COURSE
• HEAT TRANSFER (MEC 5401)
• LECTURER: Dr. Nicholas J Kwendakwema
• Office 129, First Floor, School of Engineering
building
• I will advise when the classes and labs will start
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HEAT TRANSFER MEC 5401
• PRESCRIBED TEXT BOOK: Heat and Mass
Transfer by Er. R. K. Rajput
• RECOMMENDED TEXT BOOK: Schaum’s
Outlines: Heat Transfer
• Heat Transfer: Exercises
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Chapter 1
MECHANISMS OF HEAT
TRANSFER
Basics concepts
Objectives
• Understand the basic mechanisms of heat
transfer, which are conduction, convection, and
radiation, and Fourier's law of heat conduction,
Newton's law of cooling, and the Stefan–
Boltzmann law of radiation
• Identify the mechanisms of heat transfer that
occur simultaneously in practice
• Develop an awareness of the cost associated
with heat losses
• Solve various heat transfer problems
encountered in practice
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INTRODUCTION
• Heat: The form of energy that can be transferred from one
system to another as a result of temperature difference.
• Thermodynamics concerned with the amount of heat
transfer as a system undergoes a process from one
equilibrium state to another.
• Heat Transfer deals with the determination of the rates of
such energy transfers as well as variation of temperature.
• The transfer of energy as heat is always from the higher-
temperature medium to the lower-temperature one.
• Heat transfer stops when the two mediums reach the same
temperature.
• Heat can be transferred in three different modes:
conduction, convection, radiation
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CONDUCTION
Conduction: The transfer of energy from the more
energetic particles of a substance to the adjacent less
energetic ones as a result of interactions between the
particles.
In gases and liquids, conduction is due to the
collisions and diffusion of the molecules during their
random motion.
In solids, it is due to the combination of vibrations of
the molecules in a lattice and the energy transport by
free electrons.
The rate of heat conduction through a plane layer is
proportional to the temperature difference across the
layer and the heat transfer area, but is inversely
proportional to the thickness of the layer.
Heat conduction
through a large plane
wall of thickness x
and area A.
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When x → 0 Fourier’s law of
heat conduction
Thermal conductivity, k: A measure of the ability of
a material to conduct heat.
Temperature gradient dT/dx: The slope of the
temperature curve on a T-x diagram.
Heat is conducted in the direction of decreasing
temperature, and the temperature gradient becomes
negative when temperature decreases with
increasing x. The negative sign in the equation
ensures that heat transfer in the positive x direction
is a positive quantity.
In heat conduction
analysis, A represents The rate of heat conduction
the area normal to the through a solid is directly
direction of heat proportional to its thermal
transfer. conductivity. 7
Thermal
Conductivity
Thermal conductivity:
The rate of heat transfer
through a unit thickness
of the material per unit
area per unit
temperature difference.
The thermal conductivity
of a material is a
measure of the ability of
the material to conduct
heat.
A high value for thermal
conductivity indicates
that the material is a
A simple experimental setup
good heat conductor,
to determine the thermal
and a low value indicates
conductivity of a material.
that the material is a
poor heat conductor or
insulator.
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The range of
thermal
conductivity of
various
materials at
room
temperature. 9
The thermal conductivities of gases such
as air vary by a factor of 104 from those
of pure metals such as copper.
Pure crystals and metals have the
highest thermal conductivities, and gases
and insulating materials the lowest.
The mechanisms of heat
conduction in different
phases of a substance. 10
The variation of
the thermal
conductivity of
various solids,
liquids, and gases
with temperature.
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Thermal Diffusivity
cp Specific heat, J/kg · °C: Heat capacity
per unit mass
cp Heat capacity, J/m3 · °C: Heat capacity
per unit volume
Thermal diffusivity, m2/s: Represents
how fast heat diffuses through a material
A material that has a high thermal
conductivity or a low heat capacity will
obviously have a large thermal diffusivity.
The larger the thermal diffusivity, the faster
the propagation of heat into the medium.
A small value of thermal diffusivity means
that heat is mostly absorbed by the
material and a small amount of heat is
conducted further.
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CONVECTION
Convection: The mode of
energy transfer between a
solid surface and the
adjacent liquid or gas that is
in motion, and it involves
the combined effects of
conduction and fluid motion.
The faster the fluid motion,
the greater the convection
heat transfer.
In the absence of any bulk
fluid motion, heat transfer
between a solid surface and
Heat transfer from a hot surface to air
the adjacent fluid is by pure
by convection.
conduction.
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Forced convection: If
the fluid is forced to flow
over the surface by
external means such as
a fan, pump, or the wind.
Natural (or free)
convection: If the fluid
motion is caused by
buoyancy forces that are
induced by density
differences due to the
variation of temperature The cooling of a boiled egg by forced and
in the fluid. natural convection.
Heat transfer processes that involve change of phase of a fluid are also
considered to be convection because of the fluid motion induced during
the process, such as the rise of the vapor bubbles during boiling or the
fall of the liquid droplets during condensation.
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Newton’s law of cooling
h convection heat transfer coefficient, W/m2 · °C
As the surface area through which convection heat transfer takes place
Ts the surface temperature
T the temperature of the fluid sufficiently far from the surface.
The convection heat transfer
coefficient h is not a property
of the fluid.
It is an experimentally
determined parameter
whose value depends on all
the variables influencing
convection such as
- the surface geometry
- the nature of fluid motion
- the properties of the fluid
- the bulk fluid velocity
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RADIATION
• Radiation: The energy emitted by matter in the form of electromagnetic
waves (or photons) as a result of the changes in the electronic
configurations of the atoms or molecules.
• Unlike conduction and convection, the transfer of heat by radiation does
not require the presence of an intervening medium.
• In fact, heat transfer by radiation is fastest (at the speed of light) and it
suffers no attenuation in a vacuum. This is how the energy of the sun
reaches the earth.
• In heat transfer studies we are interested in thermal radiation, which is
the form of radiation emitted by bodies because of their temperature.
• All bodies at a temperature above absolute zero emit thermal radiation.
• Radiation is a volumetric phenomenon, and all solids, liquids, and
gases emit, absorb, or transmit radiation to varying degrees.
• However, radiation is usually considered to be a surface phenomenon
for solids.
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Stefan–Boltzmann law
= 5.670 108 W/m2 · K4 Stefan–Boltzmann constant
Blackbody: The idealized surface that emits radiation at the maximum rate.
Radiation emitted
by real surfaces
Emissivity : A measure of how closely
a surface approximates a blackbody for
which = 1 of the surface. 0 1.
Blackbody radiation represents the maximum
amount of radiation that can be emitted from
a surface at a specified temperature. 17
Absorptivity : The fraction of the radiation energy incident on a
surface that is absorbed by the surface. 0 1
A blackbody absorbs the entire radiation incident on it ( = 1).
Kirchhoff’s law: The emissivity and the absorptivity of a surface at
a given temperature and wavelength are equal.
The absorption of radiation incident on
an opaque surface of absorptivity .
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Net radiation heat transfer: Radiation heat transfer between
The difference between the a surface and the surfaces
rates of radiation emitted by the surrounding it.
surface and the radiation
absorbed.
The determination of the net
rate of heat transfer by radiation
between two surfaces is a
complicated matter since it
depends on
• the properties of the surfaces
• their orientation relative to
each other
• the interaction of the medium
between the surfaces with
radiation When radiation and convection occur
Radiation is usually simultaneously between a surface and a gas
significant relative to
conduction or natural
convection, but Combined heat transfer coefficient hcombined
negligible relative to Includes the effects of both convection and radiation
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forced convection.
SIMULTANEOUS HEAT
TRANSFER MECHANISMS
Heat transfer is only by conduction in opaque solids,
but by conduction and radiation in semitransparent
solids.
A solid may involve conduction and radiation but not
convection. A solid may involve convection and/or
radiation on its surfaces exposed to a fluid or other
surfaces.
Heat transfer is by conduction and possibly by
radiation in a still fluid (no bulk fluid motion) and by
convection and radiation in a flowing fluid.
In the absence of radiation, heat transfer through a
fluid is either by conduction or convection, depending
on the presence of any bulk fluid motion.
Convection = Conduction + Fluid motion
Heat transfer through a vacuum is by radiation.
Most gases between two solid surfaces
do not interfere with radiation. Although there are three mechanisms of
Liquids are usually strong absorbers of heat transfer, a medium may involve
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radiation. only two of them simultaneously.
Summary
• Conduction
Fourier’s law of heat conduction
Thermal Conductivity
Thermal Diffusivity
• Convection
Newton’s law of cooling
• Radiation
Stefan–Boltzmann law
• Simultaneous Heat Transfer
Mechanisms
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