NUMERICAL STUDY OF ANNULAR FINS WITH INTERNAL

ENERGY GENERATION
Name: ADITYA A P
Roll Number: M180056ME
Guide: Dr. GHULAM JILANI, Dr. SIMON PETER

Objective of the present study

 Steady-state, one-dimensional numerical analysis of variable section annular fins with
temperature dependent thermal conductivity, internal energy generation and emissivity and
a heat transfer coefficient varying exponentially along the fin length
 Optimisation of the fin dimensions, namely radii ratio and base thickness, by maximisation
of heat transfer from the fin for constant fin volume, and form relation between the optimum
variables using regression analysis
 Optimisation of fin profile by maximisation of effectiveness for constant fin radii ratio and
fin base thickness

Relevance of work
Annular fins are primarily used for enhancement of heat transfer from the primary cylindrical
surface by increasing the heat transfer area. It finds various applications in compact heat
exchangers, electrical equipment where generated heat is to be dissipated, cylinders of internal
combustion engines, nuclear reactor fuel rods etc. In operations of nuclear reactors, the
temperature of the cladding attains very high values, hence the effect of radiation heat transfer
and variation of thermal conductivity cannot be ignored. Moreover due to neutron absorption
and gamma ray emission, energy generation within the fin also needs to be considered.
Optimisation of the fin dimensions and profile on the basis of maximization of heat transfer
from the fin is also essential for maximum benefit of the engineers.
Brief report of work
The non-dimensional representation of one-dimensional heat conduction and steady-state
governing equation for an annular fin of any profile (Fig 1) with variable thermal conductivity
and internal energy generation is –

𝑑2𝜃 𝑑2𝜃 𝑑𝜃 2 1 𝑑𝜃 𝛼𝜃 𝑑𝜃 1 𝑑𝑌 𝑑𝜃 𝑑𝜃
2
+ 𝛼𝜃 2
+ 𝛼 ( ) + + + ( + 𝛼𝜃 ) + 𝑄(1 + 𝛽𝜃)
𝑑𝑅 𝑑𝑅 𝑑𝑅 𝑅 𝑑𝑅 𝑅 𝑑𝑅 𝑌 𝑑𝑅 𝑑𝑅 𝑑𝑅
𝑅−1
1𝑟 𝑋
= 𝑌 𝑤𝑜 (𝑁𝐶 𝑒 𝑅𝑒 −1 𝜃 + 𝑁𝑅 (1 + 𝛾𝜃)(𝜃 4 + 4𝜃 3 𝐶1 + 6𝜃 2 𝐶12 + 4𝜃𝐶13 ))

With the boundary conditions

𝑑𝜃
(𝑎) 𝑅 = 1 𝜃 = 1, (𝑏) 𝑅 = 𝑅𝑒 =0
𝑑𝑅
 Fig 1
Where,

𝑟 𝑇 − 𝑇𝑎 𝑞𝑜 𝑟𝑜2 𝑦 𝑟𝑒
𝑅= , 𝜃= , 𝑄= , 𝑌= , 𝑅𝑒 =
𝑟𝑜 𝑇𝑏 − 𝑇𝑎 𝑘𝑜 (𝑇𝑏 − 𝑇𝑎 ) 𝑤 𝑟𝑜

𝜎𝜀𝑜 𝑟𝑜 (𝑇𝑏 − 𝑇𝑎 )3 ℎ𝑎 𝑟𝑜 𝑇𝑎
𝑁𝑅 = , 𝑁𝐶 = , 𝐶1 =
𝑘𝑜 𝑘𝑜 𝑇𝑏 − 𝑇𝑎

The thermal conductivity, emissivity, and the energy generated, have the following variation
in this study.

𝑘 = 𝑘𝑜 (1 + 𝛼𝜃), 𝑞 ′′′ = 𝑞𝑜 (1 + 𝛽𝜃), 𝜀 = 𝜀𝑜 (1 + 𝛾𝜃)

The heat transfer coefficient increases exponentially along the fin length, with maximum value
being at the fin tip.

𝑅−1
𝑋
ℎ = ℎ𝑎 𝑒 𝑅𝑒 −1

where ℎ𝑎 is the heat transfer coefficient at the fin base. The thickness of the annular fin varied
according to a power-law type rule
 1 𝑏𝑦
𝑌(𝑅) = (𝑎𝑦 + 𝑚 )
2 𝑅

Where, 𝑎𝑦 and 𝑏𝑦 are constants.

The dimensional and non-dimensional heat transfer from the fin is given by,
𝑟𝑒
𝑑𝑇
𝑞𝑓 = −4𝜋𝑟𝑜 𝑤𝑘 | + ∫ 4𝜋𝑟𝑦𝑞 ′′′ 𝑑𝑟
𝑑𝑟 𝑟=𝑟𝑜
𝑟𝑜

𝑅𝑒
𝑞𝑓 (1 + 𝛼𝜃) 𝑑𝜃 𝑄
𝑄𝑓𝑖𝑛 = 2
=− | + ∫ (1 + 𝛽𝜃)𝑅𝑌𝑑𝑅
4𝜋ℎ𝑎 𝑟𝑜 (𝑇𝑏 − 𝑇𝑎 ) 𝑁𝐶 𝑑𝑅 𝑅=1 𝑁𝐶
1

Fin effectiveness, Ef
𝑞𝑓
𝐸𝑓𝑖𝑛 =
𝑞𝑏
𝑞𝑏 = 4𝜋𝑟𝑜 𝑤(ℎ𝑎 (𝑇𝑏 − 𝑇𝑎 ) + 𝜀𝑜 𝜎(𝑇𝑏4 − 𝑇𝑎4 ))
Dimensionless volume,
𝑅𝑒
𝑉 4𝑤 𝑤 2𝑏𝑦
𝑈= 3= ∫ 𝑌(𝑅)𝑅𝑑𝑅 = (𝑎𝑦 (𝑅𝑒2 − 1) + (𝑅 2−𝑚 − 1))
𝜋𝑟𝑜 𝑟𝑜 𝑟𝑜 2−𝑚 𝑒
1

If m=2,
𝑤
𝑈= (𝑎 (𝑅2 − 1) + 2𝑏𝑦 ln𝑅𝑒 )
𝑟𝑜 𝑦 𝑒
Optimisation of the fin dimensions
(a) Constant volume
The fin radii ratio and base thickness is optimised by maximising the heat transfer for constant
volume of the fin, for a given set of thermal and geometric parameters. This procedure is
repeated for different fin volumes and a correlation between the maximum (optimum) heat
transfer, fin volume and optimum radii ratio is obtained using regression analysis.
𝑟𝑜 = 0.03𝑚, 𝑎𝑦 = 𝑏𝑦 = 1, 𝑚 = 2, 𝛼 = 0.2, 𝛽 = 0.1, 𝛾 = 0.2

𝑋 = 1, 𝑇𝑏 = 1300𝐾, 𝑇𝑎 = 600𝐾, 𝑁𝐶 = 0.5, 𝑁𝑅 = 0.02, 𝑄 = 0.5

7.701362
𝑈𝑓 = 0.026312 ∗ 𝑅𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑡
0.397905
𝑈𝑓 = 1.962368 ∗ 𝑞𝑓𝑜𝑝𝑡
0.253864
𝑅𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑡 = 1.424081 ∗ 𝑞𝑓𝑜𝑝𝑡
 2

1.5
log(Reopt), log(Uf)
1
log(Reopt)
0.5

-0.5

log(Uf)
-1
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4
log(qfopt)

(b) Constant fin radii ratio and base thickness

For constant base thickness, the fin effectiveness is used as the maximisation criteria for
optimizing the fin profile. Two different power law profiles are chosen to consider the
parabolic, constant cross section area and constant thickness profiles.

2.5

2.4
Efin

2.3

2.2

2.1
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
m

𝑤 1
𝑎𝑦 = 1, 𝑏𝑦 = 1, 𝑦 = (1 + 𝑚 )
2 𝑅
Concluding Remarks
The one-dimensional steady state variable profile annular fin was studied numerically by
consideration of variable thermal conductivity, internal heat generation and heat transfer
coefficient. The fin dimensions were optimized using maximisation of heat transfer for a
constant fin volume. The effect of radiation, thermal conduction variation parameter, and
internal energy generation variation parameter was studied on the optimum dimensions. A
correlation between the optimum variables was found using regression analysis for particular
values of thermal and geometric parameters. These relations can be used for design of an
annular fin for maximum heat transfer.

Work carried out

 December : Numerical Formulation of the problem and development of

the computer code to obtain the temperature distribution
 Jan-Feb : Fin optimisation and obtaining the correlation using regression
analysis

List of Major References

1. RHS Winterton, Thermal Design of Nuclear Reactors, University of Birmingham,
England (1981)
2. A.D. Kraus, A. Aziz, & J. Welty, Extended surface heat transfer, John Wiley & Sons,
Inc., New York (2001)
3. Jaeger et al., Engineering Compendium on Radiation Shielding Volume 2, International
Atomic Energy Agency (2013)
4. Minkler & Rouleau, The Effects of Internal Heat Generation on Heat Transfer in Thin
Fins, Nuclear Science and Engineering (1960)
5. Yu & Chen, Optimization of circular _ns with variable thermal parameters, Journal of
The Franklin Institute (1999)
6. Darvishi et al., Numerical Investigation For A Hyperbolic Annular Fin With
Temperature Dependent Thermal Conductivity, Propulsion and Power Research (2016)
7. Barforoush & Saedodin, Annular Convective-Radiative Fins With A Step Change In
Thickness, And Temperature-Dependent Thermal Conductivity And Heat Transfer
Coefficient, Thermophysics and Aeromechanics (2018)

Signature of the guide: