NUMERICAL INVESTIGATION OF AUTOMOTIVE RADIATOR LOUVERED FIN COMPACT HEAT EXCHANGER

In compact heat exchangers, thermal resistance is generally dominant on the air-side and may account for 80% or more of the total thermal resistance. The air-side heat transfer surface area is 8 to 10 times larger than the water-side. Any improvement in the heat transfer on air-side therefore improves the overall performance of the heat exchanger. Due to the high thermal resistance on the air-side, the optimization of such fins is essential to increase the performance of the heat exchangers which results in thermal systems enhancement. This helps to reduce CO2 emissions through a reduction of mass and fuel consumption. Optimization of louvered fin geometry in such heat exchangers is essential to increase the heat transfer performance and reduce weight, packaging, and cost requirements. In this study deals with Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) studies of the interactions between the air flow and louvered fins which equipped the automotive heat exchangers is carried out. 3D numerical simulation results is obtained by using the ANSYS Fluent 14.0 code and compared with experimental data. Finally the effect of louver angle and louver pitch geometrical parameters, on overall thermal hydraulic performances of louvered fins is studied. �