Conduction Heat Transfer

Reading Problems
10-1 → 10-6 10-38, 10-48, 10-57, 10-70, 10-71, 10-78, 10-92
10-117, 10-121, 10-153
11-1 → 11-2 11-14, 11-19, 11-39, 11-45, 11-53, 11-91

Fourier Law of Heat Conduction

x=L
insulated
Qx+Dx
x+Dx
x x

x=0 g
Qx A

!
∂ ∂T ∂T
k + ġ = ρC
∂x ∂x |{z}
| {z∂t}
| {z } internal
longitudinal heat thermal
generation inertia
conduction

Special Cases
1. Multidimensional Systems: The general conduction equation can be extended to three dimen-
sional Cartesian systems as follows:
! ! !
∂ ∂T ∂ ∂T ∂ ∂T ∂T
k + k + k + ġ = ρC
∂x ∂x ∂y ∂y ∂z ∂z ∂t

2. Constant Properties: If we assume that properties are independent of temperature, then the
conductivity can be taken outside the derivative

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 ∂ 2T ∂ 2T ∂ 2T
!
∂T
k + + + ġ = ρC
∂x2 ∂y 2 ∂z 2 ∂t
ġ 1 ∂T
∇2 T + =
k α ∂t

where
!
∂ ∂ ∂
∇ = del operator ≡ + +
∂x ∂y ∂z
k
α = thermal diffusivity ≡
ρC

∂
3. Steady State: If t → ∞ then all terms →0
∂t

ġ
∇2 T = − ⇐ Poisson’s Equation
k

4. No Internal Heat Generation:

∇2 T = 0 ⇐ Laplace’s Equation

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Thermal Resistance Networks
Resistances in Series
Conditions for 1-D heat flow through a plane wall include:

• constant cross sectional area, A

• steady flow conditions

The total heat flow across the system can be written as

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T∞1 − T∞2 X
Q̇ = where Rtotal = Ri
Rtotal i=1

The heat flow rate is sometimes written in terms of an overall heat transfer coefficient, U

Q̇ = U A(T∞1 − T∞2 )

where

1 1
UA = =
Rtotal 1 L2 L3 1
+ + +
h1 A k2 A k3 A h4 A

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Resistances in Parallel

k1 R1
Q1
k2 R2
Q2

T1 T2

For systems of parallel flow paths as shown above, we can use the 1st law to preserve the total
energy

Q̇ = Q̇1 + Q̇2

In general, for parallel networks we can use a parallel resistor network as follows:

R1

T1 R2 T2 T1 Rtotal T2
=
R3

where

1 1 1 1
= + + + ···
Rtotal R1 R2 R3

and

T1 − T2
Q̇ =
Rtotal

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Thermal Contact Resistance

• heat flow through the contact turns to seek out the solid-solid contact points, leading to an
increase in resistance and a temperature drop across the interface

Q̇total = Q̇contact + Q̇gap

• the total heat flow rate can be written as

Q̇total = hc A∆Tinterf ace

where:
hc = thermal contact conductance
A = apparent or project area of the contact
∆Tinterf ace = average temperature drop across the interface

The conductance can be written in terms of a resistance as

Q̇total 1
hc A = =
∆T Rc

where:

Rc = contact resistance (K/W )

Table 10-2 can be used to obtain some representative values for contact conductance.

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Cylindrical Systems

k
r2 r1

T1
r
Qr A=2prL
T2

Performing a 1st law energy balance on a control mass from the annular ring of the cylindrical
cylinder

C.M. Qr

dr
dQr
Qr + dr
dr

leads to the following equation

!
T1 − T2 ln(r2 /r1 )
Q̇r = ! where R =
ln(r2 /r1 ) 2πkL
2πkL

Composite Cylinders

Then the total resistance can be written as

Rtotal = R1 + R2 + R3 + R4

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 1 ln(r2 /r1 ) ln(r3 /r2 ) 1
= + + +
h1 A1 2πk2 L 2πk3 L h4 A4

Critical Thickness of Insulation

The resistor network can be written as a series combination of the resistance of the insulation, R1
and the convective resistance, R2

ln(ro /ri ) 1
Rtotal = R1 + R2 = +
2πkL h2πro L

Although the purpose of adding more insulation is to increase resistance and decrease heat trans-
fer, we can see from the resistor network that increasing ro actually results in a decrease in the
convective resistance.

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Could there be a situation in which adding insulation increases the overall heat transfer?

Spherical Systems

Ti
ri

To
ro

We can write the heat transfer as

4πkri ro (Ti − To ) ro − ri
Q̇ = (Ti − To ) = where R =
(r0 − ri ) R 4πkri ro

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Heat Transfer from Finned Surfaces
The rate of heat transfer from a surface is given by Newton’s Law of Cooling

Q̇ = hA(Ts − T∞ )

• heat transfer is improved by h ↑ and A ↑

• it is difficult to obtain a significant increase in h

• an increase in A is easily achieved through extended surfaces or fins

The conduction equation for a fin with constant cross section is

d2 T
kAc 2
− hP (T − T∞ ) = 0
| {z∂x }
| {z }
lateral
longitudinal convection
conduction

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The temperature difference between the fin and the surroundings (temperature excess) is usually
expressed as

θ = T (x) − T∞

which allows the 1-D fin equation to be written as

d2 θ
− m2 θ = 0
dx2

where the fin parameter m is

!1/2
hP
m=
kAc

The solution to the differential equation for θ is

θ(x) = C1 sinh(mx) + C2 cosh(mx)

The heat transfer flowing through the base of the fin can be determined as

!
dT
Q̇b = Ac −k
dx @x=0

= θb (kAc hP )1/2 tanh(mL)

Transient Heat Conduction

TH − Ts L/(k · A) internal resistance to H.T.

= =
Ts − T∞ 1/(h · A) external resistance to H.T.
hL
= = Bi ≡ Biot number
k

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Rint << Rext : the Biot number is small and we can conclude

TH − Ts << Ts − T∞ and in the limit TH ≈ Ts

Rext << Rint : the Biot number is large and we can conclude

Ts − T∞ << TH − Ts and in the limit Ts ≈ T∞

Lumped System Analysis

• if the internal temperature of a body remains relatively constant with respect to time

– can be treated as a lumped system analysis

– heat transfer is a function of time only, T = T (t)

• typical criteria for lumped system analysis → Bi ≤ 0.1

The characteristic length for the 3-D object is given as L = V /A. Other characteristic lengths for
conventional bodies include:

V W H2L
Slab = =L
As 2W H

V πro2 L r0
Rod = =
As 2πr0 L 2

V 4/3πro3 r0
Sphere = =
As 4πr02 3

At t > 0, T = T (x, y, z, t), however, when Bi < 0.1 then we can assume T ≈ T (t).

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For an incompressible substance specific heat is constant and we can write

dT
mC = − Ah
|{z} (T − T∞ )
| {z }
≡Cth
dt 1/Rth

where Cth = lumped capacitance

hV
This type of an approach is only valid for Bi = < 0.1
kA

T (t) − T∞
= e−t/(Rth ·Cth ) = e−t/τ = e−bt
Ti − T∞

where

1 mC
= τ = Rth · Cth = thermal time constant =
b Ah

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Heisler Charts

The lumped system analysis can be used if Bi = hL/k < 0.1 but what if Bi > 0.1

• need to solve the partial differential equation for temperature

• leads to an infinite series solution ⇒ difficult to obtain a solution

The solution procedure for temperature is a function of several parameters

T (x, t) = f (x, L, t, k, α, h, Ti , T∞ )

We must find a solution to the PDE

∂ 2T 1 ∂T
=
∂x2 α ∂t

The analytical solution to this equation takes the form of a series solution

!2
nλ
∞ − αt !
T (x, t) − T∞ X L nλx
= An e cos
Ti − T∞ n=1,3,5... L

If we let F o = αt/L2 , we can see that the first term with n = 1 provides a very good estimate
to the infinite series solution.

By using dimensionless groups, we can reduce the temperature dependence to 3 dimensionless

parameters

Dimensionless Group Formulation

T (x, t) − T∞
temperature θ(x, t) =
Ti − T∞

position x = x/L

heat transfer Bi = hL/k Biot number

time F o = αt/L2 Fourier number

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note: Cengel uses τ instead of F o.

Now we can write

θ(x, t) = f (x, Bi, F o)

The characteristic length for the Biot number is

slab L=L
cylinder L = ro
sphere L = ro

contrast this versus the characteristic length for the lumped system analysis.

With this, two approaches are possible

1. use the first term of the infinite series solution. This method is only valid for F o > 0.2

2. use the Heisler charts for each geometry as shown in Figs. 11-15, 11-16 and 11-17

First term solution: F o > 0.2 → error about 2% max.

T (x, t) − T∞ 2
Plane Wall: θwall (x, t) = = A1 e−λ1 F o cos(λ1 x/L)
Ti − T∞
T (r, t) − T∞ 2
Cylinder: θcyl (r, t) = = A1 e−λ1 F o J0 (λ1 r/ro )
Ti − T∞
T (r, t) − T∞ 2 sin(λ1 r/ro )
Sphere: θsph (r, t) = = A1 e−λ1 F o
Ti − T∞ λ1 r/ro

where λ1 , A1 can be determined from Table 18-1 based on the calculated value of the Biot number
(will likely require some interpolation).

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