3 Dimensional CFD analysis of laminar flow natural convection of hollow cylinder with annular fins

Abstract

Natural Convection heat transfer from a horizontal hollow cylinder having annular fins on the outer surface has been studied numerically. The constant temperature boundary condition was applied at the inner surface of the hollow cylinder. Boussinesq approximation was used with steady and laminar flow. For simulation ANSYS FLUENT was used to solve the discretized system and three dimensional model was prepared in SOLIDWORKS. The present investigation showed us that the analytical solution and numerical solution for unfinned hollow cylinder are very accurate and the cases with fins from 4 to 20 were solved by simulated showing us the pictorial representation of temperature plume and velocity vectors. The plots are shown comparing different thermal parameters such has heat flux, total heat transfer, Rayleigh number, Nusselt number and effectiveness of the system with fins with respect to the number of fins attached to the hollow cylinder.