Experiments were conducted in a bubbling air-fluidized bed to investigate the effect of annular fins of constant thickness on heat transfer. Steady state time averaged local beat transfer coefficient measurements were made by the local thermal simulation technique in a cold bubbling fluidized bed (90 mm ID, 260 mm tall) with horizontally immersed tube initially with no fin and then with three fixed annular fins of constant thickness. Silica sand of mean particle diameter 307 pm and 200 pm were used as the bed materials. The superficial velocity of air was from minimum fluidization conditions, mu(mf), to approximately 3 x mu(mf), The results indicate that, although the heat transfer coefficient falls with the use of fins, the total heat transfer rises as a result of the greater surface area. Increasing the particle diameter reduces the heat transfer coefficient not only for unfinned horizontal tube but also for annular finned horizontal tube at the same conditions of fluidized bed. Based on the experimental data, correlations are proposed for predicting heat transfer coefficient from fluidized bed to horizontally immersed tubes with and without fins. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.