The Quest for the Optimum Longitudinal Fin Profile

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
The search for the optimal profile for a longitudinal fin has occupied a portion of the mathematics and engineering communities for almost 60 years. Heuristic and rigorous arguments have led to definitive answers only when the “length of arc” idealization is involved. This paper reviews the chronology of these research efforts and offers some counterexamples, with regard to the usual models, which indicate that fins of mathematically unbounded performance are theoretically (although not practically) achievable. The construction of such fins, in the practical limit, suggests some promising new horizons in extended-surface heal transfer.