Conceptual Heat Transfer Questions
Conceptual Heat Transfer Questions
What are the physical mechanisms associated with heat transfer by conduction, convection, and radiation?
Conduction- no bulk or macroscopic motion
Convection- random molecular motion, diffusion, bulk, or macroscopic motion
Radiation- emitted of energy
What is the driving potential of heat transfer? Temperature difference (high to low)
What is the difference between a heat flux and a heat rate?
Heat flux- q, W/m^2, heat divided by an area
Heat rate- q, W, Product of heat flux and area
What is a temperature gradient, dt/dx, K/m,
What is thermal conductivity? K, W/m*K, it is a transport property.
What is Fouriers Law? q=-k(dt/dx)
What is the difference between natural convection and forced convection?
Natural- the flow is induced by buoyancy forces, which are due to density differences caused by temperature
variations in the fluid.
Forced- flow is caused by external, like a fan
What conditions are necessary for the development of a hydrodynamic boundary layer?
Hydrodynamic- the velocity varies from zero at the surface to a finite value ambient associated with the flow,
velocity varies to zero in a hydrodynamic layer.
What conditions are necessary for the development of a thermal boundary layer?
Thermal- Ts @ y=0 to T ambient in the outer flow, velocity varies.
What is Newtons Law of cooling? q=h(Ts-T ambient)
What role is played by the convection heat transfer coefficient in Newtons law of cooling? It depends on conditions in the thermal
boundary layer, which are influenced by the surface geometry, the nature of the fluid motion, and an assortment of
fluid thermodynamics and transport properties. h[W/m^2*K]
What effect does convection heat transfer from or to a surface have on the solid bounded by the surface? none
What is predicted by Stefan-Boltzmann law, and what unit of temperature must be used with this law? The upper limit to the
emissive power, the unit of temperature is absolute k, Eb=Ts^4
What is the emissivity, and what role does it play does it play in characterizing radiation transfer at a surface? Emissivity- a
radiation property of the surface; this property provides a measure of how efficiently a surface emits energy relative
to a blackbody or ideal radiator.
What is Irradiation? Irradiation- the rate at which all such radiation is incident on a unit area of the surface. Units are
W/m^2.
What conditions are associated with use of the radiation heat transfer coefficient? Hr, depends strongly on temperature.
Net radiation= qrad=q/A=Eb(Ts)-G=(Ts^4- Tsurr^4)
What is the inherent difference between application of conservation of energy over a time interval and at an instant of time?
Time interval- all energy terms are measured in joules
Instant of time- all energy terms are balanced and measured in joules/s
What is thermal energy storage? How does it differ from thermal energy generation? What role do the terms play in a surface
energy balance?
Energy generated- Eg at an instant.
Energy storage- over a
CH2
In the general formulation of Fouriers Law what are the vector and scalar quantities? Why is there a minus sign on the right hand
side of the equation?
Fouriers law has scalar temperature field and heat flux vector
The minus sign is necessary because heat is always transferred in the direction of decreasing temperature
What is an isothermal surface? What can be said about the heat flux at any location on this surface?
The direction of heat flow will always be normal to a surface of constant temperature, the direction of q is normal
to the cross sectional area
What form does fouriers law take for each of the orthogonal directions of Cartesian cylindrical and spherical coordinate systems?
In each case what are the units of the temperature gradient? Can you write each equation from memory?
Cartisian
Cylinderical
Spherical
An important property of matter is defined by Fouriers law. What is it? What is its physical significance? What are its units?
k, thermal conductivity, W/ m*K, w/o k all materials that have the same A, T, x would technically be the same
What is isotropic material? A material where thermal conductivity is independent of the coordinate direction.
Why is the thermal conductivity of a solid generally larger than that of a liquid? Why is the thermal conductivity of a liquid
generally larger than that of a gas?
Thermal conductivity is greater in solid than liquid and liquid than gas because the heat fluxes are higher.
Why is the thermal conductivity of an electrically conducting solid generally larger than that of a non conductor? Why are
materials such as beryllium oxide, diamond, and silicon carbide exceptions to this rule?
In pure metals, the electron contribution to conduction heat transfer dominates, while non-conductors and semiconductors, the phonon contribution is dominant because they have high thermal conductivity.
Is the effective thermal conductivity of an insulation system a true manifestation of the efficacy with which heat is transferred
through the system by conduction alone?
No, heat is also transferred due to surface radiation and the nature of the volumetric fraction of the air or void
space.
Why does the thermal conductivity of a gas increase with increasing temperature? Why is it approximately independent of
pressure?
Thermal conductivity of as gas increase w/ increasing temperature because increases with increasing temperature
and decreasing molecular weight. Because and mfp are directly and inversely proportional to the gas pressure.
What is the physical significance of the thermal diffusivity? How is it defined and what are its units?
Thermal diffusivity, , it measures the ability of a material to conduct thermal energy relative to its ability to store
thermal energy. m2/s
For a chemically reacting medium, what kind of reaction provides a source of thermal energy (q .>0)? What kind of reaction
provides a sink for thermal energy (q.<0)?
I q*>0 a source if thermal is being generated in the material at the expense of some other energy form. If q*<0 a
sink if thermal energy is being consumed.
CH 3
Under what conditions may it be said that the heat flux is a constant, independent of the direction of heat flow? For each of these
conditions, use physical considerations to convince yourself that the heat flux would not be independent of direction if the
conditions were not satisfied
Heat flux is constant and independent of the direction of heat flow
For a 1-D SS in a plane wall with no heat generation
For one dimensional steady state conduction in a cylindrical or spherical shell without heat generation, is the radial heat flux
independent of radius? Is the radial heat rate independent of radius?
He flux is independent
heat rate is dependant
For one dimensional stead state conduction without heat generation, what is the shape of the temperature distribution in plane
wall? In a cylindrical shell? In a spherical shell?
What is the thermal resistance? How is it defined? What are its units?
Thermal resistance is the ratio of a driving potential to the corresponding transfer rate
K/W
For conduction across a plane wall, can you white the expression for the thermal resistance from memory? Similarly can you write
expressions for the thermal resistance associated with conduction across cylindrical and spherical shells? From memory can you
express the thermal resistances associated with convection from a surface and net radiation exchange between the surface and
large surroundings?
Wall Rtcond = L/kA
Rtconv = 1/hA
Rtrad = 1/hrA
Cylinder Rtcond = ln (r2/r1)/2Lk
Sphere
Rt cond = 1/(4k)(1/r1 1/r2)
what is the physical basis for existence of a critical insulation radius? How do the thermal conductivity and the convection
coefficient affect its value?
Maximizes heat transfer that is below which q increases with increasing r and above which q decreases with
increasing r
Rcr = k/h
h does not equal 0
How is the conduction resistance of a solid affected by its thermal conductivity? How is the convection resistance at a surface
affected by the convection coefficient? How is the radiation resistance affected by the surface emissivity?
Rt cond = L/kA so the greater k is the lower Rtcond.
Rtconv + Rtrad is the higher h or hr the lower the resistance
If heat is transferred from a surface by convection and radiation how are the corresponding thermal resistances represented in a
circuit?
What are the forms of Newtons law of cooling for a heat flux and a heat rate
q=hT q=hAT T= Ts-T
What are the velocity and thermal boundary layers? Under what conditions do they develop
A thin layer in which velocity gradients and shear stresses are larger, a thing fluid laying in which temperature
gradients are present
Velocity develops when there is a fluid flow over a surface, thermal develops if the fluid is free stream and the
surface temp differs
What quantities change with location in a velocity boundary layer? A thermal boundary layer?
Velocity boundary layer thickness surface shear stress
Thermal boundary layer thickness magnitude dT/dy!y=0 decreases as x increases q and h decrease when x
increases
Recognizing that convection heat transfer is strongly influenced by conditions associated with fluid flow over a surface, how is it
that we may determine the convection heat flux by applying fouriers law to the fluid at the surface?
hT=-kdT/dy!y=0 h=-k dT/dy!y=0/T
T = Ts-T
Do we expect heat transfer to change with transition from a laminar to a turbulent boundary layer? How?
Yes,, Increases
What physical processes are represented by the terms of the x-momentum equation (6.16)? By the energy equation (6.17)?
Represents he net outflow of mass in the x & y directions, the sum of which must be zero for SS
Left side represents the net rate at which x-momentum leaves the CV due to fluid motion across its boundaries.
Right side represents the net pressure force and the net forces due to viscous shear stress
What special approximations may be made for conditions within theis velocity and thermal boundary layers?
u>>v du/dy>>du/dy(v/dx) dt/dy>>dt/dx
How is the Reynolds # defined? What is it physical interpretations? What role is played by the critical?
Re= Vx/ ratio of inertial and viscous forces calculates the boundary layer behavior
What is the Prandtl #? How does its value affect relative growth of the velocity and thermal boundary layers for laminar flow over
a surface? What representative room temperature values of the Prandtl # for a liquid metal a gas water and oil
Pr= / ratio of the momentum and thermal diffusivities
Prandtl # for different fluids is different, for energy and momentum transfer by diffusion rate is as follows; gases
its comparable, liquid metal energy exceeds momentum diffusion rate and oils are opposite of liquid metal
What is the coefficient of friction? The Nusselt #? For flow over a prescribed geometry what are the independent parameters that
determine local and average values of these quantities?
Dimensionless surface shear stress Cf= s/v62/2
The ratio of convection to pure conduction heat transfer rates Nu= hL/k
Under what conditions may velocity and thermal boundary layers be termed analogous? What is the physical basis of analogous
behavior?
If two or more processes are governed by dimensionless equations of the same form
Friction and heat transfer relations for a particular geometry are interchangeable
What important boundary layer parameters are linked by the Reynolds analogy?
Velocity parameter- if known the analogy may be used to obtain the heat transfer parameter and vice versa
What physical features distinguish a turbulent flow from a laminar flow?
Laminar- fluid flow is highly ordered and you could identify streamlines along which fluid particles move
Turbulent- fluid flow highly irregular and is characterized by random, 3-d motion of relatively large parcels
CH7
What is an external flow?
Boundary layers that develop freely without constraints imposed by adjacent surfaces
How does the velocity boundary layer thickness vary with distance from the leading edge for laminar flow over a flat plat? For
turbulent flow? What determines the relative velocity and thermal boundary layer thickness for laminar flow? For turbulent flow?
Increases proportionally to x^1/2
Increases proportionally to x^4/5
Pr- momentum and thermal diffusivity ratio
Boundary layer development is influenced by random fluctuations in fluid in the fluid and not by molecular
diffusion
How does the local convection heat transfer coefficient vary with distance from the leading edge for laminar flow over a flat plat?
For turbulent flow? For flow in which transition to turbulence occurs of the plate
Decrease proportionally to x^-1/2 from
Decrease proportionally to x^4/5
Chapter 11
What are two possible arrangement for a concentric tube heat exchanger? Parallel and counter flow.
What are the restrictions associated with the fluid outlet temperatures? In parallel the final temperatures approach each other.
In counter flow, Temperature cold final can be higher than T(ho)
For cross-flow heat exchanger, what is meant by the terms mixed and unmixed? DRAWING?????????????????????????????
In what sense are they idealizations of actual conditions? The two configurations are typically differentiated by an
idealization that treats fluid motion over the tubes as unmixed or mixed.
Why are baffles used in a shell-and-tube heat exchanger? Baffles are usually installed to increase the convection coefficient of
the shll-side fluid by inducing turbulence and a cross flow velocity component.
Compact heat exchanges- These devices have dense arrays of finned tubes or plates and are typically used when at least one
of the fluids is a gas and is hence characterized by a small convection coefficient.
Fouling Factor-R,f- during normal heat exchanger operation, surfaces are often eubject to FOULING by fluid
impurity,rust, or other reactions b/w the fluid and the wall increase the resistance to heat transfer b/w the fluids. This
effect can be treated by introducing an additional thermal resistance.
Finned surfaces- by increasing the area, they reduce the resistance to convection heat transfer. When surface area is in need
of increase.
When can the overall heat transfer coefficient be expressed as U=(hi^-1 + Ho^-1)^-1?when you have two tubes, that cool one
another.
What is the appropriate form of the mean temp differ. For the two fluids of a parallel or counter-flow heat exchanger?
LEAVE SPACE TO WRITE OUT
LEAVE SPACE TO WRITE OUT
LEAVE SPACE TO WRITE OUT
LEAVE SPACE TO WRITE OUT
LEAVE SPACE TO WRITE OUT
What can be said about the change in temp of a saturated fluid undergoing evaporation or condensation in a heat exchanger? If
condensing hot temp stays constant and cold fluid increases. IF evaporating liquid cold temp stays constant and hot fluid
decreases.
Will the fluid have the min or max heat capacity rate experience the largest temp change in a heat exchanger? Min
Why is the maximum possible heat rate for aheat exchanger not equal to Cmax(Thi-Tci)?If a fluid having the larger heat
capacity rate were to experience the maximum possible temperature change, conservation WRITE OUT would require
that the other fluid experience yet a larger temperature change. If Cmax=Cc and one. DOUG I GOT TO ASK YOU
ABOUT ONE THING HERE.
Can the outlet temperature of the cold fluid ever exceed the inlet temperature of the hot fluid? NO
To define the effectiveness of a heat exchanger of a heat transfer, we must first determenin the maximum determine the max
possible heat transfer rat, qmax, for the exchanger. E, the ratio of actual heat transfer rate for a heat exchanger to the maximum
possible heat transfer rate. E=q/qmax.
CHAPTER 12
What is the nature of radiation?
the propagation of a collection of particles termed photons or quanta
What two important features characterize radiation?
frequency/wavelength and directionality
What is the physical origin of radiation emission from a surface?
equ. 12.25