Middle-East Journal of Scientific Research 13 (6): 812-817, 2013

ISSN 1990-9233
© IDOSI Publications, 2013
DOI: 10.5829/idosi.mejsr.2013.13.6.2436

Temperature Distribution in Long Porous Fins

in Natural Convection Condition

Seyfolah Saedodin and Siamak Sadeghi

Department of Mechanical Engineering,

Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Semnan, Iran

Abstract: This work introduces a simple method of analysis to study the performance of porous and solid fins
in a natural convection environment. The method is based on using energy balance and Darcy’s model to
formulate the heat transfer equation. This study is based on long fin tip. The porous fin allows the flow infiltrate
through it. The theory section addressed the derived governing equation. The effects of the porosity parameter
Sh, different convection parameter m on the dimensionless temperature distribution, compare the solid fin with
porous fin and heat transfer rate are discussed. It is found that the heat transfer rate from porous fin could exeed
that of a solid fin. Kind of fins to used in research are Titanium, Ni and Steel and heat transfer convectivity
coefficients are hair and hwater.

Key words: Porous fin Solid fin Darcy’s model Temperature distribution Heat transfer Natural
convection

INTRODUCTION The value of ‘h’ depends mainly upon the properties

High rate of heat transfer with reduced size and
cost is in demand for a number of engineering
applications such as heat exchangers, economizers,
superheaters, conventional furnaces, gas turbines etc.
Some engineering applications also require lighter
fin with higher rate of heat transfer where they
use high thermal conductivity metals in applications
such as airplane and motorcycle applications.
However, cost of high thermal conductivity metals
is also high. Thus, the enhancement of heat
transfer can be achieved by increasing the heat
transfer rate and decreasing the size and cost of fin.
The major heat transfer from surface to surrounding fluid
takes place by convection process. Therefore, the rate of
heat transfer depends mainly on the following three
parameters:
Heat transfer coefficient (h)
Surface area available
Temperature difference between surface and
surrounding fluid
of surrounding fluid and average velocity of fluid over the
surface. Thus, it can be assumed as a constant in certain
cases. Most of the times, the temperature difference is
prescribed in a given application. Fins are frequently used
in many heat transfer applications. Meyer [1] in his
famous book with a simple manner describes the
temperature distribution in conventional fins. But in the
recent years, porous fins consider as a potential field for
increasing heat transfer. The basic philosophy behind
using porous fins is to increase the effective area through
which heat converted to ambient fluid. Extensive research
has been done in this area and many references are
available especially for heat transfer in porous fins.
Review of the Literature: Described below are a few
papers relevant to the study described herein.
Kiwan and Al-Nmr [2] conducted thermal analysis
of natural convection porous fins. They grouped all
the geometric and flow parameters that influence the
temperature distribution in to one parameter called
S h. Three cases of fin types were considered: the infinite
fin, finite fin with insulated tip and finite fin with

Corresponding Author: Siamak Sadeghi, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Science and Research Branch,
Islamic Azad University, Semnan, Iran.
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 Middle-East J. Sci. Res., 13 (6): 812-817, 2013

uninsulated tip. Further investigation of Sh effect for all

cases revealed that increasing Sh by increasing either Da
or Ra increases the heat transfer from the fin. They also
found that there is limit to increasing both Kr and L/t that
effect the heat transfer rate from the porous fin. Gorla [3]
investigate thermal analysis of natural convection and
radiation in porous fins. Abu-Hijleh [4] investigates
numerically the effect of using porous fins on the forced
convection heat transfer from a horizontal cylinder. Fig. 1: Schematic diagram for the problem under
Yo and Chen [5] performed a study on optimization of consideration.
circular fin with variable thermal parameter. Nguyen and
Aziz [6] compare the heat transfer rates from the clear fluid can be simulated by the Darcy formulation.
convecting-radiating fins for different profile shapes. Apply an energy balance to the slice segment of the fin of
An Analysis for Y-shaped fins for determining fin thickness x, shown in Figure 1, requires that
efficiency by a new approach has been demonstrated by
Lorenzini and Moretti [7]. Kundu and Bhanja [8] have .

determined analytically the performance and optimum

( x + ∆x ) m c p (T ( x ) − T∞ ) + h ( P.∆x ) (T ( x ) − T∞ )
q ( x ) − q=

dimensions of T-shape fin with variable thermal (1)

conductivity and convective heat transfer coefficient.
Also Kundu and Bhanja [9] investigate an analytical In the right hand of equation (1), the first term
prediction for performance and optimum design analysis represents the heat transfer lost to the fluid passing
of porous fin. Mobedi and Sunden [10] study the Natural through the porous media and the second terms represent
convection heat transfer from a thermal heat source the natural convection around the fin. This fluid is
located in a vertical plate fin. Mokheimer [11] investigated induced by the buoyancy force created due to the
locally variable heat transfer coefficient on the temperature difference between the fin and the
performance of extended surfaces subject to natural surroundings. It should be noted that Equation (1)
convection. Kang and Look [12] presented optimum assumes that the fluid enters the fin at T 8 and leaves at
designs of a thermally asymmetric convecting and T(x).
radiating rectangular annular fin. Seyfolah Saedodin and The mass flow rate of the fluid passing through the
Mehdi Olank [13] investigate thermal analysis of natural porous material can be written as,
convection in insulated porous fins.
. (2)
m 2 R ∆x vw
=
Governing Equations: As shown in Fig. 1 a cylindrical fin
profile is considered. The dimensional of the fin are length The flow in the porous medium shall be considered
L and the radius R. the cross-sectional area of the fin is next to account for the value of vw. Referring to
constant. assumption (7) above, Darcy’s model gives,
For the porous fin, Due to this fact that the fin being
porous, It allow for the flow to infiltrate through it. gk (3)
In order to simplify the solution, the following
=vw (T ( x ) − T∞ )
assumptions are considered: (1) the porous medium is
homogeneous, isotropic and saturated with a single- By substitution of equations (2) and (3) into equation
phase fluid, (2) both the fluid and the solid matrix have (1), the result is:
constant physical properties, (3) the surface radiant
exchanges are neglected, (4) the solid matrix and the fluid q ( x ) − q ( x + ∆x ) 2 R c p gk
are assumed to be at local thermal equilibrium with each
=
∆x
(T ( x) − T∞ )2 + hp (T ( x) − T∞ )
other, (5) the temperature inside the fin is only function of (4)
x, (6) no temperature variation across the fin thickness
and (7) the interactions between the porous medium and If x 0, equation (4) transfer to

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dq 2 R c p gk The second boundary condition depends on the

=
dx
(T ( x ) − T∞ )2 + hp (T ( x ) − T∞ ) (5) condition of the fin at the tip. The case that considered in
this study is long fin tip. In this case, the fin length is
According to Fourier’s law of conduction, considered to be very long such that its tip temperature is
essentially equal to the temperature of the surrounding
dT fluids. The second boundary condition can therefore be
q = −keff A
dx (6) written as

In this equation, A is the cross-sectional area of the (x )=0 (11)

fin (A= R2) and keff is the effective thermal conductivity of
the porous fin. Substitution Equation (6) in to Equation (5) RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
yields,
The governing equation is solved numerically using
2
d T 2 c p gk hp the Runge–Kutta fourth-order method. Depending on the
2
−
.R.keff
(T ( x ) − T∞ )2 − k A
(T ( x ) − T∞ ) =
0(7) tip condition of the fin, we have three different types of
dx eff
cases, that in this research we only study long fin.
Values of h, k and constants to used in research are:
By introducing the non-dimensional temperature
T ( x ) − T∞ w w w
function, = into equation (7) becomes =hair 25 = , hwater 100 = , kti 7.44 ,
Tb − T∞
m 2k m2k mk
d2 2 w w
− Sh − m2 =
0 (8)
= k st 16.27
= , k Ni 91.74
dx 2 mk mk
w w
2 c p gk
=L 100
= m, R 0.5 =m, ks 204= , hs 15 2
hp mk
The constants, Sh = and m2 = input all m k
.R.keff keff A

the geometric and flow parameters that influence
the solution of the problem into definite
parameters. Here Sh is a porous parameter that
indicates the effect of the porous medium as well
as buoyancy effect so higher value of Sh indicate
higher permeability of the porous medium or
higher buoyancy forces and m is a convection
parameter that indicate the effect of surface convecting
of the fin.
For solid fin, by applying energy balance equation at
steady state condition we have:
d2
− m2 =
0 (9)
dx 2
It is clear that in solid fins we would not have Sh.
Equation (8) represents an ordinary nonlinear
second-order differential equation. To solve this equation
we need two boundary condition. One boundary
condition here is that the temperature at the base of the
fin is Tb. Then.
(0) = 1
Equation (8) along with the boundary conditions
given by Equations (10) and (11) are solved for several
values of Sh and m. Fig. 2 shows the variation of
dimensionless temperature distribution with the axial
distance along the fin when the value of Sh is varying and
of m was kept constant. From fig. 2 we can see that the
value of dimensionless temperature decreases along the
fin lenghth and it is clear that the fin tip reaches the
surrounding temperature faster as the value of Sh
increases.
Figs. 3 and 4 show the results for the effect of
variation of m by variating the values of k on
dimensionless temperature distribution. The values of m
were varied from 0.26, 0.62 and 0.92 with h air and 1.44, 2.48
and 3.67 with hwater, while keeping Sh=1. From Figs. 3 and 4
it is observed that by increase k, the convection parameter
m will increase. Hence, by increase of m and Sh=1, the
temperature distribution rapidly decreasing process to
go and figure quickly reaches the surrounding
temperature.
From Fig. 5, by comparison Figs. 3 and 4, we can see
that by increase h, the convection parameter m will
(10) increase. Hence, by increase of m and Sh=1, the

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 Middle-East J. Sci. Res., 13 (6): 812-817, 2013
Fig. 2: The distribution of the axial non-dimensional
temperature along the infinite fin for different
values of Sh.
Fig. 3: The distribution of the axial non-dimensional
temperature along the infinite fin for different
values of m with hair=25.
Fig. 4: The distribution of the axial non-dimensional
temperature along the infinite fin for different
values of m with hwater=100.
temperature distribution rapidly decreasing process to go
and figure quickly reaches the surrounding temperature.
As the value of m increase, the fins cool down rapidly.
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Fig. 5: The distribution of the axial non-dimensional
temperature along the infinite fin for different
values of m.
Fig. 6: The distribution of the axial non-dimensional
temperature along the infinite fin for different
values of m with h air=25.
And now for solid fins, equation (9) was solved using
this two boundary conditions given by equations (10) and
(11) for different values of m. Fig. 6 shows the results for
the effect of variation of m by variating the values of k on
dimensionless temperature distribution. The values of m
were varied from 0.26, 0.62 and 0.92 with hair for solid fin.
From Fig. 6 it is observed that by increase k, the
convection parameter will increase and the fin cool down
rapidly.
Figs. 7, 8 and 9 comparing temperature distribution in
porous and solid fins. From this figures observed that by
hair=25w/m2K and different k in according to porosity
parameter, velocity of temperature decrease in porous fin
was more than solid fin and fin quickly reaches the
surrounding temperature and the fin cool down rapidly.
In order to make a comparison between the heat
transfer from a porous fin with that from a solid fin, the
ratio of heat transfer rate between the two fins are given
by
 Middle-East J. Sci. Res., 13 (6): 812-817, 2013

Fig. 7: The distribution of the axial non-dimensional Fig. 9: The distribution of the axial non-dimensional
temperature along the infinite fin for different temperature along the infinite fin for different
values of m. values of m.

Fig. 8: The distribution of the axial non-dimensional Fig. 10: The variation of the ratio of porous fin
temperature along the infinite fin for different to solid fin heat transfer rate with
values of m. Kr.

 dT  CONCLUSION
− keff Ap  
qp  dx  x = 0
= (12) This work introduces a simple method to analyze the
qs hAs ( Tb − T∞ )
performance of a porous fin and solid fin. It is found that
the problem of heat transfer through the porous fin is
where, qp is the maximum possible heat transfer rate governed by a second order nonlinear-ordinary-
obtained using porous fin and qs is the maximum possible differential equation. It is also found that all the geometric
heat transfer rate obtained using solid fin. Writing the and flow parameters that influence the temperature
above equation in terms of the dimensionless temperature distribution are grouped into two parameters called Sh and
and axial distance, yields. m. This thermal analysis was performed on one type of fin
case: the infinite fin. The effect of these two parameters
qp Ap keff  d  were investigated. is found that increasing Sh by
= −   (13) increasing either Da or Ra increases the heat transfer from
qs As hL  dX  X =0
the fin. Also increasing m, increases the heat transfer from
Fig. 10 shows porous fin to solid fin heat transfer the fin. Finally, The ratio of heat transfer rate for porous
rate with convection and without convection. fin to solid fin is compared for both the cases of with
The figure also shows the variation ratio of porous convection and without convection. It is found from this
fin to solid fin heat transfer rate with Kr. It is clear analysis that with convection transfers more heat than
that variation of ratio of porous to solid fin heat that dissipates heat without convection.
transfer rate increases as Kr increases for both the
cases. However comparing both the cases of with Nomenclature:
convection and without convection, heat transfer rate is
more with convection than without convection as cp Specific heat
shown in the figure. Da Darcy number, k
t2

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