HEAT TRANSFER I

General Objectives:

At the end of the course you should be able to:

 Understand the basic heat transfer phenomena

 Understand analysis of heat conduction
 Understand the concept of heat convection
 Understand basic radioactive heat transfer

Recommended Text:

Heat and mass transfer – D.S. Kumar

Heat and Mass Transfer Fundamentals & Applications - Cengel

Fundamentals of Heat and mass transfer - Incropera

Thermal Engineering – Rajput

Engineering thermodynamics - Rajput

 HEAT TRANSFER I

Based on kinetic theory, heat is defined as the energy associated with the random motions of atoms and
molecules. Heat transfer is defined as the form of energy that is transferred between two systems by
virtue of a temperature difference. There cannot be any heat transfer between two systems that are at the
same temperature.

The purpose of heat transfer in industry can be:

i. To take substance from lower temperature to higher temperature.

ii. To prevent heat transfer as it represents loss of energy.
iii. Heat transfer can be spontaneous and can therefore affect our process through a temperature
rise or drop.

Heat Transfer to a system is positive, and heat transfer from a system is negative. It means any heat
transfer that increases the energy of a system is positive, and heat transfer that decreases the energy of a
system is negative. The SI unit of heat transfer is in Joules (J).

An adiabatic process is one in which the system is perfectly insulated and the heat transfer is zero.

In a system as shown below, the net heat transfer is the difference between heat absorbed and heat given
out.

Qnet =∑ Q¿ −∑ Qout
MODE OF HEAT TRANSFER

Heat energy always flows to the lowest temperature level. The three possible mechanism or mode by
which this can occur include: conduction, convection and radiation.
 1. Conduction: this is the method of heat transfer from one part of a body at higher temperature to
another part at lower temperature and it involves no motion of the particles of the body. It is the
transfer of energy from the more energetic particles to the adjacent less energetic particles as a
result of interactions between particles.
In solids, conduction is due to the combination of vibrations of the molecules in a lattice and the
energy transport by free electrons.
2. Convection: It is the heat transferred as a result of motion of the molecules of a fluid over a solid.
It is an energy transfer across a system boundary due to a temperature difference by the combined
mechanisms of intermolecular interactions and bulk transport. Convection needs fluid matter. It
can only occur in liquid and gases.
3. Radiation: It is the transfer of heat by electromagnetic radiation that arises due to the temperature
of the body. Radiation does not need matter. It can occur in vacuum. Anybody that is above 0°K
can radiate heat energy.

Heat Flux

It is the rate of heat transfer per unit area. S.I unit is W/m 2.

q = Q/A

Q = heat transfer rate (W or J/s) and A = area (m2)

Thermal Conductivity

The heat transfer characteristics of a solid material are measured by a property called the thermal
conductivity (k) measured in (Wm-1K-1). It is a measure of a substance’s ability to transfer heat through a
solid by conduction. Materials with high thermal conductivities are good conductors of heat, whereas
materials with low thermal conductivities are good thermal insulator.

Thermal conductivity (a property of material) depends essentially upon the following factors:

(i) Material structure (ii) Moisture content (iii) Density of the material (iv) Pressure and temperature
(operating conditions)

The thermal conductivities range for different materials are shown below. Thermal conductivity of the
liquids is more than the gasses and the metals and non-metallic crystals have the highest. These
differences can be explained partially by the fact that while in gaseous state, the molecules of a substance
are spaced relatively far away and their motion is random. This means that energy transfer by molecular
impact is much slower than in the case of a liquid, in which the motion is still random but in liquids the
molecules are more closely packed

In solid, heat conduction is due to two effects: the lattice vibrational waves (phonons) and the energy
transported via the free flow of electrons in the solid. In pure metals, the electron contribution to
conduction heat transfer dominates, while in non-conductors and semiconductors, the phonon
contribution is dominant.

Thermal conductivity of most metals decreases with the increase in temperature except aluminium and
uranium. This is because the thermal conductivity of the metal is directly proportional to the absolute
temperature and mean free path of the molecules. The mean free path decreases with the increase in
temperature so that the thermal conductivity decreases with the temperature.

It is usually possible to represent the thermal conductivity of a most solid material by a linear relation

k =k 0 ( 1+bT )

where ko is the thermal conductivity of the metal at 0oC, T is the absolute temperature, and b is a constant.
 The thermal conductivity of liquid and gases is represented from kinetic theory and it is given as

1
k = C v ρυ λmin
3
Where is density, molecular speed, is the mean free path (the average distance travelled by an energy
carrier (a molecule) before experiencing a collision. So, increasing the temperature of fluid will increase
molecular speed and rate of collision hence increase in thermal conductivity. Thermal conductivity is
independent of pressure.

Specific heat capacity

Now we know that the thermal conductivity facilitates the heat to propagate through the material due to
the temperature gradient. Similarly, specific heat capacity or specific heat is the capacity of heat stored by
a material due to variation in temperature. Thus, the specific heat capacity (unit: kJ/kgK) is defined as the
amount of thermal energy required to raise the temperature of a unit amount of material by 1 oC. Since
heat is path dependent, so is specific heat. In general, the heat transfer processes used in the chemical
process plant are at constant pressure; hence the specific heat capacity (c p) is generally used.

Thermal diffusivity

The thermal diffusivity indicates the ability of a material to transfer heat energy relative to its ability to
store it. It represents how fast heat diffuses through a material. Materials of large ∝ will respond quickly
to changes in their thermal environment, while materials of small ∝ will respond more sluggishly, taking
longer to reach a new equilibrium condition. The diffusivity plays an important role in unsteady
conduction. It is related to the thermal conductivity k by:

k
α=
ρC

Where ρ is the density (Kg/m3), C is the specific heat capacity (J/kg K). S.I unit of thermal diffusivity is
m2/s.

Thermal Resistance

Thermal resistance is a measurement of temperature difference by which a material resist heat of

flow. The reciprocal of the thermal resistance is called thermal conductance.

L
R=
KA L is thickness, A – area, K – thermal conductivity.
 THERMAL INSULATORS

Equipment or pipes at a higher temperature than the surroundings loose heat to those surroundings. The
loss takes place mainly through convection and radiation. Since air is a poor thermal conductor, the loss
of heat through conduction is very small.

Heat loss through convection can be substantial. Air movement will occur around the hot equipment. It is
therefore necessary from economic point of view to install insulation in places where heat loses can
occur. Insulation is also often installed for safety reasons. The absence of insulation is often a cause of
burn.

Properties of insulating materials

The three (3) main basic requirements for a good insulator are:

i. It must have low thermal conductivity

ii. It must prevent convection current
iii. It must have low moisture content.

For solid insulators, the conductivity decreases as the porosity becomes larger and the moisture content is
lower. This means that compressing insulating materials has negative effect on its insulation performance
since compression reduces the porosity.

Other properties of a good insulating material include:

iv. Good mechanical strength

v. Good workability to lower installation cost
vi. Insulating material must be safe at the operating temperature.
vii. Low density due to high porosity