Two dimensional trapezoidal fins analysis

Abstract

A comparison of the heat loss from trapezoidal fins of various slopes (triangular to rectangular) is made. The method used produces accurate solutions to the general conduction equation and Fourier law for . The resulting relationship between the non-dimensional fin length and the slope of the fin's lateral surface for equal amounts of heat loss for given values of Biot numbers is also demonstrated. For this analysis, the same equation is used for all of the trapezoidal shapes by adjusting the value of the lateral surface slope. For simplicity, the fin root temperature and the fin's surrounding convection coefficients are assumed constant.