Modeling conjugate heat transfer through a protrusion exposed to a bulk air flow by OpenFOAM

In the last few years open source codes have attracted growing interest because of their favorable impact in modeling costs. The heat transfer and ow solvers implemented in the open-source OpenFOAM code are exploited in this paper, to solve a model used to describe the heating of discrete substrate samples. The aim is to determine the e ffect of process configuration and geometry on the heating performance due to a bulk air ow, and to report on computational characteristics of the code at stake. The model allows to disregard one of the most limiting parameters in such modeling, i.e. the average heat transfer coeffi cient at the auxiliary air/heated substrate interface. Such assumption is limiting as it refers to average conditions and unspecied geometry variations. The presented model then relies upon a finite-volume solution of time-dependent di fferential equations, for simultaneous and conjugate heat transfer in a two-dimensional domain, without any inference in such empiricism. After proper validation with literature data and previous work, the solution is discussed by presenting velocity and temperature fields, emphasizing on the conjugate nature of the process. Due to its exibility and generality, the model can be used in common industrial optimization, even in the assumption of a laminar flow field.