Engineering Science and Technology, an International Journal xxx (2016) xxx–xxx

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Engineering Science and Technology,

an International Journal
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jestch

Full Length Article

Numerical study of mixed convection heat transfer of various fin

arrangements in a horizontal channel
Mojtaba Mokhtari a,⇑, M. Barzegar Gerdroodbary b,⇑, Rezvan Yeganeh c, K. Fallah d
a
Department of Chemical & Petroleum Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran
b
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Babol Noshirvani University of Technology, Babol, Iran
c
Department of Chemical Engineering, Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran
d
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Islamic Azad University, Sari Branch, Iran

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

Article history: The mixed convection of a three-dimensional square duct with various arrangements of fins in both lam-
Received 4 September 2016 inar and turbulent flow is numerically characterized and studied. This study focuses on the ability of fin
Revised 23 October 2016 arrangements to enhance a heat transfer while flow is incompressible and the fluid is air. In our models,
Accepted 5 December 2016
the lower duct wall is defined with a constant heat flux condition while the two side walls and upper wall
Available online xxxx
are insulated. The finite volume method with the SIMPLE (Semi Implicit Method for Pressure Linked
Equations) algorithm is used for handling the pressure–velocity coupling. The numerical results are val-
Keywords:
idated with experimental data and show good agreement. The computations confirm that fin arrange-
Numerical simulation
Fin arrangements
ment significantly changes the temperature distribution and cooling performance of the fins. This
Mixed convection study focuses on the new arrangements of the fins that are not presented in previous studies. These
Horizontal channel arrangements have 3 Models with two angles (30 and 45°). According to the results, heat transfer highly
Plate improves (approximately 40–50% in the laminar flow stream and 15–20% in turbulent flow in comparison
Heat sink to base plate heat transfer) as the simple fin arrangement is replaced by inclined fins. Moreover, the influ-
ence of limited heat flux on temperature distribution is extensively investigated. It is notable that the
temperature of fins significantly reduces as the best arrangement of the fins is presented in the air flow
stream. Therefore, an enhanced cooling zone occurs when the fin arrangement is adjusted according to
the location of the source of the heat flux on the base plate.
Ó 2016 The Authors. Publishing services by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Karabuk University. This is an open
access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

1. Introduction ers to use of longitudinal fins to increase heat transfer in rectangu-

Fins are extensively considered as the main method of heat
transfer for heated surfaces to the environment. They provide addi-
tional surface area and encouraging cooling of a turbine, plane sur-
faces, or other geometries. Since the available space and financial
limitations exist in modern devices, the optimum arrangements
and geometry of fins (corresponding to a maximum rate of heat
transfer) should be provided to enhance heat transfer under mixed
convection conditions. As rectangular fins are simple and cheap to
manufacture, they are used to increase the rates of convective heat
transfer from systems. In a modern device such as printed circuit
boards, improving the power dissipation from surfaces yields the
significant increases in the performance. This motivated research-
⇑ Corresponding authors.
E-mail addresses: Mojtaba.m.64@gmail.com (M. Mokhtari), mbarzegarg@yahoo.
com (M. Barzegar Gerdroodbary).
Peer review under responsibility of Karabuk University.
lar channels. Heat transfer on the fin surface through the stream of
the air is obtained by the three main mechanisms of natural con-
vection, forced convection and radiative heat transfer.
In recent decades, various convection cooling options have been
proposed to improve convective heat transfer in electronic cooling
by different scientists [1,2]. Some researchers performed various
investigations on the average heat transfer coefficient of horizontal
rectangular fin arrays [3,4]. In addition, they found that incorrect
application of fins to a surface actually reduces the heat transfer
to a value below that of the base alone. Jones et al. [5] comprehen-
sively studied the influence of fin height and fin spacing on heat
transfer rate.
Recently several design conditions have been taken to improve
the heat transfer rate per unit volume for a common geometric fin.
Using Differential Transformation Method, Collocation Method and
Least Square Method, some researchers [6–10] presented the tem-
perature distribution in porous fins with internal heat generation.
Turkyilmazoglu [11] analysed a stretching and shrinking

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jestch.2016.12.007
2215-0986/Ó 2016 The Authors. Publishing services by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Karabuk University.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Please cite this article in press as: M. Mokhtari et al., Numerical study of mixed convection heat transfer of various fin arrangements in a horizontal chan-
nel, Eng. Sci. Tech., Int. J. (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jestch.2016.12.007
2 M. Mokhtari et al. / Engineering Science and Technology, an International Journal xxx (2016) xxx–xxx
Nomenclature
A heat transfer area, [m2]
Cp specific heat capacity, [kJ kg
1K
1]
C1, C2, Cl constant of the k–e model, [
]
Dh hydraulic diameter, [m]
E total energy, [J]
Eij linear deformation rate, [s
1]
g gravitational acceleration, [ms
2]
h heat transfer coefficient, [Wm
2 K
1]
K thermal conductivity, [Wm
1 K
1]
Nu Nusselt number, [
]
Nu0 Nusselt number of Base Plate Without fin, [
]
P static pressure, [Pa]
q heat transfer rate, [W]
Ra modified Rayleigh number, [
]
mechanism mounted on the surface of a longitudinal rectangular
fin for the heat transfer enhancement and efficiency. Homotopy
perturbation method was employed by Cuce and Cuce [12] to stud-
ied the thermal performance of straight porous fins whereas Mor-
adi et al. [13] investigated the effect of convection and radiation in
the analysis of performances of porous triangular fins with temper-
ature dependent thermal conductivity. Das and Ooi [14] consid-
ered to predict the multiple combinations of parameters in a
naturally convective porous fin for a given temperature distribu-
tion. Also, Syed et al. [15] studied an innovative design of a finned
double-pipe heat exchanger with variable fin-tip thickness. Most of
the investigations have studied heat transfer characteristics for fin
height and spacing ratios for transverse, V-shaped, continuous or
broken, square fins [16,17]. The study on mixed convection of flow
with various fin arrays in a square duct has rarely been
investigated.
In the present study, the schematic overview of freestream with
various arrays of fins located in the horizontal rectangular duct is
shown in Fig. 1. In the flow field, the air flow streams through
the horizontal duct, and cooling occurs by the mixed convection
Fig. 1. Schematic representation of various fin arrangements.
Please cite this article in press as: M. Mokhtari et al., Numerical study of mixed convection heat transfer of various fin arrangements in a horizontal chan-
nel, Eng. Sci. Tech., Int. J. (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jestch.2016.12.007
Re Reynolds number, [
]
T temperature, [K]
u, ui, uj mean velocity components, [ms
1]
xi, xj Cartesian coordinate, [m]
Greek symbols
e dissipation rate, [Wkg
1]
R turbulent kinetic energy, [J kg
1]
l, lT, leff laminar, turbulent and effective viscosity, [Pa s]
m kinematic viscosity, [m2 s
1]
q density, [kgm
3]
rR, re turbulent Prandtl numbers for R–e, [
]
of the heated fins with the flow. As the air move to downstream
for a long distance, flow patterns and heat rates vary along the
channel.
The main object of this paper is the numerical simulation of 3D
flows over the three fin arrangement is performed to investigate
the role of each arrangement in the heat transfer. Also, various
freestream conditions are investigated and revealed the effects of
each on the temperature and convection performance of surfaces.
In facts, the difference of these techniques with simple fins over
the flat plate is compared. Moreover, this work focuses on various
angles of fin array with different surface heat flux in the free
stream.
The flow structure is numerically simulated by solving the
three-dimensional Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations.
As the velocity of the free stream in low Reynolds number
(Re = 750 and 1500) is not high, it is assumed that the flow remains
laminar. In high Reynolds number (Re = 3000 and 6000), K
e RNG
is used for turbulence modeling. Furthermore, the numerical solu-
tion is validated with experimental data for a simple parallel fin
into a laminar air stream.
 M. Mokhtari et al. / Engineering Science and Technology, an International Journal xxx (2016) xxx–xxx 3

2. Governing equations Re ¼ qu0 Dh =l ð9Þ

Reynolds averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) equations and the hDh q00

energy equations are coupled to obtain heat transfer of the fins. Nu ¼ ; h¼ ð10Þ
Ka ðT w
T ref Þ
Since several studies [18–27] presented that the free stream is fully
developed and incompressible with constant properties, it is
gbqcon: D4h
assumed that flow of present study is steady, incompressible and Ra ¼ ð11Þ
three-dimensional. As the free stream is assumed laminar (for K air aair mair
Re = 750 and 1500) and the temperature is not sufficiently high,
where l0, Dh and l is velocity, channel hydraulic diameter and
viscous dissipation and radiation heat transfer are ignored. Thus,
dynamic viscosity of the inlet air stream, respectively. In addition,
the averaged form of the Navier- Stokes equations is used as the
h and Ka are average convective heat transfer coefficient and ther-
following [18]:
mal conductivity of the air. The fluid properties of these definitions
Continuity equation:
(Nusselt number and Rayleigh number) were calculated by the
@ arithmetic average of plate and fluid inlet temperatures
ðqui Þ ¼ 0 ð1Þ  
@xi T ref ¼ T inlet þT wall
. The channel hydraulic diameter is obtained as
2

Conservation of momentum: follow:

  
@ @P @ @ui 4A 4  cross section area of channel
ðqui uj Þ ¼
þ l þ qg ð2Þ Dh ¼ ¼ ð12Þ
@xj @xi @xj @xj P Perimeter of channel
where l is the molecular viscosity, q is the density, ui is a mean
component of velocity in the direction xi , and P is the pressure.
Conservation of energy: 3. Numerical approach
 
@ @ @ 3.1. Geometry and grid
ðqui TÞ ¼  C T ð3Þ
@xi @xj @xj
The present study focuses on the mixed convection of the air
where C is the molecular thermal diffusivity and are given by:
stream through an array of horizontal fins on a flat surface. The
C ¼ l=Pr ð4Þ main geometry of model is the 300 mm-width, 100 mm-height
and 1000 mm-length used by Dogan et al. [28] with a typical sim-
Since the flow pattern of freestream becomes turbulent in high
ple array of fin case consisting of single longitudinal fin of 1 mm in
Reynolds number (Re = 3000 and 6000), turbulence modeling is
thickness on the base plate. The computational domain selected for
necessary in high velocity. In this article, the j-e turbulence equa-
the present simulation is a small region in the center of the
tions of the renormalization group (RNG) type with near-wall func-
cascade.
tions were implemented to predict flow behavior in high Reynolds
Various arrays of fins are presented to enhance the cooling per-
number. The equations used are as follows [18]:
formance of the fins. The freestream moves along these fins to
j2 decrease the temperature and remove heat rate of the flat base
leff ¼ l þ lt ; lt ¼ qC l ð5Þ
e plate. Fig. 1 shows the arrangement of fin arrays for our study.
The heat transfer was analyzed with fin angles h of 30 and 45° in
   
@ðqjÞ @ @ leff @ j @ui @uj @ui three different orientations. The height and thickness of fins are
þ ðqjui Þ ¼ þ lt þ
qe ð6Þ
@t @xi @xi rj @xi @xj @xi @xj 25 mm and 1 mm, respectively. The three-dimentional model of
our fin is shown in the Fig. 2a. In these arrays of fins, length and
   
@ðqeÞ @ @ leff @ e e @ui @uj @ui spanwise space of each fin are correspondingly 25 mm and
þ ðqeui Þ ¼ þ C1 e l t þ
@t @xi @xi re @xi k @xj @xi @xj 18 mm. The whole channel was 0.6 m long with 0.01 m height
and 0.3 m width as it is shown in Fig. 2b. The same geometry of fins
e2 e2

C2e q
aq ð7Þ was also used to study the heat transfer of the simple model.
j j In the present configuration, the high heat transfer occurs close
And in these equations: to the inlet fins and completely within the boundary layer. Very
  fine meshes were required to adequately resolve the heat rate
1
gg j and, therefore, the problem was broken down into three separate
a ¼ Cl g3 ; g¼E ;
0
E2 ¼ 2Eij Eij ;
1 þ bg3 e computational domains to work within the constraints of available
  computational resources, as shown in Fig. 2b.
@ui @uj
Eij ¼ 0:5 þ ð8Þ Fully structured grid is generated for a constructed model in all
@xj @xi
three dimensions. Grid refinement was obtained manually in the
In the present study, the first order upwind numerical scheme region immediately close to each section of the fins. An example
decoupling with the SIMPLE algorithm is used, and all the govern- of the grid in the vicinity of a fin is depicted in Fig. 2c.
ing equations are solved through a finite volume CFD in-house One of the primary factors for the evaluation of the numerical
code. Approximately 12 h of CPU time were required for the simu- simulation is the proper grid arrangement. The structure grid
lation on an Intel core i7-3770, 3.4-GHz processor. The program points are generated to improve accuracy. Moreover, an extensive
was run on Linux platform. In order to obtain the precise result, grid refinement study (mesh number from 872,000, 1,746,000 and
the normalized residual values were defined less than 10e
5 for 2,620,000) was implemented to determine grid independence in
mass and momentum equations and 10e
7 for the energy equa- Nusselt for Re = 1500. It is found that fine grid (1,746,000) has
tion. This code was implemented in our previous studies and pre- enough precision and acceptable convergent time for the present
sented validate results [18–27]. The Reynolds number, Nusselt investigation. Further detail of the grid and error analysis is pre-
number and Rayleigh number as main nondimensional numbers sented in the Table 1. These results are achieved for one case of
for quantitative evaluation of results are defined as follows: Dogan et al. [28] investigations on Simple fins.

Please cite this article in press as: M. Mokhtari et al., Numerical study of mixed convection heat transfer of various fin arrangements in a horizontal chan-
nel, Eng. Sci. Tech., Int. J. (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jestch.2016.12.007
4 M. Mokhtari et al. / Engineering Science and Technology, an International Journal xxx (2016) xxx–xxx

(a)

200 mm 600 mm 200 mm

y A B C
Z
100 mm

25 mm
(b)

X
Z
37.5 mm
300 mm

Inflow
50 mm

18.5 mm

(c)

Fig. 2. a) Boundary condition b) Computational of domain c) Grid Generation.

Table 1
Grid analysis.

Mesh type Number of cells Average heat transfer coefficient-CFD Average heat transfer coefficient-experiment % Relative error
Coarse 872,000 8.26 9.1 9.2
Fine 1,746,000 8.74 9.1 3.9
Very fine 2,620,000 8.75 9.1 3.8

Please cite this article in press as: M. Mokhtari et al., Numerical study of mixed convection heat transfer of various fin arrangements in a horizontal chan-
nel, Eng. Sci. Tech., Int. J. (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jestch.2016.12.007
 M. Mokhtari et al. / Engineering Science and Technology, an International Journal xxx (2016) xxx–xxx
3.2. Freestream and boundary condition
The inflow airstream was chosen to have velocity v = 0.15 m/s
(Re = 1500), temperature T 1 ¼ 298 k and the local conditions
P1 ¼ 1 atm. In order to extend the results and find optimum per-
formance, various inlet velocities (Re = 750, 3000 and 6000) are
examined. The mixed convection heat transfer with longitudinal
fins in a horizontal channel has been investigated with bottom wall
constant heat flux conditions. The heat flux is applied in the bot-
tom of the region B (Fig. 2b) where the fin is presented. The heat
flux rate of the base plate is varied from Ra = 4e+7 to Ra = 6e+8
[heat flux = 20–420 W/m2] to discern the cooling on different
conditions.
As shown in Fig. 2a, boundary conditions were applied to the
freestream inflow (inlet velocity); flat base plate (constant wall
heat flux); both lateral sides and top of the channel (adiabatic
no-slip wall boundary conditions); and outflow (extrapolation).
According to experimental setup [28], the base plate is copper
and fins are composed of the aluminum. Since this model is a con-
jugate heat transfer problem, the solid and fluid energy equations
are coupled to satisfy conservation equations.
4. Results and discussion
4.1. Validation
In the present paper, the numerical results of average heat
transfer coefficient are compared with other experimental data
to validate the precision of the present study. Fig. 3 compares the
experimental data [28] of average heat transfer coefficient for
two sets of simple fins with numerical simulations. The set 2
includes 32 fins with 8 mm spacing and set 4 includes 15 fins with
18 mm spacing. The plot clearly confirms the precision of the
numerical results with an acceptable discrepancy. Moreover, the
numerical results remain validate for a wide range of Rayleigh
numbers.
4.2. Flow feature and temperature distribution of various fin
arrangements
The flow pattern and temperature distribution of fin arrange-
ments are illustrated in the Fig. 4. In this figure, the Reynolds
and Rayleigh numbers are 1500 and 6e+8, respectively. In addition,
the angle of the fins is fixed at 30° for all models in addition to the
simple straight fin. The Fig. 4a illustrates the temperature variation
Fig. 3. Validation.
Please cite this article in press as: M. Mokhtari et al., Numerical study of mixed convection heat transfer of various fin arrangements in a horizontal chan-
nel, Eng. Sci. Tech., Int. J. (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jestch.2016.12.007
5
on the streamlines along the fins. It is clear that the flow stream
uniformly moves along the simple fins. Moreover, the temperature
distributions on the cross section of simple fins obviously show
that temperature gradient occurs in the vicinity of the fin and bot-
tom surface. As the flow move to outlet, the temperature increases
in the flow. This shows that the heat rate varies along the fins.
Fig. 4b illustrates the temperature variation inside fins with zig-
zag arrangements (Model 1). The figure shows that the incoming
flow fluctuates as it moves to downstream. The temperature vari-
ations on the flow stream show that the flow quickly heats up
inside the domain. In addition, the temperature distribution on
the outlet section confirms that hot regions in the vicinity of the
fins are so high and the average temperature of fins is lower than
simple fin.
Model 2 presents a new structure of the flow and temperature
distribution as it is exhibited in the Fig. 4c. The formation of the
fins differently acts on the incoming flow. This arrangement of fins
produces a core divergent channel in the center of the model and
converge channel in the side of the domain. As the flow stream
along the core divergent fin arrangement, they direct to move in
the streamwise space of fins and cool the fin. This characteristic
of the fin greatly increases cooling of the base plate. However, con-
vergent paths reduce the interaction between the fins and flow,
and the cooling performance of the fins diminishes. The tempera-
ture distribution on the cross section clearly shows the different
temperature zone of these pathways. In fact, the most of the tem-
perature variation occurs in the side paths and the temperature is
core path is constant and equal to the initial value. This confirms
that the effective air stream moves in the streamwise space of fins
and vents in the converging paths.
In comparison to the last two fin arrangement, Fig. 4d presents
the contrasting three-dimensional feature. While it seems that
model 1 and 2 show some deficiency in the cooling of the fins,
Model 3 uses the advantage of these two models and directs the
flow in the convergent and divergent path, simultaneously. As
the flow moves along the fins, it compresses and expands inside
its path. This increases the flow and surface interactions and
improves the cooling of the fins in the inlet of the domain.
Although it is expected to highly increase the cooling rate, the
momentum of the incoming air stream significantly reduces and
the cooling performance of the fins decreases. The heat perfor-
mance of the model 1, 2 and 3 increases 8.1%, 23% and 16.2% in
comparison with simple fin in the same condition.
4.3. Effect of fin formation
According to the previous notes, the cooling performance of fins
seems to be mostly due to the flow structure along the fin on the
surface. The proper evaluation of the heat transfer along the fins
can be achieved through the quantitative investigation of the Nus-
selt number ratio of models. Fig. 5 illustrates the influence of var-
ious Reynolds and Rayleigh numbers on the cooling performance of
the fins with an angle of 30° by comparison of the axial Nusselt
number ratio, Nu/Nu0 (Nu0 refers to the Nusselt number of the
plate without fin). The value of the Nusselt number ratio in the
low Reynolds number shows that the value of the heat rate is
approximately similar for all models. Indeed, the buoyancy is the
main factor in low Reynolds number and the fin arrangement does
not significantly influence on the cooling performance in the
domain. As the inlet velocity is increased, the effect of the buoy-
ancy becomes limited and various fin arrangements present differ-
ent cooling values. By further increasing of the inlet velocity, the
free stream becomes turbulent in the high Reynolds number
(Re = 3000, 6000). Hence, the transition of the flow from laminar
to turbulence significantly reduces the Nusselt number ratio.
Indeed, the turbulent free stream flow is less sensitive to the
6 M. Mokhtari et al. / Engineering Science and Technology, an International Journal xxx (2016) xxx–xxx
Fig. 4. Flow stream and temperature distribution on a) simple b) model 1 c) model 2 d) model 3.
arrangements of the fins. On the other word, the Nusselt number of
the plate without fin (Nu0) is increase in the turbulent flow.
It can be noticed from Fig. 5a that model 2 performs efficiently
as the inlet velocity (or Reynolds number) is increased in constant
Rayleigh number (Ra = 6e+8). Due to the formation of the fins in
the angle of 30°, the fin arrangement may cause air to move zigzag
passing fins toward the downstream. These streamlines are forced
to contact with fins while model 1 and 3 show similar trends for
various incoming flows. All of our models significantly perform
better than a simple fin.
Fig. 5 also shows that our three models significantly improve
the heat transfer better than the simple model when the angle of
the fin is 30°. The comparison of the cooling performance of these
models shows that Model 2 is more efficient than the first and the
third model in various conditions. As Reynolds number is increased
and remained laminar in the second model (Reynolds less than
3000), the Nusselt number ratio raises and cooling improves on
the surface of the fins (Fig. 5a). This is due to the formation of
hydrodynamic flow pattern inside the fins. In fact, the arrangement
of the fin forces the flow to move in the spanwise direction and the
flow is highly close to the surface of the fins. In the first and the
third model, the flow moves inside the specific pathway and the
momentum and flow interaction with the surface of fin reduces
at the end of the fins. Fig. 5b compares the influence of the Rayleigh
number on the cooling performance of these fins in constant Rey-
nolds number (Re = 1500). It is clear that the cooling efficiency of
these models is close in the high Rayleigh Numbers. This is due
to the influence of the buoyancy factor in higher Rayleigh numbers.
The results confirm that the Model 2 performs more efficient
than other models in different heat fluxes. In addition, the cooling
performance of the Model 3 is better than the first model in low
Rayleigh numbers.
The comparison of the cooling performance of these models
with fin angle of 45° is illustrated in the Fig. 6. Fig. 6a shows that
the difference on cooling of three models decreases as the angle
Please cite this article in press as: M. Mokhtari et al., Numerical study of mixed convection heat transfer of various fin arrangements in a horizontal chan-
nel, Eng. Sci. Tech., Int. J. (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jestch.2016.12.007
of the fins is increased at a constant Rayleigh number (Ra = 6e
+8). Furthermore, the overall cooling performance of these models
is the same in high Reynolds number and subtly higher than mod-
els with the angle of 30°.
Since the effects of buoyancy are reduced by increasing Rey-
nolds number in laminar flow, the fin arrangement significantly
influences on the cooling performance and the Nusselt ratio
increases. In turbulent free stream (Re = 3000 and 6000), the effect
of the buoyancy becomes limited and the turbulent structure of the
main flow plays the key role on the heat transfer of the plate. The
results clearly confirm that the influences of the arrangement
highly diminish in turbulent flow (Re = 6000).
In this angle, model 2 slightly performs better than Model 1 and
3. It is clear that the angle of fins extends the cooling through the
increasing of the flow contact with the surface of the fin.
Fig. 6b depicts that the performance of the model 2 and 3 is
approximately similar when the heat flux is varied in constant Rey-
nolds number (Re = 1500). As mentioned before, the compression
and expansion on the path of flow extensively increase the contact
of fins with freestream and consequently the efficiency of this
model enhances in the various conditions. Indeed, the increasing
of the angle of the fins reveals this characteristic of the model.
4.4. Influence of heat flux distribution
One of the main challenges on the investigation of the efficient
fin arrangement is the real distribution of the heat flux on the base
plate. Since the heat flux as the main source plays a significant role
on the cooling performance of various fin arrangements, it is nec-
essary to study the limited distribution of the heat flux in the cen-
ter of the base plate. Fig. 7 shows the specific section of the base
plate where the heat source is limited. In this modified domain,
constant heat flux [840 W/m2] is applied and other portions of
the plate is adiabatic.
 M. Mokhtari et al. / Engineering Science and Technology, an International Journal xxx (2016) xxx–xxx 7

Fig. 5. Cooling performance of the various fin arrangement with 30° in different a)
Reynolds numbers b) Rayleigh numbers.
Fig. 6. Cooling performance of the various fin arrangement with 45° in different a)
Reynolds numbers b) Rayleigh numbers.

Fig. 8 illustrates the temperature distribution on the surface of

the plate and fins with an angle of 45° in air freestream (Re = 1500)
and limited heat flux (840 W/m2, Ra = 1.2e+9). The results present
that the significant temperature distribution occurred when the
heat source in confined in the limited portion of the base plate.
In simple fin, the distribution is uniform in the surface with high
temperature. It seems that a noticeable phenomenon is not dis-
cerned in the model.
The results of the temperature distribution show that the tem-
perature distribution is highly influenced by various fin arrange-
ments in this condition. First, the temperature range of these
three models is highly different from a simple fin. As these
arrangements are applied for the condition of limited area of heat
flux, a significant temperature reduction (more than 10 degrees)
occurs in the domain. In addition, the temperature distributions
in these models are different as the flow moves along the fins.
Model 1 and 3 approximately present similar temperature distri-
bution patterns. However, the cooling performance of the Model
2 is higher than other models. The temperature variation in this Fig. 7. The domain of heat flux on the surface of the base plate.

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8 M. Mokhtari et al. / Engineering Science and Technology, an International Journal xxx (2016) xxx–xxx
Fig. 8. Comparisons of temperature distribution on the various fin arrangements on the base plate with limited heat flux.
model clearly shows significant temperature gradient as the source
of heat flux is presented in the center of a domain. Furthermore,
the temperature is reduced in the region far from the main source
in the base plate. As mentioned before, this model forces the main
stream into the space of the fin in spanwise direction. This model
highly dissipates the source of heat flux which is located in the
center of the base plate. Therefore, this model is efficient for cool-
ing of the fins with limited source.
5. Conclusion
The main scope of this study was to investigate the effect of
using various fin arrangements on cooling of the base plate in a
laminar flow. The specific goals included determination of temper-
ature variation and cooling performance of fins with various angles
under a specified set of flow and heat source distributions. More-
over, flow patterns along these models are extensively discussed
and compared with simple fins. The results presented in this study
show that efficient fin arrangement highly influences on the cool-
ing performance of the plate.
Our findings show that the heat transfer significantly improves
(approximately 40–50% in the laminar flow stream and 15–20% in
turbulent flow) when the simple fin arrangement is replaced by
inclined fins, while the pressure drop is not noticeable and is below
1 Pa. A parametric study is conducted from a number of aspects to
find efficient arrangements. First, a validation of the simple
arrangement with reference case was performed in order to assess
the ability of the CFD code to accurately calculate the temperature
and heat distribution in the domain. The numerical results present
subtle discrepancy (less than 3.9%) in heat transfer with experi-
mental data. Then, the flow structures of air stream under the
influence of the fin angle were investigated, which presented a dif-
fering flow pattern than that of a simple model. A distinct change
Please cite this article in press as: M. Mokhtari et al., Numerical study of mixed convection heat transfer of various fin arrangements in a horizontal chan-
nel, Eng. Sci. Tech., Int. J. (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jestch.2016.12.007
in the temperature distribution is discerned when the heat source
are limited in the center of the domain. According to our results,
the cooling of plate is sufficiently increased when the Model 2 is
presented in the flow. Thus, it is highly recommended for the cool-
ing in various electronic devices such as CPUs that heat rate highly
influences on the performance and design life of the instrument.
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