Laminar flow and heat transfer in plate-fin triangular ducts in thermally developing entry region

Laminar forced flow and heat transfer in plate-fin isosceles triangular ducts encountered in compact heat exchangers is investigated. The flow is hydrodynamically fully developed, but developing thermally under uniform temperature conditions. Heat conduction in the fin of finite conductance and convection in the fluid are analyzed simultaneously as a conjugate problem. The study covers a wide range of apex angles from 30° to 120°, and fin conductance parameters from 0 to infinitely large. Nusselt numbers in the developing and fully developed regions for various apex angles and fin conductance parameters are obtained, which can be used in estimation of heat transfer characteristics in plate-fin compact heat exchangers with fins of various conductivities and thickness.