A comparison study on fin surfaces in finned-tube heat exchangers

A three-dimensional numerical study was conducted to assess the heat transf er performance of extended fins in a two-row finned tube heat exchanger. Fi ns under investigation were plane and slit types A finite volume discretiza tion method and a SIMPLE-based solution algorithm were, respectively, appli ed to working differential equations and their discrete counterparts to com pute the gas velocities and pressure. The temperatures of solid and gas pha ses were computed from the same energy equation with different diffusivitie s and prescribed convective fluxes. The main objective of this study was to compare the transfer capabilities of the two investigated fin shapes. Thei r capabilities as a whole are presented in terms of the computed Nusselt nu mber and the pressure drop across the flow passage.