Date of Award
2024
Document Type
Thesis
Publisher
Edith Cowan University
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy
School
School of Engineering
First Supervisor
Ana Vafadarshamasbi
Second Supervisor
Kevin Hayward
Third Supervisor
Ferdinando Guzzomi
Abstract
This research provides an outlook on the use of biomimicry across disciplines, with a particular focus on the application of metal Additive Manufacturing (AM) to fabricate more efficient fin geometries for heat exchangers. By using functional modelling, a denticle from a shortfin mako shark was identified as geometry for a novel 3D fin for a heat exchanger. The shape of the denticle is streamlined and is known to reducing drag; therefore, indicating a possibility of enhancing fluid-to-solid contact for enhanced heat transfer when used as a fin. Initially, the thermo-hydraulic performance of the denticle was numerically evaluated with respect to a rectangular fin, cylindrical fin, and an NACA 0030 fin, using conjugate-heat-transfer simulations on ANSYS-Fluent. Then, A Markforged Metal X printer was used to fabricate the denticle fin with stainless steel 17- 4PH. Thermal and pressure drop experiments were performed to evaluate the thermos-hydraulic performance of the denticle relative to a rectangular fin. Further, a multi-objective gradient based optimisation was performed on the denticle fin by using ANSYS-Fluent. Results demonstrated that over the range of tested Reynolds numbers, 3.9x104 < Re ≤ 9.2x104, mean thermal performance factors of 1.33 and 1.09 were noted for the shape optimised denticle with respect to the rectangular fin, and initial denticle fin, respectively. Finally, the effect of using bio-inspired surface texturing as a technique to further enhance the thermo-hydraulic performance of a single NACA 63-015 fin was investigated experimentally. A mean thermal performance factor of 1.11 was noted for the range of tested Reynolds numbers, which demonstrated that the addition surface textures in the form of shark denticles to a NACA 63-015 profile increased the thermos-hydraulic performance of the fin compared to a smooth one.
DOI
10.25958/w76m-ch95
Access Note
Access to this thesis is embargoed until 27 August 2026
Recommended Citation
Hurry, A. S. (2024). Biomimicry for the shape optimisation of heat exchangers: Exploring hydrodynamic profiles inspired by shark denticles. Edith Cowan University. https://doi.org/10.25958/w76m-ch95