Convection, radiation and combined mode of heat transfer

The thermal resistance method for conduction can be further extended into the convection and radiation
modes of heat transfer. The thermal resistances due to convection and radiation can be similarly be
added to the conduction to get an overall heat transfer. The following example demonstrates the overall
heat transfer method.

Similar to the convective heat transfer on both sides in the above equation, we can imagine radiative
heat transfer on one of the sides. In this case the radiative heat transfer coefficient would be used in the
place of one of the convective heat transfer coefficients. The rest of the method remains the same.

Both series and parallel thermal resistances are possible consider for example the setup shown below:

Here materials B, C, and D are in parallel with each other and are in series with A and E. Materials F
and G are in parallel to each other and are in series with E. The below resistance network can be used
to formulate the fourier law of heat conduction for the combination of the thermal resistances.
 One dimensional conduction in cylindrical and spherical coordinate systems
Many engineering situations it is necessary to understand the temperature distribution in cylinders. For
example flow of crude oil in heated pipes, flow of liquid foods, beverages through tubes in machines.

The surface area is given by:

A=2⋅π⋅r⋅L

dT
Qradial =−k⋅A⋅
dr

dT
Qradial =−2⋅π⋅r⋅k⋅L⋅
dr

The temperature in a cylinder heated radially is a function of reciprocal of its radius. Solving the
differential equation and rearranging the solved equation in the form of thermal resistance we get the
following expressions shown below:

ΔT
Qradial =−2⋅π⋅k⋅L⋅
r
ln o
ri

ΔT
Qradial =−
RCond

ro
ln
ri
Rcond =
2⋅π⋅k⋅L
Critical thickness of insulation in cylindrical geometry (pipes):

Maximizing the above equation for highest convective heat transfer coefficient we get:
Similarly, spherical coordinate system is of importance in the case of food processing, planetary
thermal analysis, etc.,

ΔT
Qspherical=−4⋅π⋅k⋅
1 1
−
ri ro
 One dimensional heat conduction
As stated previously, heat transfer is a study of heat transfer rates, temperature distribution and thermal
designs of mechanical systems.

Typical applications of one dimensional heat conduction are:

• Electronic product design to reduce chip burn out.
• To compute thermal stresses and strains due to heat exposure
• Design insulation thickness
• heat treatment of metals

General aspects of heat transfer

Steady state versus transient heat transfer:

A process is said to be in steady state when there is no time dependent variation is the system properties
and parameters. It is analogous to a electrical component conducting a constant DC voltage across its
leads.

In a transient heat transfer process both system properties such as temperature and heat vary with time.
A typical examples are engine heating up during starting process, and water kept on the stove for
boiling. The transient heat transfer is analogous to an AC current through an electrical conductor.

Physical mechanism of heat conduction:

The conduction process in solids can be understood with a simple example. Consider a metal rod
heated at one end and thus conducts heat to the other end. While all other surfaces are insulated. The
molecules / atoms in the object are already in thermal vibration at room temperature. The additional
heat increases these vibrations and adjacent molecules or atoms are further agitated due to the constant
addition of heat. Thus heat energy is transmitted through the rod by virtue of atomic or molecular
vibrations.

The heat transfer analysis always occurs at the system boundary; applying the first law of
thermodynamics we have:

dE
=Qinput −W output
dt system
For the purpose of heat transfer the thermodynamic work input in the form of electric heating, or shaft
work that can be converted to heat is termed as heat sources. Further, any self heating material such as
nuclear core, human body has a internal heat generation. Collectively, the thermodynamic work input is
clubbed together with the internal heat generation and termed as the heat generation in the system.

Therefore the above equation becomes:

.
dE
=Qinput +Q generated
dt system
In the case of thermodynamic systems, the change in energy is first stored as internal energy and the
rest energy is available for work. Therefore left hand side of the above equation is:

dE d dT
= m⋅C p⋅T =m⋅C p⋅
dt system dt dt
combining the above equations we have
.
dT
m⋅C p⋅ =Qinput + Qgenerated
dt

Now let us focus on the heat input to the system. We will derive a generalized continuum equation in
Cartesian coordinate system. This will enable us to apply this equation to suitable applications.
Qinput =(q x +δ x −q x )+(q y+ δ y −q y )+(q z+ δ z−q z)

dT dT d dT
q x+δ x −q x =(−k⋅Δ y⋅Δ z⋅ )−[(−k⋅Δ y⋅Δ z⋅ )− (−k⋅Δ y⋅Δ z⋅ ⋅Δ x)]
dx dx dx dx
dT dT d dT
q y+δ y −q y =(−k⋅Δ x⋅Δ z⋅ )−[(−k⋅Δ x⋅Δ z⋅ )− (−k⋅Δ x⋅Δ z⋅ ⋅Δ y )]
dy dy dx dy
dT dT d dT
q z +δ z −q z=(−k⋅Δ y⋅Δ x⋅ )−[(−k⋅Δ x⋅Δ y⋅ )− (−k⋅Δ x⋅Δ y⋅ ⋅Δ z)]
dz dz dx dz

Figure 2.1: A continuum cube shown in the Cartesian coordinate system.

Solving the above equation we get the generalized Cartesian coordinates heat equation.

ρ⋅C dT d 2 T d 2 T d2 T .
⋅ = + + +Q generated
k dt dx 2 dy 2 dz 2
One dimensional heat conduction equation: Solution to plane wall without
heat generation
From the above 3 dimensional heat equation we can derive the 1D heat equation as shown below:

1 dT d 2 T .
α⋅ dt = dx 2 +Q generated
Continuing to solve this equation for a plane wall, we further assume that there is no heat generation:

For a steady state heat conduction without heat generation we can solve the differential equation by
direct integration:

d2T
=0
dx 2
Integrating twice we get:

T ( x)=C 1⋅x+ C2
Which, is an equation for a straight line. The integration constants are calculated using the boundary
conditions stated in the problem statement. There are 3 types of boundary conditions, constant
temperature boundary, constant heat boundary, and insulated boundary.

Constant temperature boundary condition:

T (0)=T o ; T ( L)=T 1
Constant heat flux boundary condition:

dT
x=0 ; q=q o ; =C 1
dt

dT
x=L ; q=ql ; =C 2
dt

Insulated boundary condition:

dT
x=0 ; q=0 ; =0
dt
One dimensional heat transfer through a plane wall with heat generation:
Consider a plane wall with electric current passing through that generates heat uniformly. Assuming the
initial transient phase is passed and the conductor has reached steady state. The situation is shown
schematically below:

d2T .
+Q generated =0
dx 2

we need to solve the above differential equation with the following boundary conditions:

T (0)=T (L)=T w

dT
=0
dt midsection
The solution is of the form:

−q 2
T= x +C1⋅x +C 0
2⋅k
From the second boundary condition the coefficient of x term vanishes. The first boundary condition
can be applied to find the value of Co to be equal to the wall temperature. We are left with the final
solution:

−q 2
T −T o= x
2⋅k