Alternative Approaches To Teaching Extended Surface Heat Transfer

Extended surface heat transfer is a topic that is always covered in a standard undergraduate class in heat transfer. In fact, we tell our students that fins are one of the two heat transfer systems that they will most likely encounter as practicing mechanical engineers (the other being heat exchangers). Therefore, it becomes clear that the mechanical engineering student needs to have a firm foundation in the physical aspects of extended surface heat transfer, and an understanding of the mathematical models available for the required calculations.