Natural Convection Heat Transfer Augmentation Factor with Square Conductive Pin Fin Arrays

Abstract

Natural convection heat transfer from a vertical isothermal plate with pin fins is numerically studied by solving the Navier–Stokes equations along with the energy equation. The average Nusselt number for the plate with different configurations of pin fins is obtained. The average Nusselt number is found to increase with increasing aspect ratio of the fin and to decrease with increasing angle of fin inclination with respect to the plate. There is only a minor difference between the average Nusselt numbers for in-line and staggered arrangement of fins for the range of parameters studied in the present work. A correlation is developed to predict the average Nusselt number of the plate as a function of fin spacing in the streamwise and spanwise directions, aspect ratio of the fin, and its angle of inclination.