Heat transfer in fin assemblies: Significance of two-dimensional effects -A reexamination of the issue

The purpose of this paper is to reexamine the significance and nature of tw o-dimensional effects in fin assemblies. In particular, consideration is gi ven to concerns expressed in the literature that the standard approach comm only leads to large errors due to two-dimensional effects. In addition, for the purpose of establishing a practical means of evaluating the level of s ignificance of two-dimensional effects, an approximate first-order two-dime nsional thermal circuit approach to analyzing heat transfer in fin assembli es is developed.