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Process Heat Transfer
Dedication

This book is dedicated to C.C.S.


Process Heat Transfer
Principles and Applications

R.W. Serth
Department of Chemical and Natural Gas Engineering,
Texas A&M University-Kingsville,
Kingsville, Texas, USA

AMSTERDAM • BOSTON • HEIDELBERG • LONDON • NEW YORK • OXFORD


PARIS • SAN DIEGO • SAN FRANCISCO • SINGAPORE • SYDNEY • TOKYO
Academic Press is an imprint of Elsevier
Academic Press is an imprint of Elsevier
30 Corporate Drive, Suite 400, Burlington, MA 01803, USA
Linacre House, Jordan Hill, Oxford OX2 8DP, UK
The Boulevard, Langford Lane, Kidlington, Oxford OX5 1GB, UK

First edition 2007

Copyright © 2007, Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system


or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording or otherwise without the prior written permission of the publisher

Permissions may be sought directly from Elsevier’s Science & Technology Rights
Department in Oxford, UK: phone (+44) (0) 1865 843830; fax (+44) (0) 1865 853333;
email: [email protected]. Alternatively you can submit your request online by
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Notice
No responsibility is assumed by the publisher for any injury and/or damage to persons
or property as a matter of products liability, negligence or otherwise, or from any use
or operation of any methods, products, instructions or ideas contained in the material
herein. Because of rapid advances in the medical sciences, in particular, independent
verification of diagnoses and drug dosages should be made

British Librar y Cataloguing in Publication Data


Serth, R. W.
Process heat transfer : principles and applications
1. Heat - Transmission 2. Heat exchangers 3. Heat exchangers - Design
4. Heat - Transmission - Computer programs
I. Title
621.4′ 022

Librar y of Congress Catalog number: 2006940583

ISBN: 978-0-12-373588-1

For information on all Academic Press publications


visit our web site at http://books.elsevier.com

Typeset by Charon Tec Ltd (A Macmillan Company), Chennai, India


www.charontec.com
Printed and bound in USA

06 07 08 09 10 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents

Preface viii
Conversion Factors x
Physical Constants xi
Acknowledgements xii

1 Heat Conduction 1
1.1 Introduction 2
1.2 Fourier’s Law of Heat Conduction 2
1.3 The Heat Conduction Equation 6
1.4 Thermal Resistance 15
1.5 The Conduction Shape Factor 19
1.6 Unsteady-State Conduction 24
1.7 Mechanisms of Heat Conduction 31

2 Convective Heat Transfer 43


2.1 Introduction 44
2.2 Combined Conduction and Convection 44
2.3 Extended Surfaces 47
2.4 Forced Convection in Pipes and Ducts 53
2.5 Forced Convection in External Flow 62
2.6 Free Convection 65

3 Heat Exchangers 85
3.1 Introduction 86
3.2 Double-Pipe Equipment 86
3.3 Shell-and-Tube Equipment 87
3.4 The Overall Heat-Transfer Coefficient 93
3.5 The LMTD Correction Factor 98
3.6 Analysis of Double-Pipe Exchangers 102
3.7 Preliminary Design of Shell-and-Tube Exchangers 106
3.8 Rating a Shell-and-Tube Exchanger 109
3.9 Heat-Exchanger Effectiveness 114

4 Design of Double-Pipe Heat Exchangers 127


4.1 Introduction 128
4.2 Heat-Transfer Coefficients for Exchangers without Fins 128
4.3 Hydraulic Calculations for Exchangers without Fins 128
4.4 Series/Parallel Configurations of Hairpins 131
4.5 Multi-tube Exchangers 132
4.6 Over-Surface and Over-Design 133
4.7 Finned-Pipe Exchangers 141
4.8 Heat-Transfer Coefficients and Friction Factors for Finned Annuli 143
4.9 Wall Temperature for Finned Pipes 145
4.10 Computer Software 152
vi C O NT E NT S

5 Design of Shell-and-Tube Heat Exchangers 187


5.1 Introduction 188
5.2 Heat-Transfer Coefficients 188
5.3 Hydraulic Calculations 189
5.4 Finned Tubing 192
5.5 Tube-Count Tables 194
5.6 Factors Affecting Pressure Drop 195
5.7 Design Guidelines 197
5.8 Design Strategy 201
5.9 Computer software 218

6 The Delaware Method 245


6.1 Introduction 246
6.2 Ideal Tube Bank Correlations 246
6.3 Shell-Side Heat-Transfer Coefficient 248
6.4 Shell-Side Pressure Drop 250
6.5 The Flow Areas 254
6.6 Correlations for the Correction Factors 259
6.7 Estimation of Clearances 260

7 The Stream Analysis Method 277


7.1 Introduction 278
7.2 The Equivalent Hydraulic Network 278
7.3 The Hydraulic Equations 279
7.4 Shell-Side Pressure Drop 281
7.5 Shell-Side Heat-Transfer Coefficient 281
7.6 Temperature Profile Distortion 282
7.7 The Wills–Johnston Method 284
7.8 Computer Software 295

8 Heat-Exchanger Networks 327


8.1 Introduction 328
8.2 An Example: TC3 328
8.3 Design Targets 329
8.4 The Problem Table 329
8.5 Composite Curves 331
8.6 The Grand Composite Curve 334
8.7 Significance of the Pinch 335
8.8 Threshold Problems and Utility Pinches 337
8.9 Feasibility Criteria at the Pinch 337
8.10 Design Strategy 339
8.11 Minimum-Utility Design for TC3 340
8.12 Network Simplification 344
8.13 Number of Shells 347
8.14 Targeting for Number of Shells 348
8.15 Area Targets 353
8.16 The Driving Force Plot 356
8.17 Super Targeting 358
8.18 Targeting by Linear Programming 359
8.19 Computer Software 361
C O NT E NT S vii

9 Boiling Heat Transfer 385


9.1 Introduction 386
9.2 Pool Boiling 386
9.3 Correlations for Nucleate Boiling on Horizontal Tubes 387
9.4 Two-Phase Flow 402
9.5 Convective Boiling in Tubes 416
9.6 Film Boiling 428

10 Reboilers 443
10.1 Introduction 444
10.2 Types of Reboilers 444
10.3 Design of Kettle Reboilers 449
10.4 Design of Horizontal Thermosyphon Reboilers 467
10.5 Design of Vertical Thermosyphon Reboilers 473
10.6 Computer Software 488

11 Condensers 539
11.1 Introduction 540
11.2 Types of Condensers 540
11.3 Condensation on a Vertical Surface: Nusselt Theory 545
11.4 Condensation on Horizontal Tubes 549
11.5 Modifications of Nusselt Theory 552
11.6 Condensation Inside Horizontal Tubes 562
11.7 Condensation on Finned Tubes 568
11.8 Pressure Drop 569
11.9 Mean Temperature Difference 571
11.10 Multi-component Condensation 590
11.11 Computer Software 595

12 Air-Cooled Heat Exchangers 629


12.1 Introduction 630
12.2 Equipment Description 630
12.3 Air-Side Heat-Transfer Coefficient 637
12.4 Air-Side Pressure Drop 638
12.5 Overall Heat-Transfer Coefficient 640
12.6 Fan and Motor Sizing 640
12.7 Mean Temperature Difference 643
12.8 Design Guidelines 643
12.9 Design Strategy 644
12.10 Computer Software 653

Appendix 681
Appendix A Thermophysical Properties of Materials 682
Appendix B Dimensions of Pipe and Tubing 717
Appendix C Tube-Count Tables 729
Appendix D Equivalent Lengths of Pipe Fittings 737
Appendix E Properties of Petroleum Streams 740

Index 743
Preface
This book is based on a course in process heat transfer that I have taught for many years. The course
has been taken by seniors and first-year graduate students who have completed an introductory
course in engineering heat transfer. Although this background is assumed, nearly all students need
some review before proceeding to more advanced material. For this reason, and also to make the
book self-contained, the first three chapters provide a review of essential material normally covered
in an introductory heat transfer course. Furthermore, the book is intended for use by practicing
engineers as well as university students, and it has been written with the aim of facilitating self-study.
Unlike some books in this field, no attempt is made herein to cover the entire panoply of heat trans-
fer equipment. Instead, the book focuses on the types of equipment most widely used in the chemical
process industries, namely, shell-and-tube heat exchangers (including condensers and reboilers),
air-cooled heat exchangers and double-pipe (hairpin) heat exchangers. Within the confines of a sin-
gle volume, this approach allows an in-depth treatment of the material that is most relevant from an
industrial perspective, and provides students with the detailed knowledge needed for engineering
practice. This approach is also consistent with the time available in a one-semester course.
Design of double-pipe exchangers is presented in Chapter 4. Chapters 5–7 comprise a unit dealing
with shell-and-tube exchangers in operations involving single-phase fluids. Design of shell-and-tube
exchangers is covered in Chapter 5 using the Simplified Delaware method for shell-side calcula-
tions. For pedagogical reasons, more sophisticated methods for performing shell-side heat-transfer
and pressure-drop calculations are presented separately in Chapter 6 (full Delaware method) and
Chapter 7 (Stream Analysis method). Heat exchanger networks are covered in Chapter 8. I nor-
mally present this topic at this point in the course to provide a change of pace. However, Chapter
8 is essentially self-contained and can, therefore, be covered at any time. Phase-change operations
are covered in Chapters 9–11. Chapter 9 presents the basics of boiling heat transfer and two-phase
flow. The latter is encountered in both Chapter 10, which deals with the design of reboilers, and
Chapter 11, which covers condensation and condenser design. Design of air-cooled heat exchang-
ers is presented in Chapter 12. The material in this chapter is essentially self-contained and, hence,
it can be covered at any time.
Since the primary goal of both the book and the course is to provide students with the knowl-
edge and skills needed for modern industrial practice, computer applications play an integral role,
and the book is intended for use with one or more commercial software packages. HEXTRAN
(SimSci-Esscor), HTRI Xchanger Suite (Heat Transfer Research, Inc.) and the HTFS Suite (Aspen
Technology, Inc.) are used in the book, along with HX-Net (Aspen Technology, Inc.) for pinch
calculations. HEXTRAN affords the most complete coverage of topics, as it handles all types of heat
exchangers and also performs pinch calculations for design of heat exchanger networks. It does
not perform mechanical design calculations for shell-and-tube exchangers, however, nor does it
generate detailed tube layouts or setting plans. Furthermore, the methodology used by HEXTRAN
is based on publicly available technology and is generally less refined than that of the other software
packages. The HTRI and HTFS packages use proprietary methods developed by their respective
research organizations, and are similar in their level of refinement. HTFS Suite handles all types
of heat exchangers; it also performs mechanical design calculations and develops detailed tube
layouts and setting plans for shell-and-tube exchangers. HTRI Xchanger Suite lacks a mechanical
design feature, and the module for hairpin exchangers is not included with an academic license.
Neither HTRI nor HTFS has the capability to perform pinch calculations.
As of this writing, Aspen Technology is not providing the TASC and ACOL modules of the HTFS
Suite under its university program. Instead, it is offering the HTFS-plus design package. This
package basically consists of the TASC and ACOL computational engines combined with slightly
modified GUI’s from the corresponding BJAC programs (HETRAN and AEROTRAN), and packaged
with the BJAC TEAMS mechanical design program. This package differs greatly in appearance and
to some extent in available features from HTFS Suite. However, most of the results presented in the
text using TASC and ACOL can be generated using the HTFS-plus package.
PREFACE ix

Software companies are continually modifying their products, making differences between the
text and current versions of the software packages unavoidable. However, many modifications
involve only superficial changes in format that have little, if any, effect on results. More substantive
changes occur less frequently, and even then the effects tend to be relatively minor. Nevertheless,
readers should expect some divergence of the software from the versions used herein, and they
should not be unduly concerned if their results differ somewhat from those presented in the text.
Indeed, even the same version of a code, when run on different machines, can produce slightly
different results due to differences in round-off errors. With these caveats, it is hoped that the
detailed computer examples will prove helpful in learning to use the software packages, as well as
in understanding their idiosyncrasies and limitations.
I have made a concerted effort to introduce the complexities of the subject matter gradually
throughout the book in order to avoid overwhelming the reader with a massive amount of detail
at any one time. As a result, information on shell-and-tube exchangers is spread over a number of
chapters, and some of the finer details are introduced in the context of example problems, including
computer examples. Although there is an obvious downside to this strategy, I nevertheless believe
that it represents good pedagogy.
Both English units, which are still widely used by American industry, and SI units are used in this
book. Students in the United States need to be proficient in both sets of units, and the same is true
of students in countries that do a large amount of business with U.S. firms. In order to minimize
the need for unit conversion, however, working equations are either given in dimensionless form
or, when this is not practical, they are given in both sets of units.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the many students who have contributed to this
effort over the years, both directly and indirectly through their participation in my course. I would
also like to express my deep appreciation to my colleagues in the Department of Chemical and
Natural Gas Engineering at TAMUK, Dr. Ali Pilehvari and Mrs. Wanda Pounds. Without their help,
encouragement and friendship, this book would not have been written.
Conversion Factors

Acceleration 1 m/s2 = 4.2520 × 107 ft/h2


Area 1 m2 = 10.764 ft2
Density 1 kg/m3 = 0.06243 lbm/ft3
Energy 1 J = 0.239 cal = 9.4787 × 10−4 Btu
Force 1 N = 0.22481 lbf
Fouling factor 1 m2 · K/W = 5.6779 h · ft2 · ◦ F/Btu
Heat capacity flow rate 1 kW/K = 1 kW/◦ C
= 1895.6 Btu/h · ◦ F
Heat flux 1W/m2 = 0.3171 Btu/h · ft2
Heat generation rate 1 W/m3 = 0.09665 Btu/h · ft3
Heat transfer coefficient 1 W/m2 · K = 0.17612 Btu/h · ft2 · ◦ F
Heat transfer rate 1 W = 3.4123 Btu/h
Kinematic viscosity and thermal 1 m2 /s = 3.875 × 104 ft2 /h
diffusivity
Latent heat and specific enthalpy 1 kJ/kg = 0.42995 Btu/lbm
Length 1 m = 3.2808 ft
Mass 1 kg = 2.2046 lbm
Mass flow rate 1 kg/s = 7936.6 lbm/h
Mass flux 1 kg/s · m2 = 737.35 lbm/h · ft2
Power 1 kW = 3412 Btu/h
= 1.341 hp
Pressure (stress) 1 Pa (1 N/m2 ) = 0.020886 lbf/ft2
= 1.4504 × 10−4 psi
= 4.015 × 10−3 in. H2 O
5
Pressure 1.01325 × 10 Pa = 1 atm
= 14.696 psi
= 760 torr
= 406.8 in. H2 O
Specific heat 1 kJ/kg · K = 0.2389 Btu/lbm · ◦ F
Surface tension 1 N/m = 1000 dyne/cm
= 0.068523 lbf/ft
Temperature K = ◦ C + 273.15
= (5/9)( ◦ F + 459.67) = (5/9)( ◦ R)
Temperature difference 1 K = 1 ◦ C = 1.8 ◦ F = 1.8◦ R
Thermal conductivity 1 W/m · K = 0.57782 Btu/h · ft · ◦ F
Thermal resistance 1 K/W = 0.52750◦ F · h/Btu
Viscosity 1 kg/m · s = 1000 cp = 2419 lbm/ft · h
Volume 1 m3 = 35.314 ft3 = 264.17 gal
Volumetric flow rate 1 m3 /s = 2118.9 ft3 /min(cfm)
= 1.5850 × 104 gal/min (gpm)

lbf: pound force and lbm: pound mass.


Physical Constants

Quantity Symbol Value


Universal gas constant 
R 0.08205 atm · m3/kmol · K
0.08314 bar · m3 /kmol · K
8314 J/kmol · K
1.986 cal/mol · K
1.986 Btu/lb mole · ◦ R
10.73 psia · ft3 /lb mole · ◦ R
1545 ft · lbf/lb mole · ◦ R

Standard gravitational acceleration g 9.8067 m/s2


32.174 ft/s2
4.1698 × 108 ft/h2

Stefan-Boltzman constant σSB 5.670 × 10−8 W/m2 · K4


1.714 × 10−9 Btu/h · ft2 · ◦ R4
Acknowledgements

Item Special Credit Line

Figure 3.1 Reprinted, with permission, from Extended Surface Heat Transfer by D. Q. Kern and
A. D. Kraus. Copyright © 1972 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Table 3.1 Reprinted, with permission, from Perry’s Chemical Engineers’ Handbook, 7th edn.,
R. H. Perry and D. W. Green, eds. Copyright © 1997 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Figure 3.6 Reprinted, with permission, from Extended Surface Heat Transfer by D. Q. Kern and
A. D. Kraus. Copyright © 1972 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Figure 3.7 Reprinted, with permission, from Extended Surface Heat Transfer by D. Q. Kern and
A. D. Kraus. Copyright © 1972 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Table 3.2 Reproduced, with permission, from J. W. Palen and J. Taborek, Solution of shell side flow
pressure drop and heat transfer by stream analysis method, Chem. Eng. Prog. Symposium
Series, 65, No. 92, 53–63, 1969. Copyright © 1969 by AIChE.
Table 3.5 Reprinted, with permission, from Perry’s Chemical Engineers’ Handbook, 7th edn.,
R. H. Perry and D. W. Green, eds. Copyright © 1997 by The McGraw-Hill
Companies, Inc.
Figure 4.1 Copyright © 1998 from Heat Exchangers: Selection, Rating and Thermal Design by S. Kakac
and H. Liu. Reproduced by permission of Taylor & Francis, a division of Informa plc.
Figure 4.2 Copyright © 1998 from Heat Exchangers: Selection, Rating and Thermal Design by S. Kakac
and H. Liu. Reproduced by permission of Taylor & Francis, a division of Informa plc.
Figure 4.4 Reprinted, with permission, from Extended Surface Heat Transfer by D. Q. Kern and
A. D. Kraus. Copyright © 1972 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Figure 4.5 Reprinted, with permission, from Extended Surface Heat Transfer by D. Q. Kern and
A. D. Kraus. Copyright © 1972 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Figure 5.3 Reproduced, with permission, from R. Mukherjee, Effectively design shell-and-tube heat
exchangers, Chem. Eng. Prog., 94, No. 2, 21–37, 1998. Copyright © 1998 by AIChE.
Figure 5.4 Copyright © 1988 from Heat Exchanger Design Handbook by E. U. Schlünder, Editor-in-
Chief. Reproduced by permission of Taylor & Francis, a division of Informa plc.
Figures 6.1–6.5 Copyright © 1988 from Heat Exchanger Design Handbook by E. U. Schlünder, Editor-in-
Chief. Reproduced by permission of Taylor & Francis, a division of Informa plc.
Table 6.1 Copyright © 1988 from Heat Exchanger Design Handbook by E. U. Schlünder, Editor-in-
Chief. Reproduced by permission of Taylor & Francis, a division of Informa plc.
Figure 6.10 Copyright © 1988 from Heat Exchanger Design Handbook by E. U. Schlünder, Editor-in-
Chief. Reproduced by permission of Taylor & Francis, a division of Informa plc.
Figure 7.1 Reproduced, with permission, from J. W. Palen and J. Taborek, Solution of shell side flow
pressure drop and heat transfer by stream analysis method, Chem. Eng. Prog. Symposium
Series, 65, No. 92, 53–63, 1969. Copyright © 1969 by AIChE.
Table, p. 283 Reproduced, with permission, from R. Mukherjee, Effectively design shell-and-tube heat
exchangers, Chem. Eng. Prog., 94, No. 2, 21–37, 1998. Copyright © 1998 by AIChE.
Figure 8.20 Reprinted from Computers and Chemical Engineering, Vol. 26, X. X. Zhu and X. R. Nie,
Pressure Drop Considerations for Heat Exchanger Network Grassroots Design, pp. 1661–
1676, Copyright © 2002, with permission from Elsevier.
A C K N OW L E D G E M E NT S xiii

Item Special Credit Line

Figure 9.2 Copyright © 1997 from Boiling Heat Transfer and Two-Phase Flow, 2nd edn., by
L. S. Tong and Y. S. Tang. Reproduced by permission of Taylor & Francis, a division
of Informa plc.
Figures 10.1–10.5 Copyright © 1988 from Heat Exchanger Design Handbook by E. U. Schlünder, Editor-
in-Chief. Reproduced by permission of Taylor & Francis, a division of Informa plc.
Figure 10.6 Reproduced, with permission, from A. W. Sloley, Properly design thermosyphon
reboilers, Chem. Eng. Prog., 93, No. 3, 52–64, 1997. Copyright © 1997 by AIChE.
Table 10.1 Copyright © 1988 from Heat Exchanger Design Handbook by E. U. Schlünder, Editor-
in-Chief. Reproduced by permission of Taylor & Francis, a division of Informa plc.
Appendix 10.A Reprinted, with permission, from Chemical Engineers’ Handbook, 5th edn.,
R. H. Perry and C. H. Chilton, eds. Copyright © 1973 by The McGraw-Hill
Companies, Inc.
Figure 11.1 Copyright © 1988 from Heat Exchanger Design Handbook by E. U. Schlünder, Editor-
in-Chief. Reproduced by permission of Taylor & Francis, a division of Informa plc.
Figure 11.3 Copyright © 1998 from Heat Exchangers: Selection, Rating and Thermal Design by
S. Kakac and H. Liu. Reproduced by permission of Taylor & Francis, a division of
Informa plc.
Figure 11.6 Copyright © 1988 from Heat Exchanger Design Handbook by E. U. Schlünder, Editor-
in-Chief. Reproduced by permission of Taylor & Francis, a division of Informa plc.
Figure 11.7 Copyright © 1988 from Heat Exchanger Design Handbook by E. U. Schlünder, Editor-
in-Chief. Reproduced by permission of Taylor & Francis, a division of Informa plc.
Figure 11.8 Reprinted, with permission, from Distillation Operation by H. Z. Kister. Copyright ©
1990 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Figure 11.11 Reprinted, with permission, from G. Breber, J. W. Palen and J. Taborek, Prediction
of tubeside condensation of pure components using flow regime criteria, J. Heat
Transfer, 102, 471–476, 1980. Originally published by ASME.
Figure 11.12 Copyright © 1998 from Heat Exchangers: Selection, Rating and Thermal Design by
S. Kakac and H. Liu. Reproduced by permission of Taylor & Francis, a division of
Informa plc.
Figures 11.A1–11.A3 Copyright © 1988 from Heat Exchanger Design Handbook by E. U. Schlünder, Editor-
in-Chief. Reproduced by permission of Taylor & Francis, a division of Informa plc.
Figure 12.5 Copyright © 1991 from Heat Transfer Design Methods by J. J. McKetta, Editor.
Reproduced by permission of Taylor & Francis, a division of Informa plc.
Figures 12.A1–12.A5 Copyright © 1988 from Heat Exchanger Design Handbook by E. U. Schlünder, Editor-
in-Chief. Reproduced by permission of Taylor & Francis, a division of Informa plc.
Table A.1 Copyright © 1972 from Handbook of Thermodynamic Tables and Charts by
K. Raznjevič. Reproduced by permission of Taylor & Francis, a division of
Informa plc.
Table A.3 Reprinted, with permission, from Heat Transfer, 7th edn., by J. P. Holman. Copyright
© 1990 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Table A.4 Copyright © 1972 from Handbook of Thermodynamic Tables and Charts by
K. Raznjevič. Reproduced by permission of Taylor & Francis, a division of
Informa plc.
Table A.7 Copyright © 1972 from Handbook of Thermodynamic Tables and Charts by
K. Raznjevič. Reproduced by permission of Taylor & Francis, a division of
Informa plc.
xiv A C K N OW L E D G E M E NT S

Item Special Credit Line

Table A.8 Reprinted, with permission, from ASME Steam Tables, American Society of Mechanical
Engineers, New York, 1967. Originally published by ASME.
Table A.9 Reprinted, with permission, from Flow of Fluids Through Valves, Fittings and Pipe, Technical
Paper 410, 1988, Crane Company. All rights reserved.
Table A.11 Copyright © 1975 from Tables of Thermophysical Properties of Liquids and Gases, 2nd edn., by
N. B. Vargaftik. Reproduced by permission of Taylor & Francis, a division of Informa plc.
Table A.13 Copyright © 1972 from Handbook of Thermodynamic Tables and Charts by K. Raznjevič.
Reproduced by permission of Taylor & Francis, a division of Informa plc.
Table A.15 Reprinted, with permission, from Chemical Engineers’ Handbook, 5th edn., R. H. Perry and
C. H. Chilton, eds. Copyright © 1973 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Table A.17 Reprinted, with permission, from Chemical Engineers’ Handbook, 5th edn., R. H. Perry and
C. H. Chilton, eds. Copyright © 1973 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Figure A.1 Reprinted, with permission, from Chemical Engineers’ Handbook, 5th edn., R. H. Perry and
C. H. Chilton, eds. Copyright © 1973 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Table A.18 Reprinted, with permission, from Chemical Engineers’ Handbook, 5th edn., R. H. Perry and
C. H. Chilton, eds. Copyright © 1973 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Figure A.2 Reprinted, with permission, from Chemical Engineers’ Handbook, 5th edn., R. H. Perry and
C. H. Chilton, eds. Copyright © 1973 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
1 HEAT
CONDUCTION

Contents
1.1 Introduction 2
1.2 Fourier’s Law of Heat Conduction 2
1.3 The Heat Conduction Equation 6
1.4 Thermal Resistance 15
1.5 The Conduction Shape Factor 19
1.6 Unsteady-State Conduction 24
1.7 Mechanisms of Heat Conduction 31
1/2 H E AT C O N D U CT I O N

1.1 Introduction
Heat conduction is one of the three basic modes of thermal energy transport (convection and
radiation being the other two) and is involved in virtually all process heat-transfer operations. In
commercial heat exchange equipment, for example, heat is conducted through a solid wall (often
a tube wall) that separates two fluids having different temperatures. Furthermore, the concept of
thermal resistance, which follows from the fundamental equations of heat conduction, is widely used
in the analysis of problems arising in the design and operation of industrial equipment. In addition,
many routine process engineering problems can be solved with acceptable accuracy using simple
solutions of the heat conduction equation for rectangular, cylindrical, and spherical geometries.
This chapter provides an introduction to the macroscopic theory of heat conduction and its engi-
neering applications. The key concept of thermal resistance, used throughout the text, is developed
here, and its utility in analyzing and solving problems of practical interest is illustrated.

1.2 Fourier’s Law of Heat Conduction


The mathematical theory of heat conduction was developed early in the nineteenth century by
Joseph Fourier [1]. The theory was based on the results of experiments similar to that illustrated
in Figure 1.1 in which one side of a rectangular solid is held at temperature T1 , while the opposite
side is held at a lower temperature, T2 . The other four sides are insulated so that heat can flow
only in the x-direction. For a given material, it is found that the rate, qx , at which heat (thermal
energy) is transferred from the hot side to the cold side is proportional to the cross-sectional area,
A, across which the heat flows; the temperature difference, T1 − T2 ; and inversely proportional to
the thickness, B, of the material. That is:

A(T1 − T2 )
qx ∝
B

Writing this relationship as an equality, we have:

k A(T1 − T2 )
qx = (1.1)
B

Insulated

T1 T2

qx qx

Insulated
B

x
Insulated

Figure 1.1 One-dimensional heat conduction in a solid.


H E AT C O N D U CT I O N 1/3

The constant of proportionality, k, is called the thermal conductivity. Equation (1.1) is also applicable
to heat conduction in liquids and gases. However, when temperature differences exist in fluids, con-
vection currents tend to be set up, so that heat is generally not transferred solely by the mechanism
of conduction.
The thermal conductivity is a property of the material and, as such, it is not really a constant, but
rather it depends on the thermodynamic state of the material, i.e., on the temperature and pressure
of the material. However, for solids, liquids, and low-pressure gases, the pressure dependence is
usually negligible. The temperature dependence also tends to be fairly weak, so that it is often
acceptable to treat k as a constant, particularly if the temperature difference is moderate. When the
temperature dependence must be taken into account, a linear function is often adequate, particularly
for solids. In this case,

k = a + bT (1.2)

where a and b are constants.


Thermal conductivities of a number of materials are given in Appendices 1.A–1.E. Many other
values may be found in various handbooks and compendiums of physical property data. Process
simulation software is also an excellent source of physical property data. Methods for estimating
thermal conductivities of fluids when data are unavailable can be found in the authoritative book
by Poling et al. [2].
The form of Fourier’s law given by Equation (1.1) is valid only when the thermal conductivity
can be assumed constant. A more general result can be obtained by writing the equation for an
element of differential thickness. Thus, let the thickness be x and let T = T2 − T1 . Substituting
in Equation (1.1) gives:

T
qx = −k A (1.3)
x
Now in the limit as x approaches zero,

T dT

x dx

and Equation (1.3) becomes:

dT
qx = −k A (1.4)
dx
Equation (1.4) is not subject to the restriction of constant k. Furthermore, when k is constant, it can
be integrated to yield Equation (1.1). Hence, Equation (1.4) is the general one-dimensional form of
Fourier’s law. The negative sign is necessary because heat flows in the positive x-direction when
the temperature decreases in the x-direction. Thus, according to the standard sign convention that
qx is positive when the heat flow is in the positive x-direction, qx must be positive when dT /dx is
negative.
It is often convenient to divide Equation (1.4) by the area to give:

dT
q̂x ≡ qx /A = −k (1.5)
dx

where q̂x is the heat flux. It has units of J/s · m2 = W/m2 or Btu/h · ft2 . Thus, the units of k are
W/m · K or Btu/h · ft · ◦ F.
Equations (1.1), (1.4), and (1.5) are restricted to the situation in which heat flows in the x-direction
only. In the general case in which heat flows in all three coordinate directions, the total heat flux is
1/4 H E AT C O N D U CT I O N

obtained by adding vectorially the fluxes in the coordinate directions. Thus,


→ → → →
q̂ = q̂x i + q̂y j + q̂z k (1.6)
→ → → →
where q̂ is the heat flux vector and i , j , k are unit vectors in the x-, y-, z-directions, respectively.
Each of the component fluxes is given by a one-dimensional Fourier expression as follows:
∂T ∂T ∂T
q̂x = −k q̂y = −k q̂z = −k (1.7)
∂x ∂y ∂z
Partial derivatives are used here since the temperature now varies in all three directions. Substituting
the above expressions for the fluxes into Equation (1.6) gives:
→ ∂T → ∂T → ∂T →
 
q̂ = −k i + j + k (1.8)
∂x ∂y ∂z

The vector in parenthesis is the temperature gradient vector, and is denoted by ∇ T . Hence,
→ →
q̂ = −k∇ T (1.9)

Equation (1.9) is the three-dimensional form of Fourier’s law. It is valid for homogeneous, isotropic
materials for which the thermal conductivity is the same in all directions.
Equation (1.9) states that the heat flux vector is proportional to the negative of the temperature
gradient vector. Since the gradient direction is the direction of greatest temperature increase, the
negative gradient direction is the direction of greatest temperature decrease. Hence, Fourier’s law
states that heat flows in the direction of greatest temperature decrease.

Example 1.1
The block of 304 stainless steel shown below is well insulated on the front and back surfaces, and
the temperature in the block varies linearly in both the x- and y-directions, find:

(a) The heat fluxes and heat flows in the x- and y-directions.
(b) The magnitude and direction of the heat flux vector.

5 cm

15°C 10°C
5 cm

10 cm

5°C 0°C

x
H E AT C O N D U CT I O N 1/5

Solution
(a) From Table A.1, the thermal conductivity of 304 stainless steel is 14.4 W/m · K. The cross-
sectional areas are:

Ax = 10 × 5 = 50 cm2 = 0.0050 m2

Ay = 5 × 5 = 25 cm2 = 0.0025 m2

Using Equation (1.7) and replacing the partial derivatives with finite differences (since the
temperature variation is linear), the heat fluxes are:

 
∂T T −5
q̂x = −k = −k = −14.4 = 1440 W/m2
∂x x 0.05

10
 
∂T T
q̂y = −k = −k = −14.4 = −1440 W/m2
∂y y 0.1

The heat flows are obtained by multiplying the fluxes by the corresponding cross-sectional
areas:

qx = q̂x Ax = 1440 × 0.005 = 7.2 W

qy = q̂y Ay = −1440 × 0.0025 = −3.6 W

(b) From Equation (1.6):

→ → →
q̂ = q̂x i + q̂y j

→ → →
q̂ = 1440 i − 1440 j
→
 q̂  = [(1440)2 + (−1440)2 ]0.5 = 2036.5 W/m2
 
 

The angle, θ, between the heat flux vector and the x-axis is calculated as follows:

tan θ = q̂y /q̂x = −1440/1440 = −1.0

θ = −45◦

The direction of the heat flux vector, which is the direction in which heat flows, is indicated in
the sketch below.
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death already some weeks old no longer wears the same face as
that which is made known on the very day when it occurs; and, if a
few months have covered it, it is no longer a death, it has become a
memory. The days that divide us from it have almost the same value
whether they pass before we hear of it or afterwards. They remove
beforehand from the eyes and heart the blinding horror of the loss;
they step forward and draw it out of the clutch of madness into a
past like that which softens regret. They weave a sort of
retrospective memory which stretches into the past and grants
straightway all that true memory would have given little by little,
hour by hour, during the long months that part the first despair from
the sorrow which grows wise and reconciled and ready to hope
anew.
THE SOUL OF NATIONS
IV
THE SOUL OF NATIONS

1
IN the admirable and touching pages in which Octave Mirbeau
bequeaths his last thoughts to us, the great friend whose loss is
mourned by all who in this world hunger and thirst after justice
expresses his surprise at finding how in the supreme moments of its
life the collective soul of the French nation differs from the soul of
each of the individuals of which it is composed.
He had devoted the best part of his work to examining, dissecting,
presenting in a blinding and sometimes unbearable light and
stigmatizing with unequalled eloquence and bitterness the
weaknesses and selfishness, the folly and meannesses, the vanity
and sordid money-sense, the lack of conscience, honesty, charity,
dignity, the shameful stains on the life of his fellow-countrymen. And
behold, in the hour of insistent duty, there arises suddenly, as in a
fairy scene, out of the quagmire which he had so long stirred with
rough and generous disgust, the purest, noblest, most patient,
fraternal and whole-hearted spirit of heroism and sacrifice that the
world has ever known, not only in the most glorious days of its
history, but even in the time of its most romantic legends, which
were but glorious dreams which it never hoped to realize.
I could say as much of another nation, which I know well, since it
lives in the land where I was born. The Belgians, in the guise in
which we saw them daily, appeared to give us no promise of a noble
soul. They seemed to us narrow and limited, a little commonplace,
honest in a mean, inglorious way, without ideals or generous
aspirations, wholly absorbed by their petty material welfare, their
petty local wrangles. Yet, when the same hour of duty sounded for
them, more menacing and formidable than those of the other
nations, because it preceded all of them in a terrible mystery; while
there was everything to gain and nothing to lose, save honour, if
they proved faithless to a plighted word; at the first call of their
conscience aroused as by a thunderbolt, without hesitating or
glancing at what they had to meet or undergo, with an unanimous
and irresistible impulse, they astonished mankind by a decision such
as no other people had ever taken and saved the world, well
knowing that themselves could not be saved. And this assuredly is
the noblest sacrifice that the heroes and martyrs who have hitherto
appeared to be the professed exponents of sublime courage are able
to achieve upon this earth of ours.
On the other hand, to those of us who had had occasion to mix with
Germans, who had lived in Germany and believed that they knew
German manners and letters, it seemed beyond doubt that the
Bavarians, Saxons, Hanoverians and Rhinelanders, notwithstanding
some defects of education rather than character which grated upon
us a little, also possessed certain qualities, notably a genial kindness,
a gravity, a laboriousness, a steadiness, an uncomplaining temper, a
simplicity in their domestic life, a sense of duty and a habit of taking
life conscientiously, which we had never known or had succeeded in
losing. So, despite the warnings of history, we were struck dumb
with amazement and at first refused to believe the early tales of
atrocities which were not incidental, as in every war, but deliberate,
premeditated, systematic and perpetrated with a light heart by an
entire people setting itself of sober purpose and with a sort of
perverse pride outside the pale of humanity, transforming itself of a
sudden into a pack of devils more formidable and destructive than
all those which Hell had hitherto belched forth into our world.

2
We knew already and Dr. Gustave Le Bon had demonstrated to us in
a curious way that the soul of a crowd does not resemble the soul of
any of its component members. According to the leaders and the
circumstances that control it, the collective soul is sometimes loftier,
juster, more generous and most often more impulsive, more
credulous, more cruel, more barbarous and blind. But a crowd has
only a provisional, momentary soul, which does not survive the
short-lived and nearly always violent event that calls it into being;
and its contingent and transitory psychology is hardly able to tell us
how the profound, lasting and, so to speak, immortal soul of a
nation takes shape.

3
It is quite natural that a nation should not know itself at all and that
its acts should plunge it into a state of bewilderment from which it
does not recover until history has explained them to a greater or
lesser degree. None of the men who make up a nation knows
himself; still less does any of them know his fellows. Not one of us
really knows who or what he is; not one of us can say what he will
do in unexpected circumstances which are a trifle more serious than
those which form the customary tissue of life. We spend our
existence in questioning and exploring ourselves; our acts are as
much a revelation to ourselves as to others; and, the nearer we
draw to our end, the farther stretches the vista of that which still
remains for us to discover. We own but the smallest part of
ourselves; the rest, which is almost the whole, does not belong to us
at all, but merges in the past and the future and in other mysteries
more unknown than the future or the past.
What is true of each one of us is very much more true of a great
nation composed of millions of men. That represents a future and a
past stretching incomparably farther than those of a single human
life. We admit and constantly repeat that a nation is guided by its
dead. It is certain that the dead continue to live in it a far more
active life than is generally believed and that they control it unknown
to itself, even as, at the other end of the ages, the men of the
future, that is to say, all those who are not yet born, all those whom
it carries within itself as it does its dead, play no less important a
part in a nation’s decisions. But in its very present, at the moment
when it is living and putting forth its activity on this earth, in addition
to the power of those who no longer are and those who are not yet,
there is outside the nation, outside the aggregate of bodies and
brains that make it up, a host of forces and faculties which have not
found or have not wished to take their place, or which do not abide
in the nation consistently, and which nevertheless belong to it as
essentially and direct it as effectively as those which are comprised
within it. What our body contains when we believe ourselves
circumscribed is little in comparison with what it does not contain;
and it is in what the body does not contain that the highest and
most powerful part of our being seems to dwell. We must not forget
that it grows stronger each day that we neither die nor come into
being, in a word, that we are not wholly incarnate, and that, on the
other hand, our flesh comprises much more than ourselves. It is this
that constitutes all the floating forces which make up the real soul of
a people, forces very much deeper and more numerous than those
which seem fixed in the body and the spirit. They do not show
themselves in the petty incidents of daily life, which concern only the
mean and narrow covering in which a nation goes sheltered; but
they unite, join forces and reveal their passionate ardour at the
grave and tragic hours when everlasting destiny is at stake. They
then lay down decisions which history inscribes on her records,
decisions whose grandeur, generosity and heroism astonish even
those who have taken them more or less unknown to themselves
and often in spite of themselves, decisions which are manifested in
their own eyes as an unexpected, magnificent and incomprehensible
revelation of themselves.
THE MOTHERS
V
THE MOTHERS

1
IT was they who bore the main burden of suffering in this war.
In our streets and open spaces and all along the roads, in our
churches, in our towns and villages, in every house, we come into
contact with mothers who have lost their son or are living in an
anguish more cruel than the certainty of death.
Let us try to understand their loss. They know what it means, but
they do not tell the men.
Their son is taken from them at the fairest moment of his life, when
their own is in its decline. When a child dies in infancy, it is as
though his soul had hardly gone, as though it were lingering near
the mother who brought it into the world, awaiting the time when it
may return in a new form. The death which visits the cradle is not
the same as that which spreads terror over the earth; but a son who
dies at the age of twenty does not come back again and leaves not a
gleam of hope behind him. He carries away with him all the future
that his mother had remaining to her, all that she gave to him and all
his promise: the pangs, anguish and smiles of birth and childhood,
the joys of youth, the reward and the harvest of maturity, the
comfort and the peace of old age.
He carries away with him something much more than himself: it is
not his life only that comes to an end, it is numberless days that
finish suddenly, a whole generation that becomes extinct, a long
series of faces, of little fondling hands, of play and laughter, all of
which fall at one blow on the battle-field, bidding farewell to the
sunshine and reentering the earth which they will not have known.
All this the eyes of our mothers perceive without understanding; and
this is why, at certain times, the weight and sadness of their glance
are more than any of us can bear.

2
And yet they do not weep as the mothers wept in former wars. All
their sons disappear one by one; and we do not hear them complain
or moan as in days gone by, when great sufferings, great massacres
and great catastrophes were surrounded by the clamours and
lamentations of the mothers.
They do not gather in the public places, they do not utter
recriminations, they rail at no one, they do not rebel. They swallow
their sobs and stifle their tears, as though obeying a command
which they have passed from one to the other, unknown to the men.
We do not know what it is that sustains them and gives them the
strength to endure the remnant of their lives. Some of them have
other children; and we can understand that they transfer to these
the love and the future which death has shattered. Many of them
have never lost or are striving to recover their faith in the eternal
promises; and here again we can understand that they do not
despair, for the mothers of the martyrs did not despair either. But
thousands of others, whose home is for ever deserted and whose
sky is peopled by none but pale phantoms, retain the same hope as
those who keep on hoping. What gives them this courage which
astonishes whenever we behold it?
When the best, the most compassionate, the wisest among us meet
one of these mothers who has just stealthily wiped her eyes, so that
the sight of her unhappiness may not offend others who are happier,
when we seek for words which, uttered amid the glaring directness
of the most awful sorrow that can strike a human heart, shall not
sound like odious or ridiculous lies, we can hardly find anything to
say to her. We speak to her of the justice and the beauty of the
cause for which her hero fell, of the immense and necessary
sacrifice, of the remembrance and gratitude of mankind, of the
irreality of life, which is measured not by the length of days but by
the lofty height of duty and glory. We add perhaps that the dead do
not die, that there are no dead, that those who are no more live
nearer to our souls than when they were in the flesh and that all
that we loved in them lingers in our hearts so long as it is visited by
our memory and revived by our love.
But, even while we speak, we feel the emptiness of what we say. We
are conscious that all this is true only for those whom death has not
hurled into the abyss where words are nothing more than childish
babble; that the most ardent memory cannot take the place of a
dear reality which we touch with our hands or lips; and that the
most exalted thought is as nothing compared with the daily going
out and coming in, the familiar presence at meals, the morning and
evening kiss, the fond embrace at the departure and the intoxicating
delight at the return. The mothers know and feel this better than we
do; and that is why they do not answer our attempts at consolation
and why they listen to them in silence, finding within themselves
other reasons for living and hoping than those which we, vainly
searching the whole horizon of human certainty and thought, try to
bring them from the outside. They resume the burden of their days
without telling us whence they derive their strength or teaching us
the secret of their self-sacrifice, their resignation and their heroism.
THREE UNKNOWN HEROES
VI
THREE UNKNOWN HEROES

1
THE Belgian government published last year a Reply to the German
White Book of 10 May 1915.
This reply gives peremptory and categorical denials to all the
allegations in the White Book on the subject of francs-tireurs, of
attacks by civilians and of the Belgian women’s cruelty to the
German prisoners and wounded. It contains a body of authentic and
overwhelming evidence upon the massacres at Andenne, Dinant,
Louvain and Aerschot which enables history here and now to
pronounce its verdict with even greater certainty than the most
scrupulous jury of a criminal court.
Among the most frightful incidents reported in these accounts by
eye-witnesses, I would linger to-day upon only two of those which
marked the sack of Aerschot; not that they are more odious or cruel
than the others—on the contrary, beside the unprovoked murders
and wholesale executions at Andenne, Dinant and Louvain, which
are of unsurpassable horror, they seem almost kindly—but I select
them for the very reason that they display more clearly than in its
most violent excesses what we may call the normal mentality of the
German army and the abominable things which it did when it
believed itself to be acting with justice, moderation and humanity. I
select them above all because they show us the admirable and
touching state of mind, as displayed amidst a terrible ordeal, of a
little Belgian city, the most innocent of all the victims of this war, and
offer for our contemplation instances of simple and heroic self-
sacrifice which have escaped notice and which it is well to bring to
light, for they are as beautiful as the most splendid examples in the
fairest pages of Plutarch.

2
Aerschot is a humble and happy little town in Flemish Brabant, one
of those modest unknown clusters of habitations which, like Dinant,
for ever to be regretted and buried in the past, nobody used to visit,
because they contained no buildings of note, but which retained and
represented all the more, in the depths of their silence and their
placid isolation, Flemish life in its most special, intimate, intense,
traditional, suave and peaceable aspect. In these half-rustic little
cities we find hardly any industries, at most a malt-kiln or two, a
corn-mill, an oil-works, a chicory-factory. Their life is almost
agricultural; and the well-to-do inhabitants live on the produce or
the rents of their fields, their meadows and their woods. The houses
in the church-square are substantial-looking, more or less cubical in
shape and painted virgin white; their carriage-gates are adorned
with glittering brasses. All through the week the square is almost
deserted and wakens into life only on market-days and on Sunday
mornings, at the hour of high mass. In a word, it is a picture of
tranquillity, of placid waiting for meals and repose, of drowsy, easy
existence and perhaps of happiness, if happiness consists in being
happy in a half-slumber free of remote ambitions, exaggerated
passions or over-eager dreams.
It was here, in this peaceful sojourn of immemorial restfulness,
which not even the war had hitherto disturbed below the surface,
that, on the 19th of August, 1914, at nine o’clock in the morning,
after the retreat of the last Belgian soldiers, the square was
suddenly invaded by a dense and endless stream of German troops.
The burgomaster’s son, a lad of fifteen, hurried to close the Venetian
shutters of his father’s house and was wounded in the leg by one of
the bullets which the victors fired at random through the windows.
At ten o’clock, the German officer in command sent for the
burgomaster, M. Tielemans, to appear at the Town-hall. He was
received with insults, hustled and abused for a Schweinhund, or pig-
dog, a species of animal which appears to be indigenous to
Germany.
Next, Colonel Stenger, commanding the 8th infantry brigade, and his
two aides-de-camp took up their quarters in the burgomaster’s
house in the church-square and, I may add in passing, forthwith
broke open all the drawers in their rooms, after which they went to
the balcony and watched the march-past of their troops.
At four o’clock in the afternoon, obsessed by the delusion of francs-
tireurs, some soldiers, seized with panic, began to fire shots in the
streets. The colonel, standing on the balcony, was hit by a German
bullet and fell. One of the aides-de-camp rushed downstairs
shouting:
“The colonel is dead! I want the burgomaster!”
M. Tielemans felt that his time was come:
“This is a serious matter for me,” he said to his wife.
She squeezed his hand and urged him to keep courage. The
burgomaster was arrested and ill-treated by the soldiers. In vain his
wife remarked to the captain that her husband and son could not
have fired, since they possessed no weapons.
“That makes no difference,” replied the bully in uniform; “he’s
responsible. Also,” he added, “I want your son.”
This son was the boy of fifteen who had been wounded in the leg.
As he had a difficulty in walking, because of his wound, he was
brutally jostled before his mother’s eyes and escorted with kicks to
the Town-hall, there to join his father.
Meanwhile this same captain, persisting in his contention that his
men had been fired upon, compelled Madame Tielemans to go
through the house with him, from cellar to attic. He was obliged to
observe that all the rooms were empty and all the windows closed.
Throughout this inspection, he threatened the poor woman with his
revolver. Her daughter placed herself between her mother and their
sinister visitor, who did not understand. When they returned to the
hall downstairs, the mother asked him:
“What is to become of us?”
Coldly, he replied:
“You will be shot; so will your daughter and your servants.”
The pillage and the methodical setting on fire of the town now
began. All the houses on the right-hand side of the square were in
flames. From time to time, the soldiers apostrophized the women,
shouting:
“You’re going to be shot, you’re going to be shot!”

“At that moment,” says Madame Tielemans, in her sworn deposition,


“the soldiers were leaving our house, their arms filled with bottles of
wine. They opened the windows and removed all the contents of our
rooms. I turned away so as not to behold the pillage. By the lurid
light of the burning houses, my eyes fell upon my husband, my son
and my brother-in-law, accompanied by some other gentlemen who
were being led to execution. Never shall I forget the sight nor the
look on the face of my husband seeking his house for the last time
and asking himself what had befallen his wife and daughter, while I,
lest I should sap his courage, could not call out, ‘I am here!’”

The hours passed. The women were driven out of the town and led
like a herd of cattle, along a road strewn with corpses, to a distant
meadow, where they were penned until morning. The men were
arrested and their hands tied behind their backs with copper wire so
cruelly tightened as to draw blood. They were gathered into groups
and made to lie down so that their heads touched the ground and
they were unable to make any movement. The night was spent in
this way, with the town burning and the pillage and orgy continuing.
Between five and six in the morning, the military authorities decided
that the executions should begin and that one of the largest groups
of prisoners, composed of about a hundred civilians, should be
present at the death of the burgomaster, his son and his brother. An
officer informed the burgomaster that his hour had come. On
hearing these words, a citizen of Aerschot, Claes van Nuffel by
name, went up to the officer, begged him to spare the chief
magistrate’s life and offered to die in his stead. He added that he
was the burgomaster’s political adversary, but that he considered
that, at this moment, M. Tielemans was essential to the town.
“No,” replied the officer, harshly, “we must have the burgomaster.”
M. Tielemans stood up, thanked M. van Nuffel and said that he
would die with an easy mind, as he had spent his existence doing all
the good in his power, and that he would not beg for mercy. He
entreated, however, that the lives of his fellow-citizens and of his
son, a boy of fifteen and his mother’s last consolation, might be
spared. The officer grinned and made no reply. The burgomaster’s
brother next asked for mercy, not for himself but for his brother and
his nephew. His request fell on deaf ears. The lad then got up and
took his place between his father and his uncle. Six soldiers took aim
at ten yards’ distance; the officer lowered his sword; and, as the
widow of the heroic burgomaster says, “the best man in this world
had ceased to exist.”

3
I will now quote from the evidence of M. Gustave Nys, an eye-
witness of the horrible drama which nearly numbered him among its
victims:
“The other civilians were thereupon placed in rows of
three. The third in each row was to leave it and fall out
behind the dead bodies, in order to be shot. All the
civilians had their hands tied behind their backs. My
brother and I stood next to each other: I was number
two; my brother Omer, twenty years of age, was
number three. I asked the officer, ‘May I change places
with my brother? It makes no difference to you who
falls under your bullets; but it does to my mother, who
is a widow, for my brother has finished his studies and
is more useful to her than I am.’ Once again he
refused to listen to my prayer. ‘Fall out, number three!’
My brother and I embraced; and he joined the others.
There were thirty of them, drawn up in line. Then a
horrible scene took place: the German soldiers,
walking slowly along the row, killed three at each
discharge of their rifles, waiting between the volleys
for the officer’s word of command.”

4
Incidents such as these would pass unperceived if one did not take
the trouble to seek them out and to collect them piously amid the
huge mass of tragedies which for more than four years upset and
ravaged the unhappy country tortured by its invaders. Had they
occurred in the history of Greece or Rome, they would have found a
place among the great deeds that honour our earth and deserve to
live for ever in the memory of man. It is our duty to make them
known for a moment and to engrave in our recollection the names of
those who were their heroes. Thus set down, simply and plainly, as
befits historic truth, in depositions sworn under oath before a
nameless registrar who has stripped them of any literary or
sentimental embellishment, they give at first but a very faint idea of
the intensity of the tragedy and the value of the sacrifice. There is
here no question of a glorious death faced amid the excitement of
the fighting, on a vast field of battle. Nor are we considering an
indefinite or overhanging menace, or an uncertain, remote and
perhaps avoidable danger. We have to do with an obscure, solitary,
horrible and imminent death in a ditch; and the six rifle-barrels are
there, aimed almost point-blank, ready, upon a sign of the officer
who accepts your offer, to change you, in a second, into a heap of
bleeding flesh and to send you to the unknown, terrible region which
man dreads all the more when he is still full of strength and life.
There is not a moment’s interval nor a gleam of hope between
question and answer, between existence with all its joys and death
with all its horrors. There is no encouragement, no word or gesture
of stimulation or support, no reward; in an instant, all is given in
exchange for nothing; it is sheer self-sacrifice standing naked and so
pure that we are surprised that not even Germans were conquered
by its beauty.
There was but one manner in which they could have extricated
themselves without dishonour and that was to pardon the two
victims; or else, supposing the thing which was not, which never is
the case, that a death was absolutely necessary, there was a second
solution, which was to accept the offer and to kill the martyr whom
they ought to have worshipped on their knees. In this way they
would only have acted as the worst of savages. But they discovered
a third, which doubtless, before them, the Carthaginians alone would
have invented and adopted. For that matter, they exceeded the
fiercest savagery and equalled the abominable Punic morality in
another case which brings to mind that of Regulus and which will be
the third instance of heroism that I intend to recall.

5
A few days after the events which I have narrated, on the 23rd of
August, 1914, Dinant became the scene of wholesale massacres
which involved exactly six hundred and six victims, including eleven
children under five years old, twenty-eight of ages between ten and
fifteen and seventy-one women.
Nothing can give an idea of the horror and infamy of these
massacres, which form one of the most disgraceful and terrible
pages in the long and monstrous history of Teuton shame. But it is
not my purpose to speak of this for the moment. There would be too
much to tell. I wish to-day only to separate from the mass an
episode in which the hero of Dinant-la-Wallone is worthy of a place
beside his two brethren of Aerschot in Flanders.
Just outside Dinant, near the famous Roche à Bayard, the legendary
glory of the fair and smiling little township, the Germans occupied
the right bank of the Meuse and were beginning to build a bridge of
boats. The French, hidden in the bushes and the windings of the left
bank, were firing on the engineers. Their fire was not very well-
sustained; and the Germans, without the least justification, drew the
conclusion that it was due to francs-tireurs, who, for that matter,
throughout this Belgian campaign, never existed except in their
imagination. At that moment, eighty hostages, taken from among
the inhabitants of Dinant, were collected and kept in sight at the foot
of the rock. The German officer sent one of them, M. Bourdon, a
clerk attached to the law-courts, to the left bank, to inform the
enemy that, if the firing continued, all the hostages would be
instantly shot. M. Bourdon crossed the Meuse, fulfilled his mission
and pluckily returned to reconstitute himself a prisoner. He assured
the officer that he had convinced himself that there were no francs-
tireurs and that only French soldiers of the regular army were taking
part in the defence of the other bank. A few more bullets fell; and
the officer caused the eighty hostages to be shot, beginning, that he
might be punished as he deserved for his heroic faithfulness to his
pledged word, with the poor clerk, his wife, his daughter and his two
sons, one of whom was a mere child of fifteen.
WASTED BEAUTIES
VII
WASTED BEAUTIES

1
UNDER the grey skies and the disheartening rains of this autumnal
July, I think of the light which I have left behind me. I have left it
down there, on the now empty shores of the Mediterranean, and I
ask myself in vain why I parted from it. Yet I was one of the last to
tear myself away. All the others leave in the early days of April,
recalled by legendary memories of the deceitful spring-tides of the
north, nor do they realize that they are losing a great happiness.
It is good, it is wise to escape, amid the blue of sea and sky, the icy
months of our winters, dismal as punishment; but, although in the
south these months are warmer and above all more luminous than
ours, they do not quite make up to us for the darkness and the frost
of our native climes. The brightest and warmest hours, in spite of all,
retain an after-taste of cloud and snow; they are beautiful, but
timid; swiftly and fearfully they hasten towards the night. Now man,
who is born of the sun, like all things, has need of his hereditary
portion of primitive heat and all-pervading light. He has within him
numberless deep-seated cells which retain the memory of the
resplendent days of the prime and become unhappy when they
cannot reap their harvest of rays. Man can live in the gloom, but at
long last he loses the smile and the confidence that are so essential.
Because of our twilit summers it becomes indispensable to restore
the balance between darkness and light and sometimes to drive
away, by superb excesses of sunshine, the cold and the dark that
invade our very souls.
2
It reigns at a few hours’ distance from us, the incomparable steady
sun which we no longer see. Those who leave before mid-June do
not know what happens when they are gone. Lo and behold, the
real actors in this wonderful fairyland spring up on every side as
though they had been awaiting the departure of intruding and
mocking witnesses. During the winter, in the presence of the official
visitors, they have played but a tempered prologue, a little
colourless, a little slow, a little timid and restrained. But now of a
sudden the great lyrical acts blaze forth upon the intoxicated earth.
The heavens open their vistas to the uttermost limits of the blue, to
the supreme heights where the glory and rapture of God are
outspread; and all the flowers rend the gardens, the rocks and the
heaths, to uplift themselves and leap towards the gulf of gladness
which draws them into space. The camomiles have gone mad; for
six weeks they hold outstretched, to invisible lovers, their great
round clusters like shields of glowing snow. The scarlet, tumultuous
mantle of the Bougainvilleas blinds the houses whose dazzled
windows blink amid the flames. The yellow roses cover the hills with
a saffron-coloured cloak; the pink roses, of the lovely, innocent pink
of maiden blushes, flood the valleys, as though the divine well-
springs of the dawn, which elaborate the ideal flesh of women and
angels, had overflowed the earth. Others climb the trees, scale
pillars, columns, house-fronts, porches, leap up and fall, rise again
and multiply, jostle one another, lie one on top of the other, forming
so many bunches of effervescing delight, so many silent swarms of
impassioned petals. And the innumerable, diverse and imperious
scents that flow through this ocean of mirth, like rivers which do not
mingle, rivers whose source we recognize at every breath! Here is
the cold, green torrent of the rose-geranium, the trickle of clove-
carnations, the bright, limpid stream of lavender, the resinous eddy
of the pine-barren and the wide, still, luscious lake, of an all but
dizzy sweetness, of the orange-blossom, which drowns the country-
side in the vast, unmeasured fragrance of the azure heavens,
recognized at last.

3
I do not believe that the world contains anything more beautiful than
those gardens and valleys of the Provençal coast during the six or
seven weeks when departing spring still mingles its verdure with the
first warmth of advancing summer. But what gives this wonderful
exultation of nature a melancholy which we do not find in any other
spot is the inhuman and almost painful solitude in which it is
revealed. Here, amid this desert, this silence, this emptiness, from
the vine-arbours to the terraces and from the terraces to the
porches of a thousand abandoned villas, reigns a rivalry of beauty
which reaches a poignant agony of intensity, exhausting every
energy, form and colour. There is here a sort of magic password, as
though all the powers of grace and splendour that nature holds
concealed had united to give at the same moment, to a spectator
unknown to men, one great, decisive proof of the blessings and the
glories of the earth. There is here a sort of unparalleled expectation,
awful and unendurable, which over the hedges, the gates and the
walls watches for the coming of a mighty god; an ecstatic silence
which demands a supernatural presence; a wild, exasperated
impatience pouring from every side over the roads where nothing
now passes save the mute and diaphanous procession of the hours.

4
Alas, how many beauties are wasted in this world! Here is enough to
feed our eyes till death! Here is the wherewithal to gather memories
which would support our souls even to the tomb! Here is that which
would provide thousands of hearts with the supreme sustenance of
life!
In the main, when we come to think of it, all that is best in us, all
that is pure, happy and limpid in our intelligence and our feelings,
has its origin in a few beautiful spectacles. If we had never seen
beautiful things, we should possess only poor and ugly images
wherewith to clothe our ideas and emotions, which would perish of
cold and wretchedness like those of the blind. The great highway
which climbs from the plains of existence to the radiant heights of
human consciousness would be so gloomy, so bare and so deserted
that our thoughts would very soon lack the strength and courage to
tread it; and where our thoughts no longer pass it is not long before
the briars and the cruel horrors of the forest return. A beautiful
spectacle which we might have seen, which was ours, which seemed
to call us and from which we fled can never be replaced. Nothing
more can grow in the spot where it awaited us. It leaves in our soul
a great barren area, in which we shall find naught but thorns on the
day when we most need roses. Our thoughts and our actions derive
their energy and their shape from the things which our eyes have
beheld. Between the heroic deed, the duty accomplished, the
sacrifice generously accepted and the beautiful landscape which we
have seen in the past there is very often a closer and more vital
connection than that which our memory has retained. The more we
see of beautiful things the better fitted we become to perform good
actions. If our inner life is to thrive, we need a magnificent store of
wonderful spoils.
THE INSECT WORLD
VIII
THE INSECT WORLD

1
HENRI FABRE, as all the world now knows, is the author of half a
score of well-filled volumes in which, under the title of Souvenirs
entomologiques,[1] he set down the results of fifty years of
observation, study and experiment on the insects that seem to us
the best-known and the most familiar: different species of wasps
and wild bees, a few gnats, flies, beetles and caterpillars; in a word,
all those vague, unconscious, rudimentary and almost nameless little
lives which surround us on every side and which we contemplate
with eyes that are amused, but already thinking of other things,
when we open our window to welcome the first hours of spring, or
when we go into the gardens or the fields to bask in the blue
summer days.

2
We take up at random one of these great volumes and naturally
expect to find first of all the very learned and rather dry lists of
names, the very fastidious and exceedingly quaint specifications of
those huge, dusty graveyards of which all the entomological treatises
that we have read so far seem almost wholly to consist. We
therefore open the book without zest and without unreasonable
expectations; and forthwith, from between the open leaves, there
rises and unfolds itself, without hesitation, without interruption and
almost without remission to the end of the four thousand pages, the
most extraordinary of tragic fairy plays that it is possible for the
human imagination, not to create or to conceive, but to admit and to
acclimatize within itself.
Indeed, there is no question here of the human imagination. The
insect does not belong to our world. The other animals, the plants
even, notwithstanding their dumb life and the great secrets which
they cherish, do not seem wholly foreign to us. In spite of all, we
feel a certain earthly brotherhood in them. They often surprise and
amaze our intelligence, but do not utterly upset it. There is
something, on the other hand, about the insect that does not seem
to belong to the habits, the ethics, the psychology of our globe. One
would be inclined to say that the insect comes from another planet,
more monstrous, more energetic, more insane, more atrocious,
more infernal than our own. One would think that it was born of
some comet that had lost its course and died demented in space. In
vain does it seize upon life with an authority, a fecundity unequalled
here below: we cannot accustom ourselves to the idea that it is a
thought of that nature of whom we fondly believe ourselves to be
the privileged children and probably the ideal to which all the earth’s
efforts tend. Only the infinitely small disconcerts us still more
greatly; but what really is the infinitely small, other than an insect
which our eyes do not see? There is, no doubt, in this astonishment
and lack of understanding a certain instinctive and profound
uneasiness inspired by those existences incomparably better-armed,
better-equipped than our own, by those creature made up of a sort
of compressed energy and activity in which we suspect our most
mysterious adversaries, our ultimate rivals and, perhaps, our
successors.

3
But it is time, under the conduct of an admirable guide, to penetrate
behind the scenes of our fairy play and to study at close quarters the
actors and supernumeraries, loathsome or magnificent, as the case
may be, grotesque or sinister, heroic or appalling, gifted or stupid
and almost always improbable and unintelligible.
And here, to begin with, taking the first that comes, is one of those
individuals, frequent in the South, where we can see it prowling
around the abundant manna which the mule scatters heedlessly
along the white roads and the stony paths: I mean the Sacred
Scarab of the Egyptians, or, more simply, the Dung-beetle, the
brother of our northern Geotrupes, a big Coleopteron all clad in
black, whose mission in this world is to shape the more savoury
parts of his find into an enormous ball which he must next roll to the
underground dining-room where the incredible digestive adventure is
to take its course. But destiny, jealous of all undiluted bliss, before
admitting him to that abode of sheer delight, imposes upon the
grave and probably sententious beetle tribulations without number,
which are nearly always complicated by the arrival of an untoward
parasite.
Hardly has he begun, by dint of great efforts of his forehead and his
bandy legs, to roll the toothsome sphere backwards, when an
indelicate colleague, who has been awaiting the completion of the
work, appears and hypocritically offers his services. The other well
knows that, in this case, help and services, besides being quite
unnecessary, will soon mean partition and dispossession; and he
accepts the enforced collaboration without enthusiasm. But, so that
their respective rights may be clearly marked, the lawful owner
invariably retains his original place, that is to say, he pushes the ball
with his forehead, whereas the compulsory guest pulls it towards
him on the other side. And thus it jogs along between the two
gossips, amid interminable vicissitudes, flurried falls, ludicrous
tumbles, till it reaches the place chosen to receive the treasure and
to become the banqueting-hall. On arriving, the owner sets about
digging out the refectory, while the sponger pretends to go
innocently to sleep on the top of the bolus. The excavation becomes
visibly wider and deeper; and soon the first Dung-beetle dives bodily
into it. This is the moment for which the cunning auxiliary was
waiting. He nimbly scrambles down from the blissful eminence and,
pushing it with all the energy that a bad conscience gives, strives to
gain the offing. But the other, who is rather distrustful, interrupts his
laborious digging, looks over the edge, sees the sacrilegious rape
and leaps out of the hole. Caught in the act, the shameless and
dishonest partner makes untold efforts to play upon the other’s
credulity, turns round and round the inestimable orb and, embracing
it and propping himself against it, with mock heroic exertions,
pretends to be frantically supporting it on a non-existent slope. The
two expostulate with each other in silence, gesticulate wildly with
their mandibles and tarsi and then, with one accord, bring back the
ball to the burrow.
It is pronounced sufficiently spacious and comfortable. They
introduce the treasure, they close the entrance to the corridor; and
now in the propitious darkness and the warm damp, where the
magnificent stercoral globe alone holds sway, the two reconciled
messmates sit down face to face. Then, far from the light and the
cares of day and in the great silence of the subterranean shade,
solemnly commences the most fabulous banquet whereof abdominal
imagination ever evoked the absolute beatitudes.
For two whole months, they remain cloistered; and, with their
paunches gradually hollowing out the inexhaustible sphere, definite
archetypes and sovereign symbols of the pleasures of the table and
the delights of the belly, they eat without stopping, without
interrupting themselves for a second, day or night. And, while they
gorge, steadily, with a movement perceptible and constant as that of
a clock, at the rate of three millimetres a minute, an endless,
unbroken ribbon unwinds and stretches itself behind them, fixing the
memory and recording the hours, days and weeks of the prodigious
feast.

4
After the Dung-beetle, that dolt of the company, let us greet, also in
the order of the Coleoptera, the model household of Minotaurus
typhaeus, who is pretty well-known and extremely gentle, in spite of
his dreadful name. The female digs a huge burrow which is often
more than a yard and a half deep and which consists of spiral
staircases, landings, passages and numerous chambers. The male
loads the rubbish on the three-pronged fork that surmounts his head
and carries it to the entrance of the conjugal dwelling. Next, he goes
into the fields in quest of the harmless droppings left by the sheep,
takes them down to the first story of the crypt and reduces them to
flour with his trident, while the mother, right at the bottom, collects
the flour and kneads it into huge cylindrical loaves, which will
presently be food for the little ones. For three whole months, until
the provisions are deemed sufficient, the unfortunate husband,
without taking nourishment of any kind, exhausts himself in this
gigantic work. At last, his task accomplished, feeling his end at hand,
so as not to encumber the house with his wretched remains, he
spends his last strength in leaving the burrow, drags himself
laboriously along and, lonely and resigned, knowing that he is
henceforth good for nothing, goes and dies far away among the
stones.
Here, on another side, are some rather strange caterpillars, the
Processionaries, which are not rare; as it happens, a single string of
them, five or six yards long, has just climbed down from my
umbrella-pines and is at this moment unfolding itself in the walks of
my garden, carpeting the ground traversed with transparent silk,
according to the custom of the race. To say nothing of the
meteorological apparatus of unparalleled delicacy which they carry
on their backs, these caterpillars, as everybody knows, have this
remarkable quality, that they travel only in a troop, one after the
other, like Breughel’s blind men or those of the parable, each of
them obstinately, indissolubly following its leader; so much so that,
our author having one morning disposed the file on the edge of a
large stone vase, thus closing the circuit, for seven whole days,
during an atrocious week, amid cold, hunger and unspeakable
weariness, the unhappy troop on its tragic round, without rest,
respite or mercy, pursued the pitiless circle until death overtook it.

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