Experimental and numerical investigation of heat transfer augmentation in heat sinks using perforation technique

Extended surfaces are commonly adopted as a thermal management technique for heat transfer augmentation owing to their ability to facilitate an increment in the available surface area, and hence, the total heat dissipation. This study aims at experimentally and numerically evaluating the performance of fins with and without perforated geometry under forced convection heat transfer. The effect of the circular perforations at different perforation number and size, airflow velocity, and different input powers on the thermal and hydraulic performance of those fins, at a constant perforation area of 24 cm², has been examined. An excellent agreement has been observed between the experimental and numerical results. The findings of this investigation show that the thermal performance of the perforated fins is superior over the non-perforated ones with a reduction in fin temperature up to 8.5 °C. Further, increasing the size and number of perforations promotes the convective heat transfer process. On the other hand, the perforated fins offer an outstanding hydraulic performance compared to the solid ones since the flow friction factor and the required pumping power will be less, particularly with the increased number of perforations. Adopting the perforation technique has been discussed in detail, as well as significant experimental and numerical information has been reported in this article.