Engineering Thermofluids II

Lecture 8
• Recap of Lecture 7
• To analyse transient heat conduction problems involving semi-infinite
solids
• To analyse multidimensional transient heat conduction problems
• To describe Nusselt number as a measure of the enhancement of heat
transfer through a fluid layer due to convection compared to conduction
• To explain the formation of thermal boundary layer when fluid flows
over a flat plate
• To apply Prandtl number to analyze the relative thickness of the velocity
boundary layer and the thermal boundary layer
• To calculate the convection heat transfer coefficient for fluid flowing
past a plate, a cylinder and a sphere
• To obtain the combined heat transfer coefficient by taking radiative
heat transfer into account

Cengel: Chapter 18, 19 Incropera: Chapters 5, 6 and 7

 Review: Heat Diffusion Equation
 2T  2T  2T T
k 2 + k 2 + k 2 + q generated = c p
x y z t

Solving this equation with a given a set of boundary conditions allows one
to get the temperature distribution and the heat transfer rate at
different locations

 ( x, y ) =
2 
(− 1)n+1 + 1 sin nx 
sinh (ny / L )
T ( x ) = (T2 − T1 ) + T1
x


n =1 n
 
 L  sinh (nW / L )
L

Icropera et al 2
 Review: Steady Heat Conduction with Selected Systems
• Use of existing solutions to the heat diffusion equation for selected geometries
• Solutions are usually reported in terms of a shape factor, S, or a dimensionless
conduction heat rate, q*ss
• Shape factors are used in situations where heat conduction is between two
surfaces with known and constant temperatures

Q = Sk (T1 − T2 )

• Dimensionless conduction heat rates are used for objects embedded in an

infinite medium

 * kAs
Q = qss (T1 − T2 )
Lc
3
 Transient Heat Conduction in Semi-
Infinite Solids
• A semi-infinite solid is an idealized body that has a single plane surface
and extends to infinity in all other directions
• The earth can be considered to be a semi-infinite medium when
determining the temperature under the earth surface
• A thick wall can also be considered a semi-infinite solid

• Consider a semi-infinite solid that initially is at a

uniform temperature Ti
• At time t=0, the surface of the solid at x=0 is x
exposed to convection by a fluid at a constant
temperature T∞, with a heat transfer coefficient h
• What is the temperature in the solid as a function of
x and t?
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Transient Heat Conduction in Semi-
Infinite Solids

5
Transient Heat Conduction in Semi-
Infinite Solids

6
 Example: Minimum Burial Depth of Water
Pipes to Avoid Freezing
In areas where the air temperature remains below 0 0C for prolonged periods of
time, the freezing of water in underground pipes is a major concern. Fortunately,
the soil remains relatively warm during those periods, and it takes weeks for the
subfreezing temperatures to reach the water mains in the ground. Thus, the soil
effectively serves as an insulation to protect the water from subfreezing
temperatures in winter.
The air temperature at a particular location is assumed to be at -10 0C for a
continuous period of three months, and the average soil properties at that location
are k=0.4 W/m·0C and =k/ρCp=0.15x10-6 m2/s. The ground has an initial uniform
temperature of 15 0C before the cold front comes. The heat transfer coefficient
of air is h=60 W/m2·0C. Determine the minimum burial depth to prevent the water
pipes from freezing.

7
Example: Minimum Burial Depth of Water
Pipes to Avoid Freezing (cont’d)

8
 Multidimensional Transient Heat Conduction
• Equations and charts for 1-D transient heat conduction can be used to
construct solutions for 2-D or 3-D transient heat conduction problems
• Product solution: a superposition approach
• Assumptions:
• All surfaces of the solid are subjected to convection to the same
fluid at temperature T∞
• Same heat transfer coefficient h
• No heat generation

9
 Product Solution
• The solution in multidimensional geometries can be expressed as the
product of the solutions for the one-dimensional geometries whose
intersection is the multidimensional geometry
• Cylinder of finite length
• Intersection of a long cylinder and a plane wall

• Long rectangular block of cross section a x b

• Intersection of two plane walls

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Temperature Distribution of Multidimensional
Heat Conduction Systems

Note: the solution of a 2-D problem involves the product of two 1-D solutions. The
solution of a 3-D problem involves the product of three 1-D solutions.
Temperature Distribution of Multidimensional
Heat Conduction Systems
 Amount of Heat Transfer
For transient heat transfer for a 2-D geometry formed by the
intersection of two 1-D geometries 1 and 2

For transient heat transfer for a 3-D geometry formed by the

intersection of three 1-D geometries 1, 2 and 3

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 Example: Cooling of a Short Brass Cylinder
A short brass cylinder of diameter D=10 cm and height H=12 cm is initially at a
uniform temperature Ti=120 0C. The cylinder is now placed in atmospheric air at 25
0C, where heat transfer takes place by convection, with a heat transfer coefficient

of h=60 W/m2·0C. For brass, k=110 W/m·0C, ρ=8530 kg/m3, Cp=0.380 kJ/kg·0C. The
cooling has lasted for 15 mins.
(a) Calculate the temperature at the center of the cylinder.
(b) Calculate the temperature at the center of the top surface of the cylinder.
(c) Determine the total heat transfer from the short brass cylinder during the 15
min period.

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 Forced Convection vs Natural Convection
In fluid, convection = conduction + fluid motion

• Forced convection
• Fluid is forced to flow over a surface or
in a pipe by external means such as a
pump or a fan
• Eg. Turn on a fan on summer days to cool
down and blow on hot soup to make it cool
faster
• Natural convection
• Fluid motion is caused by natural means
such as the buoyancy effect: rise of
warmer fluid and the fall of the cooler
fluid

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 Forced Convection Heat Transfer
Newton’s law of cooling
Q convection
Q convection = hconv As (Ts − T ) or qconvection = = hconv (Ts − T )
As

Convection heat transfer is influenced by many fluid properties like:

• Dynamic viscosity (μ)
• Thermal conductivity (k)
• Density (ρ)
• Specific heat (Cp)
• Fluid velocity (v)
• Type of fluid flow (laminar or turbulent)

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 Nusselt Number
• Nusselt number represents the enhancement of heat transfer through a
fluid layer due to convection compared to conduction
• The larger the Nusselt number, the more effective the convection
• Nu = 1 means heat transfer is by pure conduction

Consider a fluid layer between two plates of different T

qconv hT hL
Nu = = =
qcond kT / L k

Note:
• Very similar in form to the Biot Number
• But what is the key difference?

hLc
Bi =
k 17
 Parallel Flow over a Flat Plate
• Fluid is forced to flow over a flat surface which is at a constant
temperature
• No-temperature-jump condition: Temperature of the fluid directly on
top of a surface = temperature of the surface (similar to the no-slip
condition)
• Convection heat transfer coefficient (h) varies along the flow (or x-)
direction
• Average convection heat transfer coefficient = average of the local
convection heat transfer coefficients over the entire surface

1 L
h =  hx dx
L 0

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 Thermal Boundary Layer
• Consider the flow of a fluid at a uniform temperature of T∞ over an
isothermal flat plate at temperature Ts
• Fluid in the layer adjacent to the surface has the same temperature as
that of the surface (No-temperature-jump condition)
• A temperature profile is developed in the fluid: Ts at the surface and T∞
sufficiently far from the surface
• The steeper the temperature gradient, the higher the heat transfer
rate and thus the larger the convection heat transfer coefficient

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 Thermal Boundary Layer
• Thermal boundary layer: region over the surface in which the
temperature variation is significant
• Thickness of the thermal boundary layer δt(x): the distance from the
surface at which the temperature difference T-Ts equals 0.99(T∞-Ts)
• Similar to the definition of the velocity boundary layer that we learned
before
• δt(x) increases with x
• The flow in the boundary layer may be laminar or turbulent
 Prandtl Number
• A dimensionless number describing the relative thickness of the velocity
and the thermal boundary layers
• Recall: more viscous fluid -> better momentum transfer -> smaller Re ->
thicker velocity boundary layer
• Here: higher heat diffusivity -> better heat transfer -> thicker thermal
boundary layer

Kinematic viscosity  C p
Pr = = =
Thermal diffusivity  k

 k
= =
 C p
 Prandtl Number
• Liquid metal: (Pr <<1)
• Heat diffuses a lot more quickly than momentum
• Thermal boundary layer is much thicker than velocity boundary layer
• Oil: (Pr >>1)
• Heat diffuses a lot more slowly than momentum
• Thermal boundary layer is much thinner than velocity boundary layer

• Prandtl numbers of gases ~ 1

• Both momentum and heat transfer
through the fluid at about the same rate
 Local h of Parallel Flow over a Surface
Recall: for flow over a flat plate, transition from laminar to turbulent
occurs at the critical Reynolds number

Uxcr
Re cr =  5 105

Local Nusselt number at a location x for laminar flow can be obtained by
solving a set of differential equations

Local Nusselt number at a location x for turbulent

flow

When we know Nux, we can get hx

 Local h of Parallel Flow over a Surface
• For laminar flow, hx decreases as x-0.5 along the flow direction
• hx reaches its highest values when the flow becomes turbulent
• Then hx decreases as x-0.2 in the flow direction
• In general, hx are higher in turbulent flow than they are in laminar flow

Average convection heat transfer coefficient

1 L
h =  hx dx
L 0

h =   hx ,laminar dx +  hx , turbulent dx 
1  xcr L

L 0 xcr 
Often assume that the transition region is too
narrow to be significant
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 Average Convection Heat Transfer Coefficient (h)

We can obtain average h and thus the average Nusselt number

Only laminar flow:

Laminar first, then turbulent:

If the turbulent region is long enough to ignore the

laminar part

Note: these solutions are based on taking Re cr = 5 105

 Common Strategy in Obtaining h in Convection
Problems
• Calculate or obtain Re and Pr at the “film temperature” Tf = ( Ts + T∞ )/2
• Calculate Nu with the appropriate equation according to the problem
• Calculate the convection heat transfer coefficient (h)
• Although these equations are suitable for most engineering calculations,
they rarely provide exact values for the convection coefficients
• Errors as large as 30% may be expected
• Since many of the equations were obtained by fitting to experimental
data, there can be more than one expressions
 Example: Cooling of a Hot Block by Forced Air at
High Elevation
The local atmospheric pressure in Denver, Colorado (elevation 1610 m), is 83.4 kPa.
Air at this pressure and 20 0C flows with a velocity of 8 m/s over a 1.5-m X 6-m
flat plate whose temperature is 140 0C. Determine the rate of heat transfer from
the plate if the air flows parallel to the (a) 6-m long side and (b) the 1.5-m side.

For properties of air - Table A-22

Example: Cooling of a Hot Block by Forced Air at
High Elevation (cont’d)

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 Flow Across a Cylinder
• Flows across cylinders and spheres could involve flow separation
• Difficult to handle analytically
• Equations obtained experimentally or numerically
• Local Nusselt number is a function of θ - (Nuθ)

Average Nusselt number:

By Churchill and Bernstein

Re > 0.2, Pr > 0.2

Flow Across Circular
and non-Circular
Cylinders
• Average Nusselt number for flow
across cylinders can also be
expressed as

• n=1/3
• C and m can be read from table
 Flow Across a Sphere

• Average Nusselt number for flow across spheres can be expressed as

By Whitaker

• The fluid properties in this case are evaluated at the free-stream

temperature T∞, except for μs, which is evaluated at the surface
temperature Ts

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 Example: Heat Loss from a Steam Pipe in
Windy Air
A long 10-cm-diameter steam pipe whose external surface temperature is 110 0C
passes through some open area that is not protected against the winds. Determine
the rate of heat loss from the pipe per unit length when the air is at 1 atm and 10
0C and the wind is blowing across the pipe at a velocity of 8 m/s.

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 Revisit: Heat Transfer by Radiation

• Consider a surface (temperature=T s) situated in

an environment with temperature T∞
• Heat is loss through radiation emission
• The surface also absorbs radiation from the
surrounding
• Net heat transfer: Cengel et al

( )
•
Q radiation = As Ts4 − T4

• σ – Stefan-Boltzmann constant = 5.670×10-8W/m2∙K4

(a universal constant)
• ε (emissivity of the surface)
(surface-dependent, between 0 and 1)
 Revisit: Combined (Convection + Radiation)
Heat Transfer Coefficient
• Heat transfer by convection and radiation between the surface of an
object and the surrounding air often occur together
• For convenience, we define a combined heat transfer coefficient
hcombined including the effects of both convection and radiation.

( )
• • •
Q total = Q convection + Q radiation = hconv As (Ts − T ) + As Ts4 − T4

( )( )
= hconv As (Ts − T ) + As Ts2 + T2 Ts + T (Ts − T )

 ( )( )
= hconv +  Ts2 + T2 Ts + T As (Ts − T )

= ℎ𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑏𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝐴𝑠 𝑇𝑠 − 𝑇∞
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