Lecture 4 - Thermal Resistance Network

HEAT TRANSFER
Steady state Heat Conduction

Thermal Resistance Network
Dr. Aklilu Tesfamichael

Department of Mechanical Engineering
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Lesson outcome
At the end of this class student should be able to:

• Understand the concept of thermal resistance concept.
• Develop thermal resistance network for practical heat
conduction problem.
Open
Steady heat conduction in plane walls
Heat transfer through the wall of a house can
be modeled as steady and one-dimensional.
The temperature can be expressed as T(x).
In steady operation, the rate of heat transfer

through the wall is constant.
dT
Qcond  kA
Fourier’s law of
 (W) heat conduction
dx
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Steady heat conduction in plane walls
dT
Qcond , wall  kA
 (W)
dx
Separating the variables and integrating
 Qcond , wall dx    kAdT

L T2

x 0 T T1
T1  T2
Qcond , wall  kA
 (W)
L
Under steady conditions, the temperature distribution in

Open
a plane wall is a straight line: dT/dx = const.

Thermal resistance concept
T T
Q cond , wall  kA 1 2 (W)
L
T1  T2
Qcond , wall 
 (W)
Rwall
L
Rwall  (K/W)
kA
Conduction resistance of the wall:

Thermal resistance of the wall Analogy between thermal and electrical
against heat conduction. resistance concepts.
Thermal resistance of a medium rate of heat transfer  electric current
depends on the geometry and the thermal resistance  electrical resistance
thermal properties of the medium. temperature difference  voltage
Open difference
Convection resistance at surface
Q conv  hAs Ts  T  (W)
Ts  T
Qconv 
 (W)
Rconv
1
Rconv  (K/W)
hAs
Convection resistance of the surface:

Thermal resistance of the surface against
heat convection.
What will happen if h is very large?
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Radiation resistance at surface
Q rad  As Ts4  Tsurr
4
  hrad As Ts  Tsurr   Ts R Tsurr  (W)
1
rad
Rrad  (K/W)
hrad As
  Ts  Tsurr Ts2  Tsurr 

Q rad
hrad  (W/m 2  K 4 )
As Ts  Tsurr 
2
Radiation resistance of the surface: Thermal

resistance of the surface against radiation.
when Ts  Tsurr
hcombined  hconv  hrad (W/m 2  K)
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Thermal resistance network
Heat transfer through a plane wall subjected to convection on both sides
Q 

Rate of  
 
Rate of  
 
Rate of 

 heat convection    heat conduction    heat convection 
 into the wall   through the wall   from the wall 
     
T T T T T T
Q   ,1 1  1 2  2  , 2
1 /( h1 A) L /( kA) 1 /( h2 A)
T ,1  T1 T1  T2 T2  T , 2
  
Rconv,1 Rwall Rconv, 2
Rtotal  Rconv,1  Rwall  Rconv , 2

T ,1  T , 2
1 L 1 Q
Rtotal   

Rtotal
h1 A kA h2 A
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Temperature drop
T
Q
  T  Q R
R
Once Q is evaluated, any layer

temperature can be determined.
Say the surface temperature T1
can be determined from
T ,1  T1 T ,1  T1
Q
 
Rconv ,1 1 /( h1 A)
The temperature drop across a layer is

Open
proportional to its thermal resistance.
Multilayer plane walls
T ,1  T , 2
Q

Rtotal
1 L L 1
Rconv ,1  Rwall ,1  Rwall , 2  Rconv , 2 
h1 A k1 A k2 A h2 A
1 L L 1
Rtotal  Rconv,1  Rwall ,1  Rwall , 2  Rconv, 2   1  2 
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h1 A k1 A k 2 A h2 A
Q  Q1  Q 2
T1  T2 T1  T2  1 1 
     T1  T2 
R1 R2  R1 R2 
or
T1  T2
Q

Rtotal
L1  L2  L
where
1 1 1 R1 R2
   Rtotal 
Rtotal R1 R2 R1  R2
L1 L
R1  R2  2
k1 A1 k 2 A2
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With the same principle
T T
Q  1 3
Rtotal
T3 where
R1 R2
Rtotal  R12  R3   R3
R1  R2
L1 L L
R1  R2  2 R2  3
k1 A1 k 2 A2 k3 A3
T3
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With the same principle
T T
Q  1 
Rtotal
where
R1 R2
Rtotal  R12  R3  Rconv   R3  Rconv
R1  R2
L1 L L 1
R1  R2  2 R2  3 Rconv 
k1 A1 k 2 A2 k3 A3 hA3
Open
Summary
• Steady Heat Conduction in Plane Walls
– Thermal Resistance Concept
– Thermal Resistance Network
– Multilayer Plane Walls
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HEAT TRANSFER

Steady state Heat Conduction

Dr. Aklilu Tesfamichael

At the end of this class student should be able to:

The temperature can be expressed as T(x).

In steady operation, the rate of heat transfer

 Qcond , wall dx    kAdT

Under steady conditions, the temperature distribution in

a plane wall is a straight line: dT/dx = const.

Conduction resistance of the wall:

Q conv  hAs Ts  T  (W)

Convection resistance of the surface:

  Ts  Tsurr Ts2  Tsurr 

Radiation resistance of the surface: Thermal

Rtotal  Rconv,1  Rwall  Rconv , 2

Once Q is evaluated, any layer

The temperature drop across a layer is

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