Numerical investigation of possibility of using shape memory alloy in louvered fins radiators

The objective of the present work is to enhance the heat transfer rate in an automotive radiator by using the shape memory alloy as an active louvered fin. This study presents fruitful details of the numerical study which were obtained by solving the two-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations by using ANSYS Fluent 14.0. A two-dimensional model was constructed and a standard k-epsilon model was used for the turbulence modelling. Nine heat exchangers differing in values of the fin pitch, louver angle and louver walls temperature were simulated by using a commercial CFD code ANSYS FLUENT 14 to find the best angles of the louvered fins. The obtained results were validated against experimental data which was in a reasonable agreement taking into account the computational limitations. The results indicated that the optimum angle for louver fins is independent of louver walls temperature, while it depends on the fin pitch and Reynolds number. For fin pitch of 1.65 mm, the optimum angle is 40° and for fin pitch of 2.02 mm and 3.25 mm the optimum angle is 27°. Therefore, the application of the shape memory alloy is not required to enhance the heat transfer rate in an automotive radiator.