3.

1 External Forced Convection

1
 Heat Transfer in External Flow
• By nondimensionalizing the boundary layer equation,
the local and average Nusselt numbers are
Nu x  f1 x*, Rex , Pr  Nu x  f 2 Rex , Pr  (1)
• The experimental data for heat transfer is represented
by a simple power-law relation of form
Nu x  C ReLm Pr n (2)
• where m and n are constant exponents, and constant
C depends on geometry and flow.
• Fluid properties are evaluated at a mean boundary
layer temperature called film temperature, Tf.
Ts  T (3)
f T 
2 2
 Heat Transfer in External Flow
• The local drag and convection coefficients vary along
the surface as a result of the changes in the velocity
boundary layers in the flow direction.
• The drag force and heat transfer rate for the entire
surface can be determined using the average friction
and convection coefficient.

1 L
C f   C f ,x dx (4)
L 0
1 L
h   hx dx (5)
L 0
3
 Parallel Flow Over Flat Plates
• Consider the parallel flow of a fluid over a flat plate of
length L in the flow direction.
• The Reynolds number at a distance x from the leading
edge of the plate is expressed as
Vx Vx
Re x  
  (6)
• The generally accepted value
for critical Reynolds number is
Vxcr
Recr   5105
 (7)
• Actual value of Recr may vary from 105 to 3 X 106.
4
Laminar Flow over an Isothermal Plate:
A Similarity Solution
• Consider laminar flow of
a fluid over a flat plate.
• For steady,
incompressible, laminar
flow, negligible viscous
dissipation:

(8)

(9)

(10)
5
• Boundary conditions

(11)
• When fluid properties are assumed to be
constant, the first two equations can be solved
separately for the velocity components u and
v.
• Knowing u and v, the temperature becomes
the only unknown in the last equation, and it
can be solved for temperature distribution.
6
• The continuity and momentum equations are
solved by transforming the two partial
differential equations into a single ordinary
differential equation by introducing a new
independent variable (similarity variable).
• Defining a dimensionless similarity variable as
(12)

• Introducing a stream function  x , y  as

(13)

7
• The continuity equation is automatically
satisfied and thus eliminated.
• Defining a function f   as the dependent
variable as
 (14)
f   
V vx / QV

• The velocity components become

(15)

(16)
8
• By differentiating these u and v relations, the
derivatives of the velocity components can be
shown to be
(17)

• Substitutes these relations into the momentum

equation and simplifying
(18)

9
• The boundary conditions in terms of similarity
variables

(19)
• which is a third-order nonlinear ordinary
differential equation.
• The transformed equation with its associated
boundary conditions cannot be solved
analytically, and thus an alternative solution
method is necessary.
10
• Results shown in Table 1
was obtained using
different numerical
approach.
• The value of 
corresponding to
u/V=0.99 is   4.91 .
• Substituting   4.91
and y   into definition
of similarity variable
gives
4.91   V / vx Table 1
11
• The velocity boundary layer thickness
becomes
(20)

• The shear stress on the wall can be

determined from its definition and the u / y
relation in Eqn. (17)

(21)

12
• Substituting the value of the second derivative
of f at   0 from the Table 1 gives

(22)

• Then the average local skin friction coefficient

becomes

(23)

13
The Energy Equation
• Introducing a dimensionless temperature Ө as

(24)
• Noting that both Ts and T are constant, substitution
into the energy equation (3) gives
(25)

• Using the chain rule and substituting the u and v from

Eqn. (15) and (16) into energy equation,
(26)
v -
14
• Simplifying and noting that Pr=v/α gives
(27)

• with boundary conditions  0  0,    1 .

• The value of temperature gradient at the surface
(y = 0 or   0), d / d  d 2 f / d 2  0.332 .
• Eqn. (27) is solved for numerous values of Pr.
• For Pr > 0.6, the nondimensional temperature
gradient at the surface is found to be
proportional to Pr1/3, and is expressed as

(28)
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• The temperature gradient at the surface is

(29)
• Then the local convection coefficient and Nusselt
number become
(30)

(31)
• Solving Eqn. (27) numerically for the temperature
profile for different Pr, and using the definition of the
thermal boundary layer, it is determined that
 /  t  Pr 1/ 3 (32)16
 Heat Transfer Coefficient
• The local Nusselt number at location x over a flat plate

(39)

(40)
• h is infinite at the leading
edge (x = 0) and decreases
by a factor of x-0.5 in the
flow direction.
19
 Average Nusselt Number
• The average Nusselt number

(41)

(42)
• When laminar and turbulent flows are significant
(43)
Recr  5105

(44)
20
• Liquid metals such as mercury have high thermal
conductivity but very small Pr number.
• Solving the energy equation gives
(45)

• where Pex = RexPr is the dimensionless Peclet number.

• Churchill and Ozoe (1973) proposed a single
correlation which is applicable for all Pr numbers, and
claimed to be accurate to +/- 1%.

(46)
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 Flat Plate with Unheated Starting
Length
• So far the considered situations are limited to
completely heated plate from leading edge.
• Many practical applications involve surfaces with an
unheated starting length  , thus no heat for 0  x   .
• The velocity boundary
layer develops at
leading edge (x=0),
but thermal boundary
layer develops at
x  .
22
• Consider a flat plate whose heated section is maintained
at a constant temperature.
• The local Nusselt number for both laminar and
turbulent flows are determined to be

(47)

(48)

• Determination of average Nusselt number for heated

section of a plate cannot be done analytically, but
numerically.
23
• The average convection coefficient for the entire
heated section of the plate when the flow is laminar
over the entire plate.

(49)

• Note that for   0 it reduces to hL  2hx  L

• The average convection coefficient for the turbulent
flow over the entire plate.

(50)

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 Uniform Heat Flux
• When a flat plate is subjected to uniform heat flux
instead of uniform temperature, the local Nusselt
number is given by
(51)

(52)
• These relations give values that are 36% higher for
laminar flow and 4% higher for turbulent flow relative
to the isothermal plate case.

25
• When the plate involves unheated starting length, the
relations developed for the uniform surface
temperature case can still be used provided that Eqn.
(51) and (52) are used for Nu x  0 in Eqn. (47) and (48).

• When the heat flux q s is prescribed, the rate of heat

transfer to or from the plate and the surface
temperature at a distance x are determined from
(53)

(54)
• where As is the heat transfer surface area.
26
Flow Across Cylinders and Spheres
• Flow across cylinders and spheres is frequently found
in many heat transfer applications:
– Shell-and-tube heat exchanger
– Pin fin heat sinks for electronic cooling
• The characteristic length for a cylinder and sphere is
taken to be the external diameter D.

• The critical Renolds

number for flow across a
cylinder or sphere is about

Recr  210 5
(55)
27
• Cross flow over a cylinder exhibits complex flow patterns.
• At very low upstream velocity ( Re  1), the fluid
completely wraps around the cylinder.
• At higher velocity, the boundary layer detaches from the
surface, forming a separation region behind the cylinder.
• Flow in the wake region is characterized by periodic
vortex formation and lower pressure than stagnation
point pressure.

28
• The nature of the flow across a cylinder or sphere
strongly affects the total drag coefficient CD.
• At low Re (Re  10), friction drag dominate.
• At high Re (Re  5000 ), pressure drag dominate.
• Both effects are significant at intermediate Re.
• From dimensional analysis, the average drag coefficient
for a smooth single cylinder and a sphere is a function of
Re, CD=f(ReD).
– For Re  1  Creeping flow
– For Re  10  Separation starts
– For Re  90  Vortex shedding starts
– For 103  Re  105  laminar flow in boundary layer, highly
turbulent in separation region.
– For 105  Re  106  turbulent flow 29
30
 Heat Transfer Coefficient
• The local Nusselt number NuӨ
around the periphery of a
cylinder subjected to cross
flow varies considerably.
• Small  - Nu decreases with
increasing  as a result of the
thickening of laminar
boundary layer.
• 80    90 - Nu reaches
minimum.
– Low Re – due to separation in
laminar flow
– High Re – transition to turbulent
flow 31
•   90 laminar flow - Nu
increases with increasing 
due to intense mixing in the
separation zone.
• 90    140 turbulent flow
- Nu decreases due to the
thickening of the boundary
layer.
•  140 turbulent flow - Nu
reaches a second minimum
due to flow separation point
in turbulent flow.

32
• For flow over a cylinder (Churchill and Bernstein):

(56)
• for ReD Pr  0.2 where the fluid properties are
evaluated at the film temperature, Tf.
• Another correlation due to Zukauskas is of form
0.7  Pr  500 Pr  10, n  0.37
1/ 4
n  Pr 
Nu D  C Re D Pr 
m
  6   
 Prs  1  Re D  10   Pr  10, n  0.36 

• where all properties (57)

are evaluated at T
except Prs which is
evaluated at Ts .
33
• A more compact correlation
for flow across cylinders

(58)
• where n=1/3 and the
experimentally determined
constants C and m are given
in Table.
• Eqn. (56) is more accurate,
and thus should be
preferred in calculations
whenever possible.

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