PROBLEM5.

84
KNOWN: Thickness and properties of plane wall. Convection coefficient.
FIND: (a) Nondimensional temperature for six different cases using four methods and (b)
Explain the conditions for which the three approximate methods are good approximations of the
exact solution.
SCHEMATIC:
ASSUMPTIONS: (1) Constant properties.
PROPERTIES: Steel (given): k = 30 W/mK, = 7900 kg/m
3
, c = 640 J/kgK.
ANALYSIS:
(a) We perform the calculations for h = 10 W/m
2
K, t = 2.5 min.
Exact Solution
From Equation 5.42a, evaluated at the surface x* = 1,
* 2 s
s n n n
i
n=1
T - T
= = C exp(- Fo)cos( )
T - T

For t = 2.5 min,
2 2
2
3
t k t
Fo = =
c
L L
30 W/m K (2.5 60) s
= = 0.0099
kg J
(0.3 m)
7900 640
kg K
m

We also calculate Bi = hL/k = 10 W/m

2
K 0.3 m/30 W/mK = 0.10. The first four values of
n
,
are found in Table B.3, and the corresponding values of C
n
can be calculated from Equation
5.39b, C
n
=
| |
n n n
4 sin / 2 + sin(2 ) . Then the first four terms in Equation 5.42a can be
calculated as well. The results are tabulated below.
n
n
, C
n
2
n n n
C exp( Fo) cos( ) , ,
1
2
3
4
0.3111
3.1731
6.2991
9.4354
1.016
-0.0197
0.0050
-0.0022
0.9664
0.0178
0.0034
0.0009
*
s
= 0.989
Continued
Steel, T
i
2L = 0.6 m T

h = 10 or 100 W/m
2
K
Steel, T
i
2L = 0.6 m T

h = 10 or 100 W/m
2
K
PROBLEM5.84 (Cont.)
We can see that the fourth term is small, so to a good approximation the exact solution can be
found by summing the first four terms, as shown in the table. Thus
*
s,exact
= 0.989 <
First Term
From the above table,
*
s,1-term
= 0.966 <
Lumped Capacitance
From Equation 5.6,
* s
lump
2
3
hA ht
= exp - t = exp -
Vc Lc
10 W/m K (2.5 60) s
= exp - = 0.999
7900 kg/m 0.3 m 640 J/kg K
( (
( (

(

(
(

Semi-Infinite Solid
We use Equation 5.63 with x measured from the surface, that is x = 0.
* s s i
s,semi
i i
2
2
2 1/2
2
T - T T - T
= = 1 -
T - T T - T
h t h t
= 1 - erfc(0) + exp erfc
k
k
= 1 - 1 + exp(Bi Fo) erfc(Bi Fo )
= exp(0.10 0.0099) erfc(0.10 (0

| | | |
| |
| |
\ . \ .
1/2
.0099) )
= 1.0001 0.989 = 0.989 <
where the error function was evaluated from Table B.2.
Repeating the calculation for the other five cases, the following table can be compiled:
Method
Bi = 0.1 Bi = 1
Fo = 0.01 Fo = 0.1 Fo = 1.0 Fo = 0.01 Fo = 0.1 Fo = 1.0
Exact
0.99
0.97 0.88 0.90 0.72 0.35
First-term 0.97 0.96 0.88 0.72 0.68 0.35
Lumped 1.00 0.99 0.90 0.99 0.90 0.37
Semi-inf. 0.99 0.97 0.90 0.90 0.72 0.43
(b) (i) The first term solution is a good approximation to the exact solution for Fo > 0.2. As
seen in the above table, for Fo = 1.0, the first term solution is correct to two significant digits.
Continued
PROBLEM5.84 (Cont.)
(ii) The lumped capacitance solution is a good approximation to the exact solution for
Bi < 0.1. In the above table, the lumped capacitance solution is quite accurate for Bi = 0.1, but
not for Bi = 1.0.
(iii) The semi-infinite solid solution is a good approximation to the exact solution for the
smaller values of Fourier, since for small t or o , or for large L, the heat doesnt penetrate through
the wall and it can be treated as semi-infinite.