Analytical and Numerical Investigation of Fin Efficiency and Temperature Distribution of Conductive, Convective, and Radiative Straight Fins

In this study, fin efficiency, temperature distribution, and effectiveness of conductive, convective, and radiative straight fins with temperature dependent thermal conductivity are solved using the differential transformation method (DTM). The concept of differential transformation is briefly introduced, and then it is employed to derive the solutions of nonlinear governing equations of fins with highly nonlinear terms because of existing radiation in this study. The obtained results of DTM are compared with those of the Galerkin method (GM) and numerical boundary value problem method (BVP) to verify the accuracy of the proposed method. Furthermore, the effects of some physical appropriate parameters such as thermo-geometric fin parameters and thermal parameters are analyzed. (C) 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.