Numerical Simulation of Laminar Heat Transfer in Aluminium Circular Tube With Internal Longitudinal Fins

Abstract

This paper presents a numerical simulation of laminar heat transfer in circular tube flows with internal longitudinal fins using finite difference numerical code. Three types of fin models with three different half included angle are considered. Two types of fluids (coolants), namely, water and engine oil, have been considered. Aluminium is considered as tube/fin materials. The variation of thermal conductivity of the tube materials, fluids and viscosity of the fluids with the temperature are taken into account in the solution procedure. The outer surface of the tube is exposed to constant heat flux. Steady, laminar flow and heat transfer is assumed. Reynolds numbers equal to 1,500 are used in this study. The flow is assumed to be fully developed locally, but thermally undeveloped. The governing equations are discretized using finite difference scheme. The momentum equation for the fluid and the energy equations for the fluid and the tube wall are solved simultaneously and iteratively.