The Effect of Directional Radiative Surface Properties on the Performance of Mutually Irradiating Conducting Fins

The problem of mutually irradiating conducting fins is considered in this paper. The problem is analyzed under two types of surface models, namely, diffuse-specular (D-S) model and a directional (Dir) radiative surface property model, for various surface roughnesses and RMS slopes. Metal (aluminum) coated and dielectric (Aluminum oxide) coated surfaces are considered as the two extreme cases. Analysis indicates that dielectric coated surfaces are sensitive to the radiative surface property model while metal coated surfaces are insensitive to the surface property model. Irrespective of the surface property model used metal coated surface show a drastic drop in heat flux for even a slight increase in surface roughness.