We have so far considered convection in

situations where an external force has

played a role.
We will now turn our attention to cases
where an external force is absent.

Free Convection
The most important physical phenomenon in free
convection is buoyancy.

T1
1

2
T2

We will focus on gravity driven

buoyancy effects but it is
important to note that there
are other driving forces such
as centrifugal forces in
Gravity spinning machinery or Coriolis
forces

Free Convection
What happens when the temperature difference is
reversed ?
The buoyancy forces balance
the gravitational forces and
the system is stable

T2
2
Gravity

1
T1

buoyancy

Heat transfer modes

Stable system heat

transfer occurs by
CONDUCTION

UNSTABLE system heat

transfer occurs by FREE
CONVECTION

Flow regimes
We will focus on buoyant
flow in quiescent gas
bounded by a surface

Buoyant jet into quiescent gas

Tate, J 2002 PhD thesis UNSW

Ts > T

Re
T ,

u x

Ratio of
inertia to
viscous
forces

g Ts T L
GrL
2

1

T P

A measure by which a fluid

density changes as a function of
temperature at constant
pressure

Volumetric
thermal
expansion
coefficient

Ratio of
buoyancy forces
to viscous forces

GrL/Rel2>>1
free convection
GrL/Rel2 <<1
forced convection
GrL/Rel2=1
Both

Volumetric thermal expansion

coefficient for an ideal gas

For an ideal gas

1
T
P

P RT
ie
P

RT

T
RT 2

1
For an ideal gas
T

Volumetric thermal expansion

coefficient
1
1
1

T T
T P T

T T
Boussinesq Approximationwhen used in conjunction with the
Conservation of mass momentum and
energy equations leads a
set of equations which can be solved to
characterise laminar flow in regimes of free
convection

Governing equations
u v

0 Conservation of mass
x y
u
u
2u
u
v
g T T 2 Conservation of momentum
x
y
y
T
T
2T
u
v
2 Conservation of Energy
x
y
y

Laminar Flow
Rax ,c Grx ,c Pr

Rax ,c 109

g Ts T x 3

hx Gr
Nu x

k 4

1/ 4

g Pr

Laminar

hL 4 Gr
NuL

k
3 4

1/ 4

g Pr

Empirical correlations
For Laminar free convection
past a vertical plate
Ra < 109
and for turbulent free
convection past a vertical
plate
Ra > 109

It has been shown that

0.387 Ra1/L 6

Nu L 0.825
1 0.492 / Pr 9 /16

8 / 27

For Laminar free convection only past a

vertical plate
Ra < 109 it is claimed that the equation
below is slightly more accurate

NuL 0.68

0.67 Ra1/L 4
1 0.492 / Pr 9 /16

4/9

Inclined plates

Vertical Plate
Ts > T

Vertical Plate

Inclined Plate

Vertical Plate

Ts < T

Ts > T

Ts < T

Inclined plates

0.387 Ra1/L 6

Nu L 0.825
1 0.492 / Pr 9 /16

Rax ,c

8/ 27

g Ts T x 3
Grx ,c Pr

Substitute gcos instead of g

Horizontal plates
Upper surface of hot plate or lower of cold plate

Nu L 0.54 Ra

1/ 4
L

10 RaL 10
4

Nu L 0.15RaL1/ 3
107 RaL 1011

Horizontal plates
Lower surface of hot plate or upper of cold plate

Nu L 0.27 RaL1/ 4
105 RaL 1010

Cylinder and Sphere

0.387 Ra1/D 6

NuD 0.60
1 0.559 / Pr 9 /16

RaD 1012
Cylinder

8/ 27

0.589 Ra1/D 4

Nu D 2
1 0.469 / Pr 9 /16

RaD 1011
Sphere
Pr 0.7

4/9

Heat Exchangers

Heat exchangers

Shell and tube heat exchangers

200MW Heat exchanger. For a pulp mill in Kalanti, Finland

Heat Exchangers

Concentric tube

Concentric tube

Parallel flow

counter flow

Cross flow Heat Exchangers

Cross flow mixed

Cross flow unmixed

Shell and tube heat exchanger

Ts1

Ts2
T2,h2
Ts3

Ts4

T1,h1
KA

KB

x=L

1
h1 A

LA
kA A

KC

LB
kB A

LC
kC A

1
h A
2

T1 T 2

T1 T 2
qx
LC
1
LA
LB
1

h1 A K A A K B A K C A h 2 A

qx

T1 T 2 Ts1 Ts 2 Ts 2 Ts 3 Ts 3 Ts 4

1
LA
LB
LC
h1 A
KAA
KB A
KC A

qx UAT
Where

Rtot
1

L
1
L
L
1
A
A B C
h1 K A K B K C h 2

The heat transfer rate

For clean unfinned
surfaces

qr

T1 T 2
1
ln(r2 / r1 ) ln(r3 / r2 ) ln(r4 / r3 )
1

h1 2 r1 L 2 k A L
2 k B L
2 kC L h2 2 r4 L

ln(r2 / r1 ) ln(r3 / r2 ) ln(r4 / r3 )

1
1
1

UA h1 2 r1 L 2 k A L
2 k B L
2 kC L h2 2 r4 L
1/Rw

For Heat exchangers- fouled and

finned
Rf ,c
Rf ,h
1
1
1

Rw

UA o hA c o A c
o A h o hA h
Fouling factor
Overall Fin
surface
efficiency

Af
o 1
1

Where

qf
hAf b

Fin efficiency

Heat transfer from the fin

Heat transfer from the body if the
entire fin was at the base
temperature

tanh mL
f
mL
Fin thickness
where
2h
m
kt

1/ 2

t
w

w
L
f

tanh mLc
mLc

t
f

1 I1 2mL
mL I 0 2mL

Fouling factors

For unfinned tubular heat

exchanger
Do
R
Rf ,i
D
1
1
1
f ,o

UA hi Ai
Ai
2 kL
Ao ho Ao
ln

i-inner

o-outer

surfaces

Ai Di L
Ao Do L

Log mean temperature analysis

If :
Heat transfer between the
fluid and the surroundings
is negligible and there is
negligible change in the
specific heat of the fluids
then we can say that q
the total heat transfer rate
between the hot and cold
fluid is given by

q m&h ih ,i ih ,o m&c ic ,o ic ,o
Mass flow rate Mass flow rate
of hot fluid
of cold fluid

Enthalpy difference of
hot fluid

Enthalpy difference of
cold fluid

Heat exchangers
q m&h ih ,i ih ,o m&c ic ,o ic ,o

The equation can be re-written as

q m&hC p ,h Th ,i Th ,o m&c C p ,c Tc ,o Tc ,o
Another useful expression relies on the difference between
the meat hot and cold temperatures

q UATm
where
Tm Tm,h Tc ,h

Parallel flow HE
dq

Ch

Th
T
Tc

q m&hC p ,h

Cc

h ,i

Th ,o m&c C p ,c Tc ,o

Tho
Tco

Tci
1

Th+dTh
T
Tc+dTc

dq m&hC p ,h dTh Ch dTh

c ,o

dq m&cC p ,c dTc Cc dTh

Local and
varies with
location

Thi

T1 T

The heat transfer rates

are

T2

Hence the
derivative

q U TdA
where
T Th Tc

d T dTh dTc

dq m&hC p ,h dTh Ch dTh

dq
dTh
Ch

dq m&cC p ,c dTc Cc dTh

dq
dTc
Cc

q U TdA
where
T Th Tc

d T dTh dTc
Integrating from the inlet (1)
to outlet (2) gives

1
1

Ch Cc

d T dq

1
1
1 d T 1 dq Ch Cc
2

1
1

Ch Cc

d T dq

2
d T
1
1
1 T U Ch Cc 1 dA
2

Substituting the integral of

the equality dq=UTdA and
rearranging gives
Which is
After some manipulation the
above equation becomes

1
T2
1
ln

UA

T
C

1
h Cc
T2
Th,1 Th ,2 Th ,2 Tc ,1
ln

UA

T
q
q

1
1

Ch Cc

d T dq

Which can be rewritten as

2
d T
1
1
1 T U Ch Cc 1 dA
2

Substituting the integral of

the equality dq=UTdA and
rearranging gives

1
T2
1
ln

UA

T
C

1
h Cc

Which is
We know Ch = Th/q and
Cc = Tc/q
Hence the above equation
becomes

T2
Th ,i Th,o Tc ,o Tc ,i
ln

UA

T
q
q

UA
Th ,i Tc ,i Th,o Tc ,o

Then

T2
UA

Th ,i Tc ,i Th ,o Tc ,o

q
T1

ln

Since for a parallel flow HE

T1 is

UA T2 T1
T2

ln

AndT2 is
Then

Which is

Where

Tlm

q UATlm

T2 T1 T1 T 2
T2

T1

ln

T1
ln

T2

Thi

T1 T

Thi
Tho
Tco

Tci
1

T1
T2

Tho
T
Tco

Tci
2

T2

q UATlm

Tlm

T2 T1 T1 T 2
T2

T1

ln

T1
ln

T2

The above equations apply to both parallel flow and counterflow

Heat Exchangers with the difference that

For Parallel flow T1=Th1-Tc1=Thi-Tci

For Parallel flow T1=Th1-Tc1=Thi-Tco

T2=Th2-Tc2=Tho-Tco

T2=Th2-Tc2=Tho-Tci

NTU effectiveness method

Let us first define the maximum
possible heat transfer rate qmax

Cc Ch qmax Cc Th ,i Tc ,i

Ch Cc qmax Ch Th ,i Tc ,i
Consider the case when Cc < Ch
ie | dTc | > | dTh|
Which means qmax Cmin Th ,i Tc ,i

Now define effectiveness

as

q
qmax

Ch Th,i Th ,o

Cmin Th ,i Tc ,i

Which means

or

Cc Tc ,i Tc ,i

Cmin Th ,i Tc ,i

Which means that q can be

written as
For any heat exchanger it
has been shown that

q Cmin Th,i Tc ,i

c
f NTU , min
cmax

Where NTU is the number NTU UA

of transfer units given by
Cmin

Exact solution
for =1 but
valid for
0 <<1

Such as boilers independent of

the arrangement

In design
calculations it is
more convenient to
work with
equations in the
form
NTU =f()

Procedure for Design

In heat exchanger design problem
you know
The inlet temps and flow rates as
well as a required outlet (hot or cold)
temperature.
Then you have to find the type and NTU UA
Cmin
the size i.e. surface Area A
This is done with custom-designed
products