p:\Heat_Trf_3

rd
_Yr\CondHT_Tut_MAC.doc

School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering (MACE)

3
RD
YEAR MECHANICAL & AEROSPACE ENGINEERING; M.Sc/DIPLOMA IN
THERMAL POWER AND FLUIDS ENGINEERING (TPFE)

Tutorial Questions on Heat Conduction

1. The external walls of a building have a thickness of 35 cm and a thermal conductivity
k = 0.7 W/mK. Calculate the rate of heat loss per unit area when the interior surface is
at a temperature of 10
o
C and the exterior surface is at a temperature of 2
o
C.

[ q& = 16 W/m
2
]


2. A composite wall consists of sandwiched layers of stainless steel (2 mm; k = 25
W/mK), asbestos sheet (20 mm; k = 0.20 W/mK), fir (25 mm; k = 0.11 W/mK), and
cork (5 mm; k = 0.04 W/mK).

If the temperature on the outside of the steel sheet is 300
o
C and that on the outside of
the cork is 40
o
C, obtain the steady state heat transfer rate per unit wall area.

[ q& = 574.8 W/m
2
]

Plot the steady state temperature distribution through the wall.

[T
1
= 300
o
C, T
2
= 299.95
o
C, T
3
= 242.5
o
C, T
4
= 111.9
o
C, T
5
= 40
o
C]


3. A domestic hot water pipe is made of copper and has an internal diameter of 25 mm
and a thickness of 2 mm. The pipe is exposed to atmospheric air at 10
o
C and the hot
water flowing inside the pipe is at 60
o
C. The thermal conductivity of copper is k = 385
W/mK. The convective heat transfer coefficient h has values of 3500 W/m
2
K and 6.5
W/m
2
K at the internal and external tube surfaces, respectively.

(a) Calculate:

(i) the overall thermal resistance between the hot water and the
atmosphere for a unit length of tube;
[R = 1.693 K/W]

(ii) the overall coefficient of heat transfer, U
i
based on the internal
surface of the tube;
[U
i
= 7.52 W/m
2
K]

(iii) the rate at which heat is lost to the atmosphere per unit length
of the tube.
[
r
Q
&
= 29.5 W/m]

(b) A 5 mm thick layer of insulating material (k = 10 W/mK) is subsequently wrapped
around the copper tube. Assuming that the values of the convective heat transfer
coefficients remain the same, repeat steps (i), (ii), and (iii) of 3(a).

[R = 1.264 K/W; U
i
= 10.07 W/m
2
K;
r
Q
&
= 39.5 W/m]


4. The inside and outside temperatures of a sheet of material of thickness L are 0
o
C and
T
o
o
C, respectively. Determine the steady state heat transfer rate across the sheet if the
thermal conductivity of the material varies linearly with temperature as
o
i o i
T
T
) k k ( k k + = .

Compare this heat transfer rate with that which would result if the sheet had a uniform
thermal conductivity
2
k k
k
o i
+
= .


5. (a) A hot water tube of 25 mm external diameter is exposed to atmospheric air. The
convective heat transfer coefficient at the tube outer surface is h = 6.5 W/m
2
K. It is
proposed to thermally insulate the tube using a material with thermal conductivity k =
0.2 W/mK. Show whether or not this proposal is advisable. (Hint: Determine r
o,crit
)

(b) The same tube is now exposed to cold water and the value of the convection heat
transfer coefficient at the tube surface increases to 700 W/m
2
K. Determine whether the
use of the same insulation material would reduce or increase the heat transfer rate from
the tube. (Hint: Calculate L / Q
r
&
without insulation and then with insulation of
thickness t, where t = r
i
/2, say.)


6. For laminar flow in a long straight pipe, it may be shown that the rate of heat
generation per unit volume, due to viscous dissipation, is given by

2
4
2
r
R
U 16
G =
&


where r is the distance from the pipe centreline, R is the pipe radius, Uis the mean
velocity of the fluid, and is the fluid viscosity. As a result of the heat generation the
fluid gradually heats up until a steady state is reached. In this condition, temperature
varies only in the radial direction. Solve the heat conduction equation (with heat
generation) in cylindrical coordinates across the radius of the pipe. Calculate the
difference between the fluid temperature at the pipe centreline and the fluid
temperature at the pipe wall.

(
(

=
|
|

\
|
|

\
|
+ =
k
U
T T ;
R
r
1
k
U
T T
2
w 0
4
2
w

7. Spherically radial heat conduction is described by the following partial differential
equation:

G
r
T
r k
r
r
1
t
T
c
2
2
&
+ |

\
|

where G
&
is the (uniform) heat generation rate per unit volume.

A thick-walled spherical container of internal and external radii r
i
and r
o
and uniform
thermal conductivity k is filled with a fluid that undergoes a chemical reaction
releasing heat at a uniform rate G
&
per unit volume. The thermal conductivity of the
fluid is k
F
.

By solving the steady state energy equation (i) in the fluid, and (ii) in the walls of the
spherical container, determine the difference in temperature that exists between the
centre of the fluid and the outside of the sphere.




8. Turbulent temperature fluctuations in a flowing gas stream are commonly measured
using a finely-drawn platinum wire of 1 m in diameter that is mounted between
supports about 2 mm apart. A very low electrical current is passed through the wire,
sufficient to measure the wire resistance, but not high enough to heat the wire to any
measurable extent. Because the wire is so fine it has very low thermal inertia and thus
takes on the temperature of its surroundings almost instantaneously. By measuring the
fluctuating resistance of the wire (and assuming a linear relation between electrical
resistance and temperature) information is obtained about the temperature fluctuations
in the gas stream.

The convective heat transfer coefficient for air flow past this wire (in fact a cylinder in
cross-flow) is h. Develop an algebraic expression relating the frequency response of
the probe to h, the wire diameter d, and other thermophysical properties of the wire (,
k, and c). (Hint: Take the wire to be at an initial temperature T
i
in equilibrium with its
surroundings when suddenly the surroundings are changed to a new higher
temperature T
n
. Quantify the frequency response as the inverse of the time required for
the wire temperature to rise by half the difference between T
i
and T
n
.)

Given that h = 2000 W/m
2
K, express the frequency response in kHz.

Properties of platinum: = 21400 kg/m
3
; c = 133 J/kgK; k = 71 W/mK.







9. A tall cylindrical Pyrex glass container of 20 mm internal diameter has walls 3 mm
thick and is filled with boiling water. At t = 0 the container is stood in a tank
containing melting ice and water at 0
o
C. The stirred hot water in the container is
observed to decrease in temperature from 85
o
C to 75
o
C in 10 seconds.

Estimate the thermal conductivity of the Pyrex, stating all assumptions made. (Hint:
Use an energy balance to calculate the rate of decrease with time of the temperature
of the water within the Pyrex container; heat transfer across the walls of the container
should be characterized in terms of a thermal resistance.)




10. A very long rod 25 mm in diameter has one end attached to a plain surface maintained
at 100
o
C. The surface of the rod is exposed to ambient air at 25
o
C with a convective
heat transfer coefficient of 10 W/m
2
K.

(a) What is the heat loss rate from the rod if it is made from
(i) pure copper, k = 398 W/mK
(ii) stainless steel, k = 14 W/mK.



(b) Estimate how long the rods of these two different materials must be in order to
be considered infinite.

(Hint: There is no heat loss from the end of an infinitely long rod because as L , T
T

, the fluid temperature. Therefore in part (b) undertake a calculation for an

adiabatic fin tip and determine what length L is required such that
f
Q
&
agrees to
within (say) 1% of the value found in part (a).)




11. A rectangular plate is of length W in the x-direction and H in the y-direction. The
surfaces at x = 0 and y = 0 are maintained at a constant and uniform temperature T
1
.
The corner of the plate at x = W, y = H is maintained at constant temperature T
2
. The
temperature along the plate surfaces at x = W and y = H vary linearly between T
1
and
T
2
.

Analyse the 2-D steady-state heat conduction equation to obtain the temperature
distribution throughout the plate.

Show that the heat transfer rates through the four surfaces are given by
-k(T
2
- T
1
)H/(2W) and -k(T
2
- T
1
)W/(2H). At which pairs of surfaces do these
expressions apply ?