Multi Dimension Steady-State Heat Conduction

A. Heat Conduction
Heat conduction, also known as thermal conduction, is one of the
three modes of heat transfer - the others are convection and radiation.
Thermal energy flows spontaneously from bodies at higher
temperatures to bodies at lower temperatures until the bodies are at equal
temperature. Other things being equal, the greater the temperature
difference, the higher the flow rate of thermal energy. Thermal energy is
related to the average kinetic energy of atomic-scale particle movements
within matter - the more vigorous the movement of particles, the higher
the temperature.
Conduction of thermal energy takes place when local interactions
between atoms and molecules and electrons pass kinetic energy from
particle to particle. (There is no net movement of particles in a flow of
thermal energy or heat).
Heat transfer in fluids is by random motion of atoms and molecules;
in solids, heat is transferred by electrons and phonons. In general, thermal
conductivity is greatest in solids, then liquids, then gases. Metals are
generally good conductors of heat for the same reason they are good
conductors of electricity. Their mobile electrons are excellent carriers of
thermal energy.
Not all non-metals are poor conductors of heat. For example, carbon
in the form of diamond is a poor electrical conductor, but is an excellent
conductor of heat. The explanation lies with phonons - i.e. lattice
vibrations that play a fundamental role in thermal conduction in solids.
Diamond's uniform, continuous 3D network of covalently bonded atoms
scatters phonons to an unusually low extent, hence phonons carry heat
particularly efficiently in diamond.
B. Steady-State
Steady state in any field means that the properties being measured
do not change with time. The system has finished evolving, and now the
properties, when measured at a point, do not change with time, whereas
the they may or may not change with location. So if there was a property
‘m’, then if the system is in steady state, it is:
∂m/∂t = 0 where ‘t’ is time
If a system is in steady state, then one can safely assume the
measured property at a point to be constant, and can use that value at any
given time for that point as it will not vary with time. Now coming to heat
transfer, we are interested in the transfer of heat and consequently the
temperature profiles of the system under consideration
Heat transfer can occur by three mechanisms - conduction,
convection or radiation, with net energy being transferred from high
temperature body to low temperature body. When a body is first exposed
to a temperature differential, energy begins flowing, causing the
temperature profile to keep changing with respect to time. The system is
said to be in unsteady state.
Energy flow may simultaneously be happening into and out of the
system depending on the setup. Eventually, a stage is reached when the
energy flowing in and the energy flowing out balance and become equal.
Once this happens, the temperature profile stops changing and becomes
fixed. At this stage, the system is aid to have reached a steady state.
Consider the general form of the three dimensional conduction equation:
 The first three terms represent the flow of energy into/out of the
system. The next term (q_generated/k), represents the generation of heat
within the system.
The term on the right hand side represents the change of energy
within the system with respect to time.
So, for an steady state system, this value be equal to 0, and for
an unsteady state system, it would not be equal to 0. Based on the
conditions prevailing, the above equation can be solved to obtain heat
flow rates and temperature profiles. Every system first when starts out as
an unsteady state system, and eventually, if the conditions are held the
same, will eventually become a steady state system.
As an example, one can consider a resistor. As the circuit is closed
and current starts flowing through the resistor, it start heating up and its
temperature starts going up. This is due to the heat generated. As its
temperature goes beyond the room temperature, it simultaneously loses
heat via convection from the surface. When these two values become
equal, the system reaches steady state, and the temperature stops evolving.

C. Introduction
In general the properties of any physical system may depend on both
location (x, y, z) and time (τ). The inclusion of two or more independent
variables results in a partial differential equation. The multidimensional
heat diffusion equation in a Cartesiancoordinate system can be written as:

The above equation governs the Cartesian, temperature distribution for a

three-dimensional unsteady, heat transfer problem involving heat
generation. To solve for the full equation, it requires a total of six
boundary conditions: two for each direction. Only one initial condition is
needed to account for the transient behavior. For 2D, steady state (∂/∂t =
0) and without heat generation, the above equation reduces to:

Equation (2) needs 2 boundary conditions in each direction. There are

three approaches to solve this equation:
 Analytical Method: The mathematical equation can be solved
using techniques like the method of separation of variables.
 Graphical Method: Limited use. However, the conduction shape
factor concept derived under this concept can be useful for specific
configurations. (see Table 4.1 for selected configurations)
 Numerical Method: Finite difference or finite volume schemes,
usually will be solved using computers.
Analytical solutions are possible only for a limited number of cases (such
as linear problems with simple geometry). Standard analytical techniques
such as separation of variables can be found in basic textbooks on
engineering mathematics, and will not be reproduced here. The student is
encouraged to refer to textbooks on basic mathematics for an overview of
the analytical solutions to heat diffusion problems. In the present lecture
material, we will cover the graphical and numerical techniques, which are
used quite conveniently by engineers for solving multi-dimensional heat
conduction problems.
D. Steady Multidimensional Heat Conduction
The general equation for T.~r . during steady conduction in a
region of constant thermal conductivity, without heat sources, is called
Laplace’s equation:
∇ T² = 0
It looks easier to solve than it is, since the Laplacian, ∇ T², is a
sum of several second partial derivatives.Depending upon one’s
mathematical background and the specificproblem, the analytical
solution of multidimensional problems can be anything from
straightforward calculation to a considerable challenge.
Faced with a steady multidimensional problem, three routes are
open to us:
 Find out whether or not the analytical solution is already
available in a heat conduction text or in other published
literature.
 Solve the problem.
a. Analytically.
b. Numerically.
 Obtain the solution graphically if the problem is two-
dimensional.
The last of these options is out of style as a solution method,
yet it is remarkably simple and effective. We turn to it next since
anyone who takes the trouble to master it will develop an uncommonly
strong intuitive understanding of multidimensional heat transfer along
the way.
The flux plot

Figure 1.1 The two-dimensional flow of heat between two isothermal walls.
The method of flux plotting will solve all steady planar problems in
which all boundaries are held at either of two temperatures or are insulated.
With a little skill, it provides accuracies of a few percent—almost always
greater than the accuracy with which the b.c.’s and k can be specified. And it
reveals the physics of the problem very clearly.
Figure 5.20 shows heat flowing from one isothermal wall to another in
a regime that does not conform to any convenient coordinate scheme. We
identify a series of channels, each which carries the same heat flow, ∂Q W/m.
We also include a set of equally spaced isotherms, ∂T apart, between the walls.
Since the heat fluxes in all channels are the same,

Notice that if we arrange things so that ∂Q, ∂T, and k are the same for
flow through each rectangle in the flow field, then ∂s/∂n must be the same for
each rectangle. We therefore arbitrarily set the ratio equal toone, so all the
elements appear as distorted squares. The objective then is to sketch the
isothermal lines and the adiabatic,7 or heat flow, lines which run perpendicular
to them. This sketch is to be done subject to two constraints
 Isothermal and adiabatic line
 They must subdivide the flow field into elements that are nearly
square—“nearly” because they have slightly curved sides.
Once the grid has been sketched, the temperature anywhere in the field
can be read directly from the sketch. And the heat flow per unit depth into the
paper is

where N is the number of heat flow channels and I is the number of

temperature increments, △T/∂T.
EXAMPLE
A structure consists of metal walls, 8 cm apart, with insulating material (k =
0.12 W/mK) between. Ribs 4 cm long protrude from one wall every 14 cm.
They can be assumed to stay at the temperature of that wall. Find the heat flux
through the wall if the first wall is at 40_C and the one with ribs is at 0_C.
Find the temperature in the middle of the wall, 2 cm from a rib, as well.
SOLUTION
The flux plot for this configuration is shown in Fig. 2. For a typical section,
there are approximately 5.6 isothermal increments and 6.15 heat flow
channels, so
where the factor of 2 accounts for the fact that there are two halves in the
section. We deduce the temperature for the point of interest, A, by a simple
proportionality:

Figure 2 Heat transfer through a wall with isothermal ribs.

Thus fars, every steady heat conduction problem we have done has taken this
form. For these situations, the heat flow always equals a function of the
geometric shape of the body multiplied by k∆T.
The shape factor can be obtained analytically, numerically, or through
flux plotting. For example, let us compare eqn. (5.65) and eqn (5.66) :
For a three-dimensiaonal body, eqn. (5.69) is unchanged except that the
dimensions of Q and Rt differ.
The virtue of the shape factor is that it summarizes a heat conduction
solutin in a given configuration. Once S is known, it can be used again and
again. That S is nondimensional in two-dimensional configurations means that
Q is independent of the size of the body.

Table 5.4 includes a number o analyticaly derived shape factors for use
in calculating the heat flux in different configurations. Notice that these results
will not give local temperatures. To obtain hat information, one must solve the
Laplace equation, ∇2T = 0, by one of the methods listed at the beginning of
this section. Notice, too, that this table is restricted to bodies with isothermal
and insulated boundaries.
In the two-dimensional cases, both a hot and a cold surface must be
present in order to have a steady-state solution; if only a single hot (or cold)
body is present, steady state is never reached. For exmpale, a hot isothermal
cylinder in a cooler, infinite medium never reaches steady state with that
medium. Likewise, in situations 5,6 and 7 in the table, the medium far from
the isothermal plane must also be at temperature T2 in order for steady state to
occur; otherwise the isothermal plane and the medium beloew it would behave
as an unsteady, semi-infinite body. Of course, since no real medium is trully
infinite, what this means in practice is that steady state onlu occurs after
medium “at infinity” comes to a temperature T2 . Conversely, in three-
dimensional situations (such as 4, 8, 12, and 13); a body ca come to steady
state with a surrounding infinite or semi-infinite medium at a different
temperature.
 The Problem of locally vanishing resistance
Suppose that two different temperatures are specified on adjacent sides of a
square. The shape factor in this case is

(It is futile to try and cound channels betond N = 10, but it is clear that they
multiply without limit in the lower left corner). The problem is that we have
violated our rule that isotherms cannot intersect and have created a 1/r
singularity. If we actually tried to sustain such a situation,
The figure would be correct at some distance from the corner. However, there
the isotherms are close to one another, they will necessarily influence and
distort one another in such a way as to avoid intersecting. And S would never
really be infinite, as it appears to be in the figure.
Trasient multidimensional heat conduction. The tactic of superposition
Consider the cooling of a stubby cylinder. The cylinder is initially at T = T i,
and it is suddenly subjected to a common b.c. on all slides. It has a length 2L
and a radius ro. Finding the temperature field in this situation is inherently
complicated. It requires solving the heat conduction equation for T = fn (r,z,t)
with b.c.s of the first, second, or third kind.
Combination of an infinite cylinder and an infinite slab. It turns out that the
problem can be analyzed from that point of view. If the body is subject to
uniform b.c.s of the first, second, or third kind, and if it has a uniform initial
temperature, then its temperature response is simply the product of an infinite
slab solutin and an infinite cylinder solution each having the same boundary
and initial conditions.