International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 53 (2010) 2935–2938

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International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijhmt

Technical Note

Natural convection around a radial heat sink

Seung-Hwan Yu, Kwan-Soo Lee *, Se-Jin Yook
School of Mechanical Engineering, Hanyang University, 17 Haengdang-dong, Seongdong-gu, Seoul 133-791, Republic of Korea

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: This paper presents the details of an experimental and numerical investigation of natural convection in a
Received 15 October 2009 radial heat sink, composed of a horizontal circular base and rectangular fins. The general flow pattern is
Received in revised form 11 February 2010 that of a chimney; i.e., cooler air entering from outside is heated as it passes between the fins, and then
Accepted 11 February 2010
rises from the inner region of the heat sink. Parametric studies are performed to compare the effects of
Available online 19 March 2010
three geometric parameters (fin length, fin height, and number of fins) and a single operating parameter
(heat flux) on the thermal resistance and the average heat transfer coefficient for the heat sink array. In
Keywords:
addition, a correlation is proposed to predict the average Nusselt number for a radial heat sink.
Natural convection
Heat sink
Ó 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Circular base
Correlation

1. Introduction
Light-emitting diode (LED) lights have recently attracted the
attention of the illumination industry, due to their lower power
consumption, longer life, and smaller, more durable structure com-
pared to other light sources. However, their use presents a thermal
problem, since about 70% of their total energy consumption is
emitted as heat. An efficient heat sink design is essential to solve
this problem. Natural convection heat sinks are appropriate for
LED lights, considering their overall advantages. However, natural
convection heat sinks commonly have rectangular bases, whereas
LED lights are generally circular. It is therefore desirable to inves-
tigate natural convection heat transfer via a heat sink with a circu-
lar base.
Numerous experimental [1–4] and numerical [5] studies of
rectangular fin or pin fin heat sinks have been carried out. Starner
and McManus [1] experimentally investigated natural convection
heat transfer from four heat sinks of differing dimensions, with
the heat sinks oriented vertically, at a 45° angle, and horizontally.
Welling and Woolbridge [2] conducted an experimental study of
vertically oriented rectangular fins of constant length attached to
a vertical base. They found that there exists an optimal fin height,
corresponding to a maximum rate of natural convection heat
transfer, for any given fin spacing. Harahap and Mcmanus [3] per-
formed experiments to calculate the average heat transfer coeffi-
cients for two different fin lengths, and established a correlation
with non-dimensional parameters and relevant fin dimensions.
However, most of these studies were concerned with heat sinks
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +82 2 2220 0426; fax: +82 2 2295 9021.
E-mail address: ksleehy@hanyang.ac.kr (K.-S. Lee).
with rectangular bases, which might be inefficient for cooling cir-
cular LED lights.
In this study, natural convection from a heat sink with a circular
base and rectangular fins is numerically and experimentally ana-
lyzed, and the thermo-flow pattern is observed. The effects of the
number of fins, fin length, fin height, and heat flux on the thermal
resistance and the average heat transfer coefficient are investi-
gated. A correlation is proposed to predict the average heat transfer
coefficient for this type of heat sink, as a function of heat sink
dimensions and heat flux.
2. Mathematical modeling
Fig. 1 shows a radial heat sink consisting of a circular base and
rectangular fins. The fins were arranged radially at regular inter-
vals. The heat sink base was oriented horizontally. The heat sink
was made of aluminum, whose properties are listed in Table 1.
2.1. Governing equations
For the numerical analysis, the following assumptions were
imposed.
(1) The flow was steady, laminar, and three-dimensional.
(2) Aside from density, the properties of the fluid were indepen-
dent of temperature.
(3) Air density was calculated by treating air as an ideal gas.
(4) Radiation heat transfer was negligible.
The governing equations were as follows.

0017-9310/$ - see front matter Ó 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2010.02.032
2936 S.-H. Yu et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 53 (2010) 2935–2938

Nomenclature

b spacing between fins, mm t fin thickness, mm

cp coefficient of heat capacity, J/(kg °C) u x-component of velocity, m/s
F view factor v y-component of velocity, m/s
h heat transfer coefficient, W/m2 K w z-component of velocity, m/s
H fin height, mm
k thermal conductivity, W/m °C Greek symbols
L fin length, mm e emissivity
Mw gas molecular weight, kg/kmol l dynamic viscosity, N/m2 s
Nu Nusselt number, hL/k h angle, °
n number of fins in the normal direction q density, kg/m3
Pr Prandtl number r Stefan–Boltzmann constant, 5.67  108 W/m2 K4
p pressure, N/m2
q_ heat flux, W/m2 Subscripts
Rc universal gas constant avg average
RTH thermal resistance, °C/W f fluid (air)
_ 3
q2 gbcp pðr2o r2i ÞqL
Ra* modified Rayleigh number, i inner
lLk2
r radius, mm o outer
T temperature, K or °C s solid (heat sink)

2.1.1. Air side 2.1.2. Solid side

Continuity equation: Energy equation:
@ðquÞ @ðqv Þ @ðqwÞ @2T @2T @2T
þ þ ¼0 ð1Þ þ þ ¼0 ð6Þ
@x @y @z @x2 @y2 @z2
Momentum equations: The density of air was calculated from the ideal gas law,
!
@ðqu2 Þ @ðquv Þ @ðquwÞ @P @2u @2u @2u Patm
þ þ ¼ þl þ þ ð2Þ q¼ ð7Þ
@x @y @z @x @x2 @y2 @z2 ðRc =M w ÞT
!
@ðqv uÞ @ðqv 2 Þ @ðqv wÞ @P @2v @2v @2v where Mw of air is 28.966 kg/kmol.
þ þ ¼ þl þ þ
@x @y @z @y @x2 @y2 @z2 Periodic boundary conditions were adopted in accordance with
the geometry of the heat sink (Fig. 1). Because of the number of
þ gðq  qa Þ ð3Þ
! grids and the computational time involved, only a single fin was
2 2 2
@ðqwuÞ @ðqwv Þ @ðqw Þ @P 2
@ w @ w @ w considered, as shown in Fig. 2.
þ þ ¼ þl þ 2 þ 2 ð4Þ
@x @y @z @z @x2 @y @z
2.2. Numerical procedure and validation
Energy equation:
!
@ðquTÞ @ðqv TÞ @ðqwTÞ k @ 2 T @ 2 T @ 2 T The numerical simulation was conducted using Fluent V6.3, a
þ þ ¼ þ þ ð5Þ commercially available CFD code based on the finite volume meth-
@x @y @z cp @x2 @y2 @z2
od. The grid dependence was investigated by varying the number
of grid points from 22,680 to 285,714. We selected 65,016 grid
points; additional grid points produced a change of less than
0.5% in the average heat sink temperature for the reference model
of n = 20 and ro = 75 mm.
The numerical results were validated with experimental data by
comparing the differences between the ambient and heat sink tem-
peratures. The geometric parameters of the experimental model
were n = 20, ro = 75 mm, L = 55 mm, H = 21.3 mm, and t = 2 mm.
Fig. 3 compares the temperature differences between the experi-
mental and numerical results in terms of the heat flux applied to
the heat sink base. This implies that the present numerical model
can correctly predict the natural convection flow around a radial
heat sink.

Table 1
Air and heat sink properties.

Material cp (J/ l (N/m2 s) k (W/m °C) q (kg/

kg °C) m3)
5 5
Air 1005.585 1.834  10 2.643  10 Eq. (7)
Heat sink 2800 – 193 880
(aluminum)
Fig. 1. Radial heat sink with a circular base and rectangular fins.
 S.-H. Yu et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 53 (2010) 2935–2938 2937

40
Computational results
Experimental results

30

Tavg− T∞
20

10

0 200 400 600 800

2
q(W/m )
Fig. 3. Comparison of the temperature differences between the experimental and
Fig. 2. Computational domain and dimensions. numerical results.

3. Results and discussion
Parametric studies were carried out by numerically investigat-
ing the effects of the number of fins, fin length, fin height, and heat
flux on the thermal resistance and the heat transfer coefficient.
Based on these results, a correlation was proposed to predict the
Nusselt number for a heat sink with a horizontal circular base
and rectangular fins.
3.1. Thermo-flow characteristics
There are two flows, i.e., vertical and horizontal flows, around
the radial heat sink. The vertical flow is in the upward direction,
since air is heated by the heat sink (which is maintained at a higher
temperature) and becomes lighter than the surrounding air. The
horizontal flow is created by air entering from outside the heat
sink to make up for the vertical flow in the inner region. Therefore,
the overall flow pattern is chimney-like. The temperature of heat
sink maintains almost uniformly high because of high conductivity
of aluminum. The heat transfer rate in the outer region of the heat
sink was higher than in the inner region. This was because the tem-
perature difference between the air and the heat sink decreased as
the cool air proceeded towards the inner region of the heat sink.
since the heat transfer coefficient was very small. Consequently,
there exists optimum number of fins that gives the minimum ther-
mal resistance.
Fig. 4(b) shows the effect of the fin length. As the fin length in-
creased, the thermal resistance and average heat transfer coeffi-
cient decreased. The thermal resistance leveled off and reached a
steady value when the fin was longer than 55 mm. This was be-
cause the air temperature in the inner region was almost the same
as the heat sink temperature, and hence any additional fin length
beyond 55 mm did not contribute to the heat transfer rate.
Fig. 4(c) indicates the effect of the fin height. A lower thermal
resistance resulted from the increased heat transfer surface area
created by the incremented fin height. However, the change in
the heat transfer coefficient was relatively small, since the velocity
of the air entering from outside increased very little with increas-
ing fin height.
Fig. 4(d) illustrates the effect of the heat flux applied to the heat
sink base. The decrease in thermal resistance due to increasing
heat flux resulted in a greater rising air velocity, which in turn in-
creased the flow rate of the cooler air entering from outside.
Accordingly, the average heat transfer coefficient increased almost
linearly, thanks to the enhanced effect of natural convection.

3.3. Correlation
3.2. Parametric study
A correlation for predicting the Nusselt number for a heat sink
The effects of the number of fins, fin length, fin height, and heat with a horizontal circular base and rectangular fins was derived
flux on the thermal resistance and the heat transfer coefficient as a function of the parameters investigated in the previous sec-
were investigated. The reference model is n = 20, ro = 75 mm, tion, as well as other geometric parameters, and was obtained from
L = 55 mm, H = 21.3 mm, t = 2 mm, and q_ ¼ 700 W=m2 . numerical data. This formula is based on the correlations for rect-
The effect of the number of fins on the thermal resistance and angular heat sinks obtained in previous studies [1,3], using average
heat transfer coefficient is shown in Fig. 4(a). The average heat fin spacing and the modified channel Rayleigh number,
transfer coefficient decreased as the number of fins increased, since
the flow rate of the cooler air entering the spaces between the fins  1:35  0:444  0:142  1:4
nbavg ro ro ro
decreased and the air was heated more quickly on account of the Nu ¼ 0:195ðRa Þ0:263 ð8Þ
H L bavg H
reduced space between fins. However, when the number of fins
was less than 36, the thermal resistance of the heat sink decreased _ 3
q2 gbcp pðr 2o r 2i ÞqL
with increasing n, since the effect of the increased heat transfer where Ra ¼ lLk2
; bavg = {(2pro/n  t) + (2p(ro – L)/n  t)}/2 ,
surface area was larger than the effect of the decreased heat trans- and the properties are based on the film temperature.
fer coefficient. When the number of fins was greater than 36, the The predicted correlation was consistent with the numerical da-
thermal resistance of the heat sink increased with increasing n, ta, with an error of less than 10%, when t = 2 mm, 20 6 n 6 36,
2938 S.-H. Yu et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 53 (2010) 2935–2938

3.00 7
2.75 RTH RTH
havg havg
6

h avg(W/m K)
havg (W/m K)

RTH( C/W)
RTH( C/W)

2
2
2.50 2.75

o
o

4
5

2.25
2 2.50 4
24 32 40 40 50 60
n L (mm)
(a) The effect of the number of fins (b) The effect of the fin length

3.0 6 3.5 7
RTH RTH
havg havg

2.5 3.0 6
h avg(W/m K)

h avg(W/m K)
RTH( C/W)
2

2
RTH( C/W)

5
o
o

2.0 2.5 5

1.5 4 2.0 4
20 30 40 200 400 600 800 1000 1200
H (mm) 2
q (W/m )
(c) The effect of the fin height (d) The effect of the heat flux
Fig. 4. The results of parametric study. (a) The effect of the number of fins, (b) the effect of the fin length, (c) the effect of the fin height, (d) the effect of the heat flux.

21.3 mm 6 H 6 63.9 mm, 75 mm 6 ro 6 102 mm,
80 mm, and 300 W=m2  q_  1100 W=m2 .
4. Conclusions
Natural convection from a radial heat sink was experimentally
and numerically investigated. The general flow pattern was like
that of a chimney; i.e., the cooling air entering from outside was
heated as it passed between the fins, and then rose from the inner
region of heat sink. Parametric studies were performed to compare
the effects of the number of fins, fin length, fin height, and heat flux
on the thermal resistance and the heat transfer coefficient. As the
number of fins, fin length, and fin height increased, the thermal
resistance and heat transfer coefficient generally decreased. How-
ever, there existed optimal values of the number of fins and fin
length to obtain an effective low heat sink temperature. The ther-
mal resistance decreased and the heat transfer coefficient in-
40 mm 6 L 6 creased in proportion to the heat flux applied to the heat sink
base. A correlation was proposed to predict the average Nusselt
number for a radial heat sink.
References
[1] K.E. Starner, H.N. McManus, An experimental investigation of free convection
heat transfer from rectangular fin arrays, J. Heat Transfer 85 (2) (1963) 273–
278.
[2] J.R. Welling, C.B. Wooldridge, Free convection heat transfer coefficients
from rectangular vertical fins, Trans. ASME J. Heat Transfer 87 (3) (1965)
439–444.
[3] F. Harahap, H.N. McManus, Natural convection heat transfer from horizontal
rectangular fin arrays, J. Heat Transfer 89 (1) (1967) 32–38.
[4] R.T. Huang, W.J. Sheu, C.C. Wang, Orientation effect on natural convective
performance of square pin fin heat sinks, Int. J. Heat Mass Transfer 51 (9–10)
(2008) 2368–2376.
[5] S. Baskaya, M. Sivrioglu, M. Ozek, Parametric study of natural convection heat
transfer from horizontal rectangular fin arrays, Int. J. Therm. Sci. 39 (8) (2000)
797–805.