is investigated for different Reynolds number. To do this, first the heat transfer of the rigid tapered fins is studied and validated, then, the solid body is changed to the porous one and the influence of the Reynolds number was investigated on the heat transfer and pressure drop. The results show that in laminar flow the Nusselt number of the flow with porous medium is 33% higher and the pressure drop is 9.35% lower than the rigid one with the same conditions. Therefore the application of the porous medium at low velocities is much recommended but with increasing the velocity, the porous media is not preferable. Also, for the problem of flow around a bundle of porous tapered fins, an equation for Nusselt number is presented based on the Reynolds number.