CONVECTION

Convection
• Convection is the mode of energy transfer
between a solid surface and the adjacent liquid
or gas that is in motion, and it involves the
combined effects of conduction and fluid
motion.

• The faster the fluid motion, the greater the

convection heat transfer. In the absence of any
bulk fluid motion, heat transfer between a solid
surface and the adjacent fluid is by pure
conduction.
 Convection
The presence of bulk motion of the fluid enhances the
heat transfer between the solid surface and the fluid, but
it also complicates the determination of heat transfer
rates.

Consider the cooling of a hot block by blowing of cool air

over its top surface. Energy is first transferred to the air
layer adjacent to the surface of the block by conduction.
This energy is then carried away from the surface by
convection; that is, by the combined effects of
conduction within the air and the motion of the air,
which removes the heated air near the surface and
replaces it by the cooler air.
 Forced and Free Convection
• Convection is called forced convection if the fluid is forced to
flow in a tube or over a surface by external means such as a fan,
pump, or the wind.
• In contrast, convection is called free (or natural) convection if
the fluid motion is caused by buoyancy forces induced by
density differences due to the variation of temperature in the
fluid.
• For example, in the absence of a fan, heat transfer from the
surface of the hot egg will be by natural convection since any
motion in the air in this case will be due to the rise of the
warmer (and thus lighter) air near the surface and the fall of the
cooler (and thus heavier) air to fill its place.
 Newton’s law of cooling
• The rate of heat transfer by convection is determined
from Newton’s law of cooling, expressed as

where h is the convection heat transfer coefficient,

A is the surface area through which heat transfer takes place,
Ts is the surface temperature, and
Tf is bulk fluid temperature away from the surface.
The convection heat transfer coefficient h is not a property of the
fluid.
It is an experimentally determined parameter whose value depends on
all the variables that influence convection such as:
the surface geometry,
the nature of fluid motion,
the properties of the fluid, and the bulk fluid velocity.
Convection • Typical values of h, in
W/m2·K, are in the
range of 2–25 W/m2·K
for the free convection
of gases, 50–1000
W/m2·K for the free
convection of liquids,
• 25–250 W/m2·K for the
forced convection of
gases, 50–20,000
W/m2·K for the forced
convection of liquids,
• and 2500–100,000
W/m2·K for convection
in boiling and
condensation
processes.
•In the case of convective heat transfer taking place from a surface to
a fluid, the circulating currents die out in the immediate viscinity of
the surface and a film of the fluid, free of turbulence, covers the
surface.

•Heat transfer through this film takes by thermal conduction.

•Since the thermal conductivity of most fluids is low, the main

resistance to heat transfer lies in the film.

•Therefore, an increase in the velocity of the fluid over the surface

•results in improved heat transfer mainly because of reduction in the

thickness of the film.
If the resistance to heat transfer is considered as lying within the film
covering the surface, the rate of heat transfer Q is given by
Q = kA DT/x

The effective thickness x is not generally known and therefore this

equation is usually rewritten in the form :
Q = hA DT

This is the basic equation for the rate of heat transfer by convection
under steady state conditions, where 'h' is called the film heat
transfer coefficient or surface coefficient or simply film coefficient.
The value of 'h' depends upon the properties of the fluid within the
film region, hence it is called the film heat transfer coefficient. It
depends upon the various properties of the fluid, linear dimension of
surface and fluid velocity (i.e. the nature of flow).
Numerically, heat transfer coefficient (h) is the quantity of heat
transferred in a unit time through a unit area at a temperature
difference of one degree between the surface and surrounding. h
has the units of W/(m2·K) in the SI system. The term 1/h is called
as the thermal resistance.

The process of transfer of heat from a hot fluid to a cold fluid

through metal wall is very common in the chemical and process
industry. The heat transferred may be latent heat of a phase
change, e.g., condensation, vaporisation etc.; or may be sensible
heat. In all process equipments, e.g., heater, cooler, condenser,
reboiler etc. heat is transferred by conduction and convection.
 Ta

N
Cold fluid film
N

T1
T'

T2
Hot fluid
T3

Cold fluid
Hot fluid film T4
T"
M
M Tb

X2

X1

Y2 Z2

Temperature gradient in forced convection

•The dotted lines Y1 Y2 and Z1 Z2 represent the boundaries
of thin films (hot and cold fluid films).

•The flow of fluid to the left of Y1 Y2 and right of Z1 Z2 is

turbulent.

•The temperature gradient from the bulk of the hot fluid

to the metal wall is represented by Ta T' T2, where Ta is
the maximum temperature of the hot fluid, T' is the
temperature at the boundary between turbulent and
viscous regions and T2 is the temperature at the actual
interface between fluid and solid.
•Similarly, the temperature gradient in the cold fluid is
represented by lines T3 T" Tb.

•In heat transfer calculation, for convenience, average

temperature of the fluid is usually used rather than the
maximum temperature or the temperature at the outer
surface of the film.

• The average temperature (T1) of the hot fluid is

represented by the line marked NN and similarly the
average temperature (T4) of the cold fluid is represented by
the line marked MM.
The temperature change from T1 to T2 is taking place in the hot
fluid film of thickness x1.
The rate of heat transfer through this film by conduction is given by

Q = k1 A1 (T1 – T2) (1)

x1
The effective film thickness x1 depends upon the nature of flow
and nature of the surface, and is generally not known.
Therefore Equation (1) is usually rewritten as

Q = hi Ai (T1 – T2) (2)

where hi is known as the inside heat transfer coefficient or the

surface coefficient or the simply film coefficient.
As seen from Equation (2), the film coefficient is a measure of the
rate of heat transfer for unit temperature difference and unit
surface of heat transfer and it indicates the rate or speed of transfer
of heat by a fluid having a variety of the physical properties under
varying
degrees of agitation. In the SI system, it has the units of W/(m2·K).

The overall resistance to heat flow from the hot fluid to the cold fluid
is made up of three
resistances in series. They are :
1. Resistance offered by the film of hot fluid.
2. Resistance offered by the metal wall and
3. Resistance offered by the film of cold fluid.
 The rate of heat transfer through the metal wall is given by :

Q = kAw (T2 – T3) (3)

xw

Where Aw – log mean area of pipe

xw – thickness of pipe wall
and k – thermal conductivity of material of pipe.

The rate of heat transfer through the cold fluid film is given by :

Q = ho Ao(T3 – T4) (4)

where ho is the outside film coefficient or individual heat transfer

coefficient.
Equation (2) can be rearranged as :

T1 – T2 = Q (5)
hi Ai

Similarly, Equations (3) and (4) can be rearranged as

T2 – T3 = Q
(kAw/xw) … (6)

and

T3 – T4 = Q ...(7)
ho Ao
 Adding Equations (5), (6) and (7), we get

1 1 1
(T1 – T2) + (T2 – T3) + (T3 – T4) = Q + + ...(8)
hi Ai (kAw/xw) ho Ao

1 1 1
(T1-T4) = Q + + ...(9)
hi Ai (kAw/xw) ho Ao
where T1 and T4 are the average temperatures of the hot and cold
fluid respectively. Therefore equations similar to Equation (1) in
terms of overall heat transfer coefficients can be written as

Q = Ui Ai (T1 – T4) … (10)

Or Q = Uo Ao (T1 – T4) … (11)

where Ui and Uo are the overall heat transfer coefficients based on

the inside area and outside area, respectively.

Equations (10) and (11) state that

the rate of heat transfer is a product of three factors namely the
overall heat transfer coefficient, the area of heating surface and
the temperature drop.
 Equation (11) can be rearranged as :

(T1 – T4) = Q
Uo Ao ...(12)

Comparing Equations (9) and (12), we get

1 1 + 1 + 1
Uo Ao = hi Ai (kAw/xw) ho Ao ...(13)

1
=
1 Ao + xw Ao + 1 ...(14)
Uo hi Ai k Aw ho

where Ao – area of heat transfer based on the outside diameter, i.e., the outside
area of the tube
Ai – area of heat transfer based on the inside diameter, i.e., the inside area of the
tube.
We have Ai =  Di L (where L is length of pipe)
Ao =  Do L

Therefore Ao Do ...(15)
=
Ai Di

Similarly, Ao = Do ...(16)
Aw Dw

where Dw = logarithmic mean diameter

Dw = 2 · rm

where rm – logarithmic mean radius

Putting the values of area ratios in Equation (14), we get
1 1
= h Do + X w . Do + 1 ...(17)
Uo i Di k . Dw ho

1 Xw . Di 1 D
1 = h + + h i ...(18)
Ui i
k . Dw o Do
For thin walled tubes, the inside and outside radii are not much
different from each other, and hence the overall heat transfer
coefficient Uo or Ui may be replaced simply by 'U' and is written in
terms of hi, ho, etc. as :

1 1 Xw ...(19)
= h + + 1
U k
i ho

or 1 1
1 1 + k/ X + h ...(20)
= h
U i w o

or 1
U = 1/hi + Xw/k + 1/ho
When the metal wall resistance is very small in comparison with
the resistances of fluid films, then Equation (19) reduces to :

1 1 1
= h + h ...(21)
U o i

1 ho + h i
= ...(22)
U ho hi