Heat Transfer

Experiment No.

Determination of heat transfer

coefficient in natural convection

Name of the Student:

Roll No:

Department of Mechanical Engineering

Cummins College of Engineering for Women, Pune.
Natural Convection Heat Transfer from Vertical Cylinder Page No.

Heat Transfer Laboratory Cummins College of Engineering

Natural Convection Heat Transfer from Vertical Cylinder Page No.

Aim: To study natural convection heat transfer from vertical cylinder and to
determine convective heat transfer coefficient

Introduction
When a hot body is kept in a still atmosphere, heat is transferred to the surrounding fluid
by natural convection. The fluid layer in contact with the hot body gets heated, rises up due
to the decrease in its density and the cold surrounding fluid rushes in to take its place. The
process is continuous and heat transfer takes place due to the relative motion of hot and cold
particles. This mode of heat transfer is known as natural or free convection. In contrast to
the forced convection, natural convection phenomenon is due to the temperature difference
between the surface and the fluid is not created by any external agency. Natural convection
is the principal mode of heat transfer from pipes, refrigerating coils, hot radiators etc.

Theory
The movement of fluid in free convection is due to the fact that the fluid particles in the
immediate vicinity of the hot object become warmer than the surrounding fluid resulting in
a local change of density. The warmer fluid would be replaced by the colder fluid creating
convection currents. These currents originate when a body force (gravitational, centrifugal,
electrostatic etc.) acts on a fluid in which there are density gradients. Since free convection
flow velocities are generally much smaller than those associated with forced convection,
the corresponding convection transfer rates are also smaller.The force which induces these
convection currents is called a buoyancy force which is due to the presence of a density
gradient within the fluid and a body force. Grashoff number (Gr) plays a very important
role in natural convection. Grashof number is a measure of the ratio of the buoyancy forces
to the viscous forces acting on the fluid. Natural convection flow pattern for some commonly
observed situations is given in Figure 1.

Heat Transfer Laboratory Cummins College of Engineering

Natural Convection Heat Transfer from Vertical Cylinder Page No.

Experimental set up
Experimental set up consists of a vertical cylinder (stainless steel tube) positioned with
suitable supporting strictures in an enclosures to ensure undistributed natural convection
condition. The test cylinder houses as electric heater and the heater is connected to the
mains via a dimmerstat. A wattmeter is connected in the heater circuit to record the heat
generation. A number of thermocouples (T1 to T8 )are placed on cylinder surface and T9
is kept in the enclosures to measure the enclosure fluid temperature. Figure shows the
schematic layout and other details of the experimental set up. A temperature indicator is
used to measure the temperatures at different locations.

Experimental Procedure
An input to heater of about 20 watts is to be adjusted by the dimmerstat and the temperature
are checked at a interval of about 10 minutes.
After reaching of the steady state the temperatures at T1 to T9 are recorded.

Precautions
ˆ Switch off the ceiling fan before giving supply to set-up. This is to ensure the natural
convection heat transfer environment.

ˆ Adjust the temperature indicator to ambient level by using compensation screw before
starting the experiment (if needed).

ˆ Keep dimmerstat to zero volt position and increase it slowly.

ˆ Use proper range of Ammeter and Voltmeter.

ˆ Operate the change over switch of temperature indicator gently from one position to
other, i.e. from position 1 to 8 position.

ˆ Never exceed 80 W power.

Heat Transfer Laboratory Cummins College of Engineering

Natural Convection Heat Transfer from Vertical Cylinder Page No.

Specifications

1 Test cylinder dia (D) = 38 mm

2 Test cylinder length (L) = 500 mm
3 Heater input (q) = ......W
4 Surface area of the cylinder = As = π × D × L = . . . . . . m2

Observation Table

Table 1: Temperatures at diffrent locations on the cylinder

Temperature Time
T t1 t2 t3 t4 t5 t6 t7 t8
(◦C) (Minutes from start of the experiment)
T1
T2
T3
T4
T5
T6
T7
T8

Ambient Temperature (T9 )= . . . ◦C

Calculations
Mean surface temperature of the cylinder

T + T2 + T3 + · · · + T8
Ts = 1 (1)
8

Mean film temperature

Ts + T∞
Tmf = (2)
2

Heat Transfer Laboratory Cummins College of Engineering

Natural Convection Heat Transfer from Vertical Cylinder Page No.

Coefficient of volumetric expansion

1
β= (3)
Tmf

Grashoff number

g · β · ∆T · L3
Gr = (4)
ν2

Rayleigh number

Ra = Gr · P r (5)

All the properties are evaluated at mean film temperature.

For vertical cylinder losing heat by natural convection empirical correlation for Nusselt num-
ber are

h L
N u = th = 0.59(Gr · P r)0.25 , for 104 < Gr · P r < 109 (6)
k
hth L
Nu = = 0.59(Gr · P r)0.3 , for 109 < Gr · P r < 1012 (7)
k
(8)

Note : Use appropriate correlation for Nusselt number based on Rayleigh number and calcu-
late ‘h’ convective heat transfer coefficient
Heat transfer coefficient (theoretical)

Nu · K
h= (9)
L

Heat transfer coefficient (Experimental)

q̇
h1 = (10)
(T1 − T∞ )

Calculate local convective heat transfer coefficient at all locations T1 to T8

Mean convective heat transfer coefficient

h + h2 + h3 + · · · + h8
h= 1 (11)
8

Heat Transfer Laboratory Cummins College of Engineering

Natural Convection Heat Transfer from Vertical Cylinder Page No.

Results
Convective heat transfer coefficient (Theoretical) = . . . . . . W K/m2
Convective heat transfer coefficient (Experimental) = . . . . . . W K/m2

Plots

Plot the variation of experimental and predicted values of convective heat transfer coefficient
along length of the cylinder

Conclusion

Heat Transfer Laboratory Cummins College of Engineering