A COMPUTATIONAL STUDY OF THE HEAT TRANSFER PROCESS IN ANNULAR FINS

Resumo

In this work numerical simulation techniques was used as a way to evaluate the effects of
natural convection on a horizontal tube with annular fins. Three configurations were studied by
varying the spacing between the fins, 5 mm, 10 mm and 20 mm. The changes in the process of heat
transfer as a function of the spacing S and the existence of natural driving were investigated. For this,
a geometric model with two domains was developed. A domain contains fluid, Air outside, and a solid
domain composed of a steel tube with fins, where a fixed temperature has been set at the base of the
fins. A geometric model was developed and a CFD commercial code, ANSYS-CFX, was used in the
numerical solution of the transport equations. Results for the fields of temperature in the fins and the
heat transfer rates are presented. The results showed that the spacing between the fins has a thermal
influence until stabilized. The temperature distribution on the face were similar.