Assiut University 3rd Year Power Section

Faculty of Engineering Second Semester 2024/2025

Mechanical Engineering
Heat Transfer
Department
Tutorial 2

1- Is heat transfer a scalar or vector quantity? Explain. Answer the same question for
temperature.
2- How does transient heat transfer differ from steady heat transfer? How does one-
dimensional heat transfer differ from two-dimensional heat transfer?
3- From a heat transfer point of view, what is the difference between isotropic and anisotropic
materials?
4- Consider a large 3-cm-thick stainless steel plate in which heat is generated uniformly at a
rate of 5 × 106 W/m3. Assuming the plate is losing heat from both sides, determine the
heat flux on the surface of the plate during steady operation.
5- Consider heat loss from a 200-L cylindrical hot water tank in a house to the surrounding
medium. Would you consider this to be a steady or transient heat transfer problem? Also,
would you consider this heat transfer problem to be one-, two-, or three-dimensional?
Explain.
6- From a heat transfer point of view, what is the difference between isotropic and anisotropic
materials?
7- What is heat generation in a solid? Give examples.
8- In a nuclear reactor, heat is generated uniformly in the 5-cm-diameter cylindrical uranium
rods at a rate of 7 × 107 W/m3. If the length of the rods is 1 m, determine the rate of heat
generation in each rod.
9- Consider a medium in which the heat conduction equation is given in its simplest form as;

(a) Is heat transfer steady or transient?

(b) Is heat transfer one-, two-, or three-dimensional?
(c) Is there heat generation in the medium?
(d) Is the thermal conductivity of the medium constant or variable?
10- Consider a medium in which the heat conduction equation is given in its simplest form as;

(a) Is heat transfer steady or transient?

(b) Is heat transfer one-, two-, or three-dimensional?
(c) Is there heat generation in the medium?

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(d) Is the thermal conductivity of the medium constant or variable?

11- Consider a medium in which the heat conduction equation is given in its simplest form as;

(a) Is heat transfer steady or transient?

(b) Is heat transfer one-, two-, or three-dimensional?
(c) Is there heat generation in the medium?
(d) Is the thermal conductivity of the medium constant or variable?

12- What is a boundary condition? How many boundary conditions do we need to specify for
a two-dimensional heat transfer problem?
13- What is an initial condition? How many initial conditions do we need to specify for a two-
dimensional transient heat transfer problem?
14- What is a thermal symmetry boundary condition? How is it expressed mathematically?
15- How is the boundary condition on an insulated surface expressed mathematically?
16- It is claimed that the temperature profile in a medium must be perpendicular to an insulated
surface. Is this a valid claim? Explain.
17- Consider a steel pan used to boil water on top of an
electric range. The bottom section of the pan is L =
0.3 cm thick and has a diameter of D = 20 cm. The
electric heating unit on the range top consumes 1250
W of power during cooking, and 85 percent of the
heat generated in the heating element is transferred
uniformly to the pan. Heat transfer from the top
surface of the bottom section to the water is by
convection with a heat transfer coefficient of h.
Assuming constant thermal conductivity and one-dimensional heat transfer, express the
mathematical formulation (the differential equation and the boundary conditions) of this
heat conduction problem during steady operation. Do not solve.
18- Consider a spherical container of inner radius r1, outer
radius r2, and thermal conductivity k. Express the boundary
condition on the inner surface of the container for steady
one dimensional conduction for the following cases: (a)
specified temperature of 50°C, (b) specified heat flux of 30
W/m2 toward the center, (c) convection to a medium at T∞
with a heat transfer coefficient of h.

19- Consider one-dimensional heat conduction through a large plane wall with no heat
generation that is perfectly insulated on one side and is subjected to convection and

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 radiation on the other side. It is claimed that under steady conditions, the temperature in a
plane wall must be uniform (the same everywhere). Do you agree with this claim? Why?
20- It is stated that the temperature in a plane wall with constant thermal conductivity and no
heat generation varies linearly during steady one-dimensional heat conduction. Will this
still be the case when the wall loses heat by radiation from its surfaces?
21- Consider a large plane wall of thickness L = 0.4 m, thermal conductivity k = 2.3 W/m ·
°C, and surface area A = 20 m2. The left side of the wall is maintained at a constant
temperature of T1 = 80°C while the right side loses heat by convection to the surrounding
air at T∞ = 15°C with a heat transfer coefficient of h = 24 W/m2 · °C. Assuming constant
thermal conductivity and no heat generation in the wall, (a) express the differential
equation and the boundary conditions for steady one-dimensional heat conduction through
the wall, (b) obtain a relation for the variation of temperature in the wall by solving the
differential equation, and (c) evaluate the rate of heat transfer through the wall.
22- Consider a solid cylindrical rod of length 0.15 m and diameter 0.05 m. The top and bottom
surfaces of the rod are maintained at constant temperatures of 20°C and 95°C,
respectively, while the side surface is perfectly insulated. Determine the rate of heat
transfer through the rod if it is made of (a) copper, k = 380 W/m · °C, (b) steel, k = 18
W/m · °C, and (c) granite, k = 1.2 W/m · °C.
23- Consider a large plane wall of thickness L = 0.3 m, thermal
conductivity k = 2.5 W/m · °C, and surface area A = 12 m2.
The left side of the wall at x = 0 is subjected to a net heat
flux of 𝑞0̇ = 700 W/m2 while the temperature at that surface
is measured to be T1 = 80°C. Assuming constant thermal
conductivity and no heat generation in the wall, (a) express
the differential equation and the boundary conditions for
steady one-dimensional heat conduction through the wall,
(b) obtain a relation for the variation of temperature in the
wall by solving the differential equation, and (c) evaluate the temperature of the right
surface of the wall at x = L.

24- In a food processing facility, a spherical container of

inner radius r1 = 40 cm, outer radius r2 = 41 cm, and
thermal conductivity k = 1.5 W/m · °C is used to store
hot water and to keep it at 100°C at all times. To
accomplish this, the outer surface of the container is
wrapped with a 500-W electric strip heater and then
insulated. The temperature of the inner surface of the
container is observed to be nearly 100°C at all times.
Assuming 10 percent of the heat generated in the
heater is lost through the insulation, (a) express the
differential equation and the boundary conditions for steady one-dimensional heat

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 conduction through the container, (b) obtain a relation for the variation of temperature in
the container material by solving the differential equation, and (c) evaluate the outer
surface temperature of the container. Also determine how much water at 100°C this tank
can supply steadily if the cold water enters at 20°C.
25- Consider a long solid cylinder of radius r0 = 4 cm and thermal conductivity k = 25 W/m ·
°C. Heat is generated in the cylinder uniformly at a rate of 𝑔̇ = 35 W/cm3. The side surface
of the cylinder is maintained at a constant temperature of T s = 80°C. The variation of
temperature in the cylinder is given by;

Based on this relation, determine (a) if the heat conduction is steady or transient, (b) if it
is one-, two-, or three-dimensional, and (c) the value of heat flux on the side surface of the
cylinder at r = r0.
26- Consider a large 5-cm-thick brass plate (k = 111 W/m · °C) in which
heat is generated uniformly at a rate of 2 × 105 W/m3. One side of the
plate is insulated while the other side is exposed to an environment
at 25°C with a heat transfer coefficient of 44 W/m2 · °C. Explain
where in the plate the highest and the lowest temperatures will occur,
and determine their values.

27- Consider a 20-cm-thick large concrete plane wall (k = 0.77 W/m·K) subjected to
convection on both sides with T1 = 27°C and h1 = 5 W/m2·K on the inside, and T2 = 8°C
and h2 =12 W/m2·K on the outside. Assuming constant thermal conductivity with no heat
generation and negligible radiation, (a) express the differential equation and the boundary
conditions for steady one-dimensional heat conduction through the wall, (b) obtain a
relation for the variation of temperature in the wall by solving the differential equation,
and (c) evaluate the temperatures at the inner and outer surfaces of the wall.
28- Consider a solid cylindrical rod of length 0.15 m and diameter 0.05 m. The top and bottom
surfaces of the rod are maintained at constant temperatures of 20°C and 95°C,
respectively, while the side surface is perfectly insulated. Determine the rate of heat
transfer through the rod if it is made of (a) copper, k = 380 W/m·K, (b) steel, k = 18
W/m·K, and (c) granite, k = 1.2 W/m·K.

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29- A pipe in a manufacturing plant is
transporting superheated vapor at a mass
flow rate of 0.3 kg/s. The pipe is 10 m
long, has an inner diameter of 5 cm and
pipe wall thickness of 6 mm. The pipe has
a thermal conductivity of 17 W/m·K, and
the inner pipe surface is at a uniform
temperature of 120°C. The temperature
drop between the inlet and exit of the pipe is 7°C, and the constant pressure specific heat
of vapor is 2190 J/kg·°C. If the air temperature in the manufacturing plant is 25°C,
determine the heat transfer coefficient as a result of convection between the outer pipe
surface and the surrounding air.
30- A 2-kW resistance heater wire with thermal conductivity of k = 20 W/m·K, a diameter of
D = 4 mm, and a length of L = 0.9 m is used to boil water. If the outer surface temperature
of the resistance wire is Ts = 230°C, determine the temperature at the center of the wire.
31- A cylindrical nuclear fuel rod of 1 cm in diameter is encased in a concentric tube of 2 cm
in diameter, where cooling water flows through the annular region between the fuel rod
(k=30 W/m·K) and the concentric tube. Heat is generated uniformly in the rod at a rate of
50 MW/m3. The convection heat transfer coefficient for the concentric tube surface is 2000
W/m2·K. If the surface temperature of the concentric tube is 40°C, determine the average
temperature of the cooling water. Can one use the given information to determine the
surface temperature of the fuel rod? Explain.

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