Computational Investigations of an Internally Heated Convective-Radiative Porous Fin subjected to Magnetic Field: Comparative Methods and Parametric Studies

Abstract

The concern of this paper is to compare the computational efficiencies and accuracies of three approximate analytical methods; namely, homotopy analysis method (HAM), optimal homotopy asymptotic method (OHAM) and differential transform method (DTM) for the nonlinear thermal performance analysis of a convective-radiative porous fin with temperature-dependent internal heat generation under the influence of magnetic field. To establish the computational accuracies of the three methods, the results of the three series solutions are compared with the results of the developed exact analytical and numerical methods. Also, the symbolic solutions developed in this work are used to explore the impacts of the controlling parameters on the performance of the passive device. It is established that as the coductive-convective, conductive-radiative and magnetic field parameters increase, the fin temperature distribution decreases and hence, the fin thermal efficiency is improved. An increase in temperature distribution in the fin is noticed as the nonlinear thermal conductivity parameter increases. It is envisaged that the present study will give a good insight into the nonlinear analysis of extended surfaces which will aid proper design in thermal systems.

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium provided the original work is properly cited.