3D numerical study of the effect of eccentricity on heat transfer characteristics over horizontal cylinder fitted with annular fins

Abstract Natural convection heat transfer from an annular finned horizontal cylinder with different eccentricity has been studied numerically in the present work. The present numerical investigation is able to capture a complete picture of natural convention (flow and temperature field) over a horizontal cylinder with fins of different eccentricity. Visualization of plume structure and flow field over the horizontal cylinder with eccentric fins has been obtained pictorially. In the present conjugate heat transfer study of annular finned horizontal cylinder, numerical simulations of full Navier–Stokes equation along with the energy equation have been made for a horizontal cylinder with fins of constant thickness and different eccentricity for the entire laminar range of 5 ≤ Ra S  ≤ 10 8 using the algebraic multi-grid solver of FLUENT 15. With increase in eccentricity of the fins, the heat transfer decreases for a fixed fin diameter. But that decrease in heat transfer is marginal. When there is a space restriction on one side of the base cylinder, annular disc fins can be designed for the purpose to increase the heat transfer rate significantly with marginal loss in the heat transfer with respect to the concentric annular fins.