TUTORIAL 3 : THERMAL RESISTANCE

THERMAL ENGINEERING
MEC 551

1. What does the thermal resistance of a medium represent?

2. The bottom of a pan is made of a 4-mm-thick aluminum layer. In order to increase

the rate of heat transfer through the bottom of the pan, someone proposes a design
for the bottom that consists of a 3-mm-thick copper layer sandwiched between
two 2-mm-thick aluminum layers. Will the new design conduct heat better?
Explain. Assume perfect contact between the layers.

3. A 1.0 m x 1.5 m double-pane window consists of two 4-mm thick layers of glass
(k = 0.78 W/m K) that are the separated by a 5-mm air gap
(kair = 0.025 W/m K). The heat flow through the air gap is assumed to be by
condition. The inside and outside air temperatures are 200C and -200C,
respectively, and the inside and outside heat transfer coefficients are 40 and 20
W/m2 K. Determine
(a) the daily rate of heat loss through the window in steady operation and
(b) the temperature difference across the largest thermal resistance

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4. Consider a 1.2-m-high and 2-m-wide double-pane window consisting of two 3-
mm-thick layers of glass (k =0.78 W/m 0C) separated by a 12-mm-wide stagnant
air space(k = 0.026 W/m 0C). Determine the steady rate of heat transfer through
this double-pane window and the temperature of its inner surface for a day during
which the room is maintained at 240C while the temperature of the outdoors is
-50C. Take the convection heat transfer coefficients on the inner and outer
surfaces of the window to be h1 = 10 W/m2 0C and h2 = 25 W/m2 0C, and
disregard any heat transfer by radiation.

5. A 4-m-high and 6-m-wide wall consists of a long 18-cm x30-cm cross section of
horizontal bricks (k = 0.72 W/m 0C) separated by 3-cm-thick plaster layers
(k = 0.22 W/m 0C).There are also 2-cm-thick plaster layers on each side of the
wall, and a 2-cm-thick rigid foam (k = 0.026W/m 0C) on the inner side of the
wall. The indoor and the outdoor temperatures are 22 0C and -4 0C, and the
convection heat transfer coefficients on the inner and the outer sides are
h1 = 10 W/m2 0C and h2 =20 W/m2 0C, respectively. Assuming one-dimensional
heat transfer and disregarding radiation, determine the rate of heat transfer
through the wall.

6. Chilled water enters a thin-shelled 5-cm-diameter, 150-m-long pipe at 7 0C at a

rate of 0.98 kg/s and leaves at 8 0C. The pipe is exposed to ambient air at 30 0C
with a heat transfer coefficient of 9W/m2 0C. If the pipe is to be insulated with
glass wool insulation (k = 0.05 W/m 0C) in order to decrease the temperature
rise of water to 0.25 0C, determine the required thickness of the insulation.

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7. Steam at 3200C flows in a stainless steel pipe (k = 15 W/m 0C) whose inner and
outer diameters are 5 cm and 5.5 cm, respectively. The pipe is covered with 3-cm-
thick glass wool insulation (k = 0.038 W/m 0C). Heat is lost to the surroundings at
5 0C by natural convection and radiation, with a combined natural convection and
radiation heat transfer coefficient of 15 W/m2 0C. Taking the heat transfer
coefficient inside the pipe to be 80 W/m2 0C, determine the rate of heat loss from
the steam per unit length of the pipe. Also determine the temperature drops across
the pipe shell and the insulation.

8. What is the critical radius of insulation? How is it defined for a cylindrical layer?

9. A pipe is insulated to reduce the heat loss from it. However, measurements
indicate that the rate of heat loss has increased instead of decreasing. Can the
measurements be right?

10. A 5-mm-diameter spherical ball at 50 0C is covered by a 1-mm-thick plastic

insulation (k = 0.13 W/m 0C). The ball is exposed to a medium at 15 0C, with a
combined convection and radiation heat transfer coefficient of 20 W/m2 0C.
Determine if the plastic insulation on the ball will help or hurt heat transfer from
the ball.