International Journal of Scientific Research Engineering & Technology (IJSRET), ISSN 2278 0882

Volume5, Issue4, April 2016

NUMERICAL INVESTIGATION OF ELLIPTICAL AND TRIANGULAR

PERFORATED FINS UNDER FORCED CONVECTION
Pooja P. Shirjose1
1

(M.E. Mechanical Engineering, Shri. Saint Gadge Baba Amravati University, Amravati.)

ABSTRACT
Multiple researches had been undertaken to improve the
heat transfer mechanisms from the fins. One such
mechanism was perforations. Perforations on fins
provide more surface area for the heat transfer. In this
work, numerical simulations were conducted for fins
with various shapes of perforations. The size of the
perforation for this work was considered as 6 mm. These
fins were studied for different flow conditions
characterized by Reynolds Number (Re = 21,000 to Re =
87,000). The numerical results were validated against
the existing experimental data for the solid fins without
any perforations, fins with square perforations and fins
with circular perforations. Further, fins with elliptical
and triangular perforations were investigated for the
identical flow conditions. Based on the results
comparison, in terms of Nusselt Number, the elliptical
perforations on the fins provide better heat transfer rate.
Keywords: CFD, Fin Perforations, Forced Convection,
Heat Transfer Enhancement

I.

INTRODUCTION

Modern day devices that utilize electrical energy for

operational performances, like computer chips, generate
heat. The removal of excess heat from these system
components is vital to prevent any component failures or
any other damaging effects such as burning, overheating
etc. Extended surfaces, or fins as they commonly known,
enhances the heat transfer rate from the system
components by exposing larger surface area to
convection heat transfer mechanism. The heat transfer
rate from the fins can be increased by various means
such as having dimples on the surfaces, perforations on
the fins, fin arrangement like staggered etc.
The perforations on the fins will induce the flow
turbulence in the channel between the adjacent fins,
ensuring more mixing between the fluids that result in
improved heat transfer rate. However, the flow losses,
total pressure drop between the flow inlet and the flow
outlet, also increases. So, the power required to operate
the fans or the blowers would also increase. The optimal

perforation on the fins should be decided by the

maximum heat transfer rate for the specified blower
capacity power.

II.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Experimental studies were performed by Kavita H

Dhanawade[1] for enhancing the heat transfer rate from a
horizontal plate. Perforations of various shape such as
circular, square, were considered on the vertical fins by
the authors. Their results indicated that the perforated
fins having high heat transfer rate as compared to the
solid fins. Heat transfer rate was found to be increasing
with the larger fin perforations. Sanjay Kumar Sharma
[2]
had studied the heat transfer enhancement in a light
weight automobile engine using fins. Their study was
conducted using ANSYS FLUENT, commercial CFD
software. The authors concluded that the performance
improvements in fins were observed when the wetted
surface area was increased and the delay in thermal flow
separation from the fins. T.Therisa[3] had investigated
the heat transfer characteristics from heat sinks with and
without perforations and inline and staggered
arrangement of fins. The authors observed that the
friction factor was increased when the clearance ratio
was decreased.
G. Ganesh Kumar [4] had studied solid pin fin, hollow
pin fin, solid pin fin with four equal perforations, and
solid pin fin with one large perforation and hollow fins
in their experimental study. The results showed that the
perforated fins had higher temperature difference as
compared to the solid fins thus having better
performance. Shuichi Torii [5] had performed numerical
study of slot-perforated fin surfaces in a laminar flow
field. They had observed that when the slot width was
increased, the heat transfer rate increases and In another
research, the perforation geometry variation for shapes
of circle, square, triangle and hexagon were studied
against the solid fins by Raaid R Jessem[6]. The
identical perforation area was distributed in 3 X 6 across
the columns and rows. Based on the experimental
results, the author concluded that the triangular
perforations offer better performance. AnkitVyas[7] had

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International Journal of Scientific Research Engineering & Technology (IJSRET), ISSN 2278 0882
Volume5, Issue4, April 2016

studied the impact of perforations at the base of the fins

as compared to the conventional method of perforations
at the middle of the fins. The authors had observed the
increased flow turbulence created by the perforations
resulted in improved heat transfer rate. However, they
conclude that as the hydraulic depth had been increased
the heat transfer rate reduces.
In the experimental study by AnusayaSalwe[8], the
influence of number of perforations on an individual pinfin was investigated. The authors had observed a 17%
increase in heat transfer rate for the pin-fins with three
perforation against the solid pin-fins. A numerical
investigation for enhancing the heat transfer rate from
the flat plate using pin-fins was performed by
AnupamDewan[9]. The flow regime for this study was
turbulent with 3-dimensional effects. The circularperforated pin-fins produced better heat transfer rate as
compared to the solid fins. Amol B Dhumne[10] had
considered cylindrical pin-fins for improving the heat
transfer rate from a flat plate which was placed in a
rectangular duct. The results from this study followed
the typical trend i.e. increase in Nusselt number for the
increase in Reynolds number, perforated fins having
better thermal characteristics than the solid fins.

III.

PROBLEM DESCRIPTION

Kavita[1] had investigated the heat removal from flat

plate, with fin arrays, confined to a rectangular channel
by the experimental method. The authors had studied the
impact on heat transfer rate by having circular,
rectangular perforations on the fin arrays. Their study
had extended to varying the perforation dimensions as
well. The authors had also studied these parameters and
their influence on heat transfer rate for varying flow
conditions, characterized by Re = 21,000 to Re = 87,000.
This work was considered as basis for the present work.

The present work extends the authors [1] research by

investigating the impact of Elliptical and Triangular
perforation heat transfer rate from the flat plate with fin
arrays. This investigation was carried out using the
numerical approach (CFD) and the results in the form of
Nusselt number were compared against the other
configurations.
The necessary geometry was modeled in ANSYS ICEM
/ ANSYS Design Modeler using the in-built CAD
functions. In the experimental study, the fin array (8 fins,
with a thickness of 3 mm) was attached to a flat plate
(200 mm X 120 mm). The perforation size was
maintained 6 mm for all configurations. The clearance
ratio (C/H) and inter-fin spacing ratio (S/H) were 0.29
and 0.32 respectively. The flat plate with the fin array
was placed in a channel of 2800 mm length. Heat input
of 200 Watts was supplied at the base of the plate.

IV.

CFD METHODOLOGY

The CFD simulations were performed using ANSYS

FLUENT 16.0 with the necessary solver settings like
boundary conditions that were identified from the
literature survey. The simulation domain was discretized
using high quality hexahedral mesh elements. This
approach also provides better control in necessary mesh
refinement control along with reduction in overall mesh
count.

Fig 2: Cross-sectional view of Mesh

Solid Fins
(without any Perforations)

Fins with Elliptical

Perforations

Fins with Triangular Perforations

Fig 1: Type of Perforations

By considering the low-speed flow regime in this work,

the pressure-based CFD solver, recommended for the
incompressible flows, was selected for the simulations.
The flow turbulence was resolved using Reynolds
Averaged Navier Stokes (RANS) approach using the
two equation model SST k-omega (Shear Stress
Transport).Air with material properties at standard
conditions was assigned for the simulations.
The simulations included the solid heat conduction in the
plate and fins along with convection heat transfer from
solid to the fluid as well. This approach is commonly
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International Journal of Scientific Research Engineering & Technology (IJSRET), ISSN 2278 0882
Volume5, Issue4, April 2016

known as conjugate heat transfer. The flow inlet was

modeled using the Velocity-inlet boundary condition
with velocity based on the Reynolds number. The heat
input to the flat plate was specified using the constant
wall heat flux boundary conditions. Pressure-Outlet
boundary condition was assigned for the Duct outlet to
model the flow outlet. The remaining surfaces - top,
bottom and sides of the duct were modeled as
adiabatic, Stationary, No-Slip wall boundary conditions.

V.

From the previous graphs, it was observed that the

results from CFD simulations were in good agreement
with the experimental data (within 10%).For the low
speed flow (Re = 21,000), the results co-relations were
better. Also, for all the cases, the CFD simulations overpredict the heat transfer as compared to the experimental
data. This trend had been observed consistently. Based
on these results, it can be concluded that the validation
for the CFD methods has been achieved.

VII.

GRID INDEPENCE STUDY

In order to ensure that the results obtained from the CFD

simulations were independent of the mesh sizing, a grid
independence study was carried out. Four meshes with
varying element count were generated as described
below.
A simulation for the flow conditions
corresponding to Reynolds Number = 43,000 was
carried out for each of these cases.

OPTIMIZATION

A comparison between the Square-perforated fins and

triangular-perforated fins were made against the solid
fins [without perforations]. The results are plotted in the
following graph (Fig 4 & 5).Fins with triangular
perforation offer better performance over the square
perforations.

Table: 1 Grid Independence Study

Nusselt
Mesh
Element Count
Number
Mesh A
~ 1,000,000
115.2
Mesh B

~ 1,300,000

134.6

Mesh C

~ 1,550,000

135.2

Mesh D

~ 1,770,000

136.0

The difference in Nusselt number predictions between

Mesh-B and further refined meshes (Mesh-C and MeshD) was negligible. So, Mesh-B was considered for the
further simulations.

VI.

VALIDATION

The heat transfer estimation from the simulations was

plotted in terms of the following Reynolds Number vs
Nusselt Number graph.

Fig 4: Square and Triangular Perforated Fin

Performance
The cross-sectional area of the triangular perforations
was 50% of that of square perforations. The thermal
performance from triangular perforations could be
increased by having equivalent area. High heat transfer
performance at lower Reynolds number flow conditions
(Re = 21,000) were observed for the elliptical
perforations (Fig 5).

Fig 3: Validation Study Graph

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International Journal of Scientific Research Engineering & Technology (IJSRET), ISSN 2278 0882
Volume5, Issue4, April 2016

using CFD methods. Among the multiple perforation

shapes, Elliptical configurations provide better thermal
performance. The Triangular perforation also provided
comparable improvement in heat transfer enhancement.

REFERENCES

Fig 5: Circular and Elliptical Perforated Fin

Performance
From Fig 6, it could be observed that the maximum fin
surface temperature reduces as the Reynolds Number
increases. This was due to the higher flow velocity that
enhances high heat transfer rate from the fin surface. A
similar trend was observed in the remaining
configurations [square, elliptical, triangular perforations]
and hence was not included in this journal paper.

Fig 6: Fin Surface Temperature Contours for Elliptical

Perforations
The elliptical perforations on the fins resulted in fluid
motion across the fin that improved the heat transfer
performance. Similar flow physics had been observed in
the circular perforations even though with a lower
magnitude.

VIII.

CONCLUSION

A good co-relation in heat transfer coefficient estimation

among the Experimental and Numerical (CFD)
simulation had been observed (Validation Study). Based
on this, further optimization studies could be relied upon

[1] Kavita H Dhanwade, Vivek k Sunnapwar and

Hanamant S Dhanawade, Thermal Analysis of Square
and Circular Perforated Fin Arrays by Forced
Convection International Journal of Current
Engineering and Technology (2014).
[2] Sanjay Kumar Sharma and Vikas Sharma,
Maximizing the Heat Transfer through Fins using CFD
as a Tool International Journal of Recent Advances
Technology (2014)
[3] T. Therisa, B. Srinivas, A. Ramkrishna, Analysis of
Hyoid Structured and Perforated Pin-Fin Heat Sink in
inline and Staggered Flow International Journal of
Science Engineering and Advance Technology (2014)
[4] G. Ganesh Kumar, B. Anil Kumar, Experimental
Studies on Combined Conduction and Convection
through Perforated Fins Proceedings of 18th IRF
International Conference (2015)
[5] Shuichi Torri, Wen-Jeiyeng, Thermal Fluid Flow
Transport Phenomenon over Slot-Perforated Flat Plates
Placed in Narrow Channel Journal of Thermo-physics
and Heat Transfer (2007)
[6] Raaid R Jassem, Effect the Form of Perforation on
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Research International; May 2013, vol-4, No.3
[7]AnkitVyas, Sunil Gupta, Sandeep Gupta, Effect of
Flow Condition and Base Contact Ratio of Perforated
Array Fins on Heat Transfer Augmentation using
Computational Fluid Dynamics Technique IOSR
Journal of Mechanical and Civil Engineering (2014)
[8]AnusayaSalwe, Ashwin U Bhagat, Mohitkumar G
Gabhane, Comparison of Forced Convective Heat
Transfer Coefficient between Solid Pin-fin and
Perforated Pin-fin International Journal of Engineering
Research and General Science; April-May 2014, vol-2,
Issue 3.
[9]AnupamDewan, Rajesh Kumar Shukla, Computation
of Turbulent Convective Heat Transfer in a Hollow
Circular Pin-fin Heat Exchanger Proceedings of the
21st National & 10th ISHMT-ASME Heat and Mass
Transfer Conference; December 2011.
[10]Amol B Dhumne, Hemant S Farkade, Heat
Transfer Analysis of Cylindrical Perforated Fins in
Staggered Arrangement International Journal of
Innovative Technology and Exploring Engineering;
April 2013, vol-2, Issue-5.

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