Application of homotopy analysis method and inverse solution of a rectangular wet fin

Abstract

This paper presents the analytical solution of a rectangular fin under the simultaneous heat and mass transfer across the fin surface and the fin tip, and estimates the unknown thermal and geometrical configurations of the fin using inverse heat transfer analysis. The local temperature field is obtained by using homotopy analysis method for insulated and convective fin tip boundary conditions. Using genetic algorithm, the thermal and geometrical parameters, viz., thermal conductivity of the material, surface heat transfer coefficient and dimensions of the fin have been simultaneously estimated for the prescribed temperature field. Earlier inverse studies on wet fin have been restricted to the analysis of nonlinear governing equation with either insulated tip condition or finite tip temperature only. The present study developed a closed-form solution with the consideration of nonlinearity effects in both governing equation and boundary condition. The study on inverse optimization leads to many feasible combination of fin materials, thermal conditions and fin dimensions. Thus allows the flexibility for designing a fin under wet conditions, based on multiple combinations of fin materials, fin dimensions and thermal configurations to achieve the required heat transfer duty. It is further determined that the allowable measurement error should be limited to ±10–12% in order to achieve satisfactory reconstruction.