Abstract

Thermal performances of serrated fins which are consist of annular and plain sections is investigated. Thermal conductivity of the fin is considered to be linearly dependent on temperature. Nonlinear differential equations are obtained by applying the energy balance equation for both sections of the serrated fin and these equations are solved by applying homotopy perturbation method. Insulated fin tip, constant fin base temperature and common boundary conditions between the interface of two sections are considered. Serrated fin radii ratio, segment height ratio, thermo-geometric fin and thermal conductivity parameters effecting the thermal performance and temperature distribution are investigated. The results showed that the homotopy perturbation is a reliable method for the solutions of such nonlinear differential equations. A very good agreement between the results of the homotopy perturbation method and the numerical finite difference method are obtained. It is seen that, serrated fin efficiency lays between annular and rectangular fin efficiencies and increases with the increase of segment height ratio.