THERMAL SCIENCE

International Scientific Journal

FIN TWISTING AS A PASSIVE ENHANCEMENT TECHNIQUE FOR HIGH EFFICIENCY HEAT SINK DESIGN

ABSTRACT
This investigation focuses on how longitudinally twisted fins influence the convective heat transfer and flow behavior within a 3-D aluminum heat sink. Using a finite element-based numerical model, the influence of fin twist angles, 10°, 15°, and 20°, was analyzed under laminar, incompressible, steady-state water flow conditions with Reynolds numbers ranging from 500-1500. The base of the heat sink is subjected to a constant heat flux of 20000 W/m², and the resulting flow and temperature fields were examined in detail. Velocity distributions revealed enhanced fluid mixing and vortex generation with increasing twist angle, while surface temperature contours and thermal gradients demonstrated improved heat removal performance. Quantitative metrics, including average heat transfer coefficients and Nusselt numbers, confirmed that the 20° twisted fins consistently outperformed the lower-angle configurations, especially at higher Reynolds numbers.
KEYWORDS
PAPER SUBMITTED: 2025-02-14
PAPER REVISED: 2025-06-15
PAPER ACCEPTED: 2025-07-23
PUBLISHED ONLINE: 2025-09-26
DOI REFERENCE: https://doi.org/10.2298/TSCI2504179M
CITATION EXPORT: view in browser or download as text file
THERMAL SCIENCE YEAR 2025, VOLUME 29, ISSUE Issue 4, PAGES [3179 - 3186]
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2025 Society of Thermal Engineers of Serbia. Published by the Vinča Institute of Nuclear Sciences, National Institute of the Republic of Serbia, Belgrade, Serbia. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International licence