Effect of radial, concentric scratches on a steady state heat transfer through a fin of aluminum alloy 6061

Abstract

The steady state heat transfer performance of the engine cylinder fin is investigated using ANSYS’s Workbench for understanding the effect of micro-scratches. The investigation was carried to incorporate new kinds of manufacturing techniques that will help for improving the performance and save the cost. The performance was improved with number of radial or concentric scratches due to the increase in surface area exposed for convective heat transfer. The tip temperature was decreased from 791.86 °C to 728.26 °C for 480 radial scratches, while the heat flux was increased from 4.5697 × 106 to 5.0317 × 106 W/m2. In the case of concentric scratches, the tip temperature was reduced to 589.47 °C and the heat flux was enhanced to 9.8531 × 106 W/m2 for 150 concentric scratches. The concentric pattern reduced temperature drastically, while the maximum heat flux is uplifted due to the high exposure of the fresh convective surface area upon the scratching normal to the direction of heat flow. For maintaining the safety temperature and improved heat dissipation, the non-conventional manufacturing process can be adopted to reduce the cost of fin and, most importantly, the fin length.