TRANSIENT HEAT CONDUCTION

Introduction
If the temperature of a body does not vary with time, it is said to be in a steady state.

But if there is an abrupt change in its surface temperature, it attains a steady state
after some period.

During this period the temperature varies with time and the body is said to be in an
unsteady or transient state.

Definition
Conduction in which the temperature of the body varies with time is called
unsteady state conduction (or) transient conduction.

Examples:

(i) Cooling of IC engines & automobile engines

(ii) Cooling of boiler tubes
(iii) Heating and cooling of metal billets
(iv) Heating and cooling of rocket nozzles, electric irons
1
 TRANSIENT HEAT CONDUCTION
Transient heat conduction can be divided in to periodic heat flow and non periodic
heat flow

(1) Periodic heat flow:

In periodic heat flow, the temperature varies on a regular basis.

Examples: Cylinder of an IC engine,

Surface of earth during a period of 24 hours.

(2) Non periodic heat flow:

In non periodic heat flow, the temperature at any point within the system
varies non-linearly with time.

Example: Heating of an ingot in a furnace, cooling of bars.

2
TRANSIENT HEAT CONDUCTION
TRANSIENT HEAT CONDUCTION
TRANSIENT HEAT CONDUCTION
For slab:
Characteristic length, Lc = V/A = (A x L) / 2A
Lc = L / 2
Where L – Thickness of the slab

For cylinder:
Characteristic length, Lc = V/A = (π R2L) / (2 π R L)
Lc = R / 2
Where R – Radius of the cylinder
For sphere:
Characteristic length, Lc = V/A = ((4/3) π R3) / (4 π R2)
Lc = R / 3
Where R – Radius of the sphere

For cube:
Characteristic length, Lc = V/A = L3 / 6L2
Lc = L / 6
Where L – Thickness of the cube 5
TRANSIENT HEAT CONDUCTION
Transient heat conduction
in Small body
(Lumped System Analysis)

7
LUMPED HEAT ANALYSIS
Definition
The process in which the internal resistance is assumed as negligible in comparison
with its surface resistance is known as Newtonian heating or cooling process.

In a Newtonian heating or cooling process, the temperature is considered to be

uniform at a given time. Such as analysis is called lumped parameter analysis.

Temperature profile derivation for a lumped parameter model:

 h At
T  T  CpV
Where
e T0 – Initial temperature of the solid, K
T0  T T – Intermediate temperature of the solid, K
T∞ – Surrounding (or) Ambient temperature, K
h – Heat transfer co-efficient, W/m2K
A – Surface area of body, m2
ρ – Density of the body, kg/m3
V – Volume of the body, m3
Cp – Specific heat of the body, J/kg K
t – Time, s 8
LUMPED HEAT ANALYSIS
Derivation for temperature profile

Criteria for Lumped parameter model

For lumped parameter system,

Biot number value is less than 0.1

i.e., Bi < 0.1 => (h Lc / k) < 0.1