Advanced Heat Transfer Homework #2 (Due on 3/15/2010)

1. Humans are able to control their heat production rate and heat loss rate to maintain
a nearly constant core temperature of Tc 37 oC under a wide range of
environmental conditions. This process is called thermoregulation. From the
perspective of calculating heat transfer between a human body and its surroundings,
we focus on a layer of skin and fat, with its outer surface exposed to the
environment and its inner surface at a temperature slightly less than the core
temperature, Ti= 35 oC= 308 K. Consider a person with a skin/fat layer of thickness
L= 3 mm and effective thermal conductivity k= 0.3 W/mK. The person has a
surface area A= 1.8 m2 and is dressed in a bathing suit. The emissivity of the skin is
= 0.95.
(1) When the person is in still air at T = 297 K, what is the skin surface
temperature and rate of heat loss to the environment? Convection heat transfer
to the air is characterized by a free convection coefficient of h= 2 W/m2K.
(2) When the person is in water at T = 297 K, what is the skin surface temperature
and heat loss rate? Heat transfer to the water is characterized by a convection
coefficient of h= 200 W/m2K.

Fig. 1

2. In Fig. 2, the composite wall of an oven consists of three materials, two of which
are known thermal conditivity, kA= 20 W/m-K and kC= 50 W/m-K, and known
thickness, LA= 0.3 m and LC= 0.15 m. The third material, B, which is sandwiched
between materials A and C, is of known thickness, LB= 0.15 m, but unknown
thermal conductivity kB. Under steady-state operating conditions, measurements
reveal an outer surface temperature of Ts,o= 20 0C, an inner surface temperature of
Ts,i= 600 0C, and an oven air temperature of T = 800 0C. The inside convection
heat transfer coefficient h is known to be 25 W/m2-K. What is the value of kB?

Fig. 2
3. In a manufacturing process, a transparent film is being bonded to a substrate as
shown in Fig. 3. To cure the bond at a temperature T0, a radiant source is used to
provide a heat flux q0 (W/m2), all of which is absorbed at the bonded surface. The

1
 back of the substrate is maintained at T1 while the free surface of the film is
exposed to air at T and a convection heat transfer coefficient h.
(a) Show the thermal circuit representing the steady-state heat transfer situation.
(b) Assume the following conditions: T = 20 0C, h= 50 W/m2-K, and T1= 30 0C.
Calculate the heat flux q0 that is required to maintain the bonded surface at
T0= 60 0C.

Fig. 3

4. A copper sphere of radius ri is used to store a low-temperature refrigerant and is at a

temperature Ti that is less than that of the ambient air at T around the sphere. The
convective heat transfer coefficient of the ambient air is equal to h. Please derive
the critical insulation radius of an insulated sphere.

5. The radiation heat gage shown in Fig. 4 is made from constantan metal foil, which
is coated black and is in the form of a circular disk of radius R and thickness t. The
gage is located in an evacuated enclosure. The incident radiation flux absorbed by
the foil, , diffuses toward the outer circumference and into the larger copper ring,
which acts as a heat sink at the constant temperature T(R). Two copper lead wires
are attached to the center of the foil and to the ring to complete a thermocouple
circuit that allows for measurement of the temperature difference between the foil
center and the foil edge, T=T(0)-T(R).
(a) Obtain the differential equation that determines T(r), the temperature distribution
in the foil, under steady-state conditions. You may neglect radiation exchange
between the foil and its surroundings.
(b) Solve the equation derived in (a) with appropriate boundary conditions.
(c) Find related to T.

Fig. 4