CFD analysis for natural convection of a vertical tube with various fin configurations

Abstract

This project is about a thorough study of natural convection from a heated pipe having fins of various configurations using ANSYS WORKBENCH version 13.0. The material under consideration is aluminium and the free stream fluid is air. The heat transfer rate from the fins, outer wall and the overall heat transfer rate has been calculated and compared for various fin configurations. Also the surface nusselt number and surface overall heat transfer co-efficient has been found out. Temperature contours for various fin configuration has been plotted showing the convection loops formed around the heated pipe surface. Velocity contours for various fin configurations has been plotted and the motion of heated fluid is shown. Plots for nusselt number and heat transfer co-efficient are also shown.
The assumptions during the analysis have been taken considering the manufacturing and practical applications and working conditions. Hence the results obtained can be referred to while solving any such kind of problems in the practical field where only natural convection is under consideration.
After comparing it is shown that we can find that the best configuration for this type of convective heat transfer of a heated pipe is a TRAPEZOIDAL fin as they have the highest total heat transfer rate