Table of Content:

1. Abstract …………………………………………………………… 1

2. Objective …………………………………………………………… 2

3. Introduction …………………………………………………………… 2

4. Result and Discussion ………………………………………………….. 5

5. Conclusion and Recommendation …………………………………….. 10

6. References …………………………………………………………… 11

7. Appendix …………………………………………………………… 12

0
1.0. Abstract:

The main objective of the experiment is to study the heat transfer through
conduction and to calculate the thermal conductivity k, of the metal rod. Temperature
distributions T along the metal rod at specific distances x were measured and plotted
in a graph that shows us that after a specific temperature difference the metal rod
obtain a steady state where further increment of decrement in temperature is not more
than ±0.2 oC. The change in temperature between the inlet and outlet of the water, Q
is 33.906 ± 2W. The area and the voltage is taken constant. Each experiment after 10
minutes gives us a negative slop due to decrease in temperature distribution. At steady
state thermal conductivity of the metal rod is to be 1146.846 ±30 W/m oC and the slope
observed at that point is -60.214. At this state the metal rod has reached it thermal
equilibrium and it’s in constant state. The water used should be clean to avoid any
waste particles that will affect the heat transfer to the water and might change the
equilibrium state. Voltage used should be controlled to avoid any damage to the
equipment that might cause melting of the rod.

1
2.0. Objective:

The main objective of this experiment is to study the heat transfer through
conduction in a metal rod. And to calculate the thermal conductivity k, of the metal rod.

3.0. Introduction:

Thermal conductivity denoted by k refers to the ability of a material to transfer

or conduct heat. It is one of the three methods of heat transfer, the other two being
convection and radiation. The transfer of heat is normally from a high temperature to
a lower temperature. Heat transfer changes the internal energy of both systems
involved according to the First Law of Thermodynamics. Conduction is heat transfer
by means of molecular agitation within a material without any motion of the material
as a whole. If one end of a metal rod is at a higher temperature, then energy will be
transferred down the rod toward the colder end because the higher speed particles
will collide with the slower ones with a net transfer of energy to the slower ones
(Thermtest,2018).

Heat transfer processes can be quantified in terms of appropriate rate

equations. The rate equation in this heat transfer mode is based on Fourier’s law of
heat conduction. According to Fourier’s law the heat flux resulting from thermal
conduction is proportional to the magnitude of the temperature gradient and opposite
to it in sign with a material cross-sectional area A (hyperphysics, 2000). This
observation is expressed as:

𝑑𝑇
𝑄 = −𝑘𝐴
𝑑𝑥

Where the vector Q is the heat gained by water (W), dT/dx is the (negative)
temperature gradient (K/m) in the direction of heat flow when conduction occurs in the
direction of decreasing temperature a minus sign is confirmed, and the proportionality
constant k is the Thermal Conductivity of the material (W/m℃). The more the surface
area that is exposed to open air, the greater will be the heat loss. So shorter objects
with a smaller cross-section will have less loss in energy. In this experiment the area
of the metal rod is constant having a value of 4.91 𝑥 10−4 𝑚².

2
 The physical properties of the materials id important for conduction. Basically,
when it comes to conducting heat, not all substances are created equal. Metals and
stone are considered good conductors since they can speedily transfer heat, whereas
materials like wood, paper, air, and cloth are poor conductors of heat.

Figure 3.1: Heat conduction through a metal rod.

Materials that are poor conductors of heat are called insulators. Air, which has
a conduction coefficient of .006, is an exceptional insulator because it is capable of
being contained within an enclosed space (phys, 2019).

As shown in figure 3.2 a thermal conduction system is used to measure the

thermal conductivity of metal rod and to get the temperature distribution for constant
area bars at certain distances X1 0.035m, X2 0.075m, X3 0.115m, X4 0.155m, X5
0.195m and X6 0.235m from the one end point of the pipe.

Figure 3.2: Thermal conduction of metal rod apparatus.

3
 As shown in the figure 3.3 the valves are used to open and close the water
supply. The metal rod has six distribution points of measuring temperatures and two
measuring temperatures T7 and T8 for the inlet and outlet temperature of the water
supply. The voltage is set to be 60V with a current of 27A. The water is to be collected
in a measuring tank for 10s which indicates the flow rate of water with specific heat of
4186 J/kg℃. One end of the rod is heated by an electric heater while the other end of
the rod projects inside the cooling water jacket. A cylindrical shell filled with insulating
material surrounds the middle portion of the bar. The temperature of the bar is
measured at different sections.

Figure 3.3: Block diagram for thermal conductivity of metal rod.

In this experiment, the temperature was measured for eight different points for
constant area and constant voltage. The flow rate was measured after every 10
minutes in a measuring cylinder. The mass flow rate M, was calculated following by
the heat gained by water Q. Thus the value of thermal conductivity of metal rod can
be measured from the heat gained, area and the slop of the respective temperatures
and distance of each experiment.

4
4.0. Result and Discussion:

The main objective of this experiment is to calculate the thermal conductivity of

the metal rod using the heat transfer and the different temperatures points on the metal
rod. The density and the specific heat of water is taken to be 1000kg/m³ and
4186J/kg℃. After calculating the temperature at 60V and 27A at all the respective
points of the bar the temperature distribution at each point was drawn as shown in the
figure 4.1.

60

50
Thermal Conductivity, k.

T1
40 T2
T3
30
T4

20 T5
T6
10
T7
T8
0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Time, min.

Figure 4.1: Graph between (T1-T8) Vs Time.

It is clearly seen from the figure that the temperature distribution in the
beginning of the experiment were lowered to a certain extend for T1 54.1℃ to
49.6℃ and the outlet temperature of the cold water was rise from 29.5℃ to 31.6℃ after
10 minutes. Readings for the temperature distribution were taken after every 10
minutes till it reaches a point were no change can be denoted not more than ±0.2⁰C.
At this point it is said that the constant temperature distribution is maintained
throughout the metal rod.

When the temperature rises the thermal conductivity also rises to a point where
it shows the maximum value of thermal conductivity. After that, it reduces sharply with
further increases in temperature until it reaches its minimum, which is close to the
melting point of the material (Sciencedirect, 2019).

5
 As shown in the figure 4.2 as the temperature of the metal rod rises the thermal
conductivity also rises from 829.276 W/m⁰C to 1055.539 W/m⁰C and then a drastic
decrease I the thermal conductivity is observed at 30 min which can be an effect of
reaching its maximum thermal conductivity and further increasing the temperature
increases the thermal conductivity to 1178.130 W/m⁰C after 40 min at this point the
material is said to have the maximum thermal conductivity where it reaches its melting
point so the temperature goes down and thus maintaining a constant state at the
thermal conductivity between 1146.846 ± 50.1 W/m⁰C. Thus the maximum thermal
conductivity was shown at 40 minutes where the metal rod was capable to transfer the
maximum heat through conduction. At this point the inlet and outlet of the cold water
had a temperature increase of 0.3⁰C.

1400

1200
Thermal Conductivity, k.

1000

800

600

400

200

0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Time, min.

Figure 4.2: Graph between thermal conductivity Vs. Time.

At 40 min the rate of change with respect to the distance of the temperature
spots was measure -60.786 dT/dX as shown in figure 4.3. The slope is then use to
calculate the thermal conductivity of the metal rod at specific time interval. Similarly at
all time intervals the slope is measured whereby the value of k is calculated from the
slope where k is inversely proportional to the area and the slope and directly
proportional to the heat gained by water.

6
 60

50

Temperatures (T1-T6)
40
y = -60.786x + 50.456
30

20

10

0
0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25
Distance, x.

Figure 4.3: Graph between Distances, x vs. Temperature at certain Time.

The table 4.4 shows us the temperature differences during the 70minutes of the
experiment where we can see a trend of decreasing temperature until it reaches a
certain extend where the temperature becomes constant. According to the zeroth law
of thermodynamics a thermal equilibrium between all the points is reached where there
is no more noticeable changes in the temperature not more the ±0.2⁰C
(Energyeducation, 2018).

Table 4.4: Observation of flow rate, Time and Temperatures (T1-T8).

V = 60 Volts I = 27 Amp

Time F t1 T1 T2 T3 T4 T5 T6 T7 T8
(sec) o o o o o o o o
(min) (ml) ( C) ( C) ( C) ( C) ( C) ( C) ( C) ( C)
0 280 10
54.1 51.7 48.6 45 41.6 36.7 29.2 29.5
10 260 10
49.6 47 44.3 41.8 39.3 36.2 31.3 31.6
20 260 10
48.8 46.1 43.6 41.3 38.8 36 31.4 31.7
30 270 10
48.5 45.8 43.3 41.1 38.8 36 31.6 31.8
40 280 10
48.5 45.8 43.2 41.1 38.8 36.1 31.7 32
50 270 10 48.4 45.7 43.2 41.1 38.8 36.1 31.7 32
60 260 10
48.4 45.7 43.2 41.1 38.8 36 31.7 32
70 270 10
48.4 45.7 43.2 41.1 38.8 36.1 31.7 32

7
 The thermal expansion of the metal rod is being neglected, and there might be
errors in calculation as the accuracy of the thermal sensor is 0.1⁰C. And all the heat
transferred is only assumed to be conduction and no other source of heat transfer is
being considered. Looking into table 4.5 the thermal conductivity is observed at the
lowest slope and the highest rate of heat transfer Q. At 40 min the slope dT/dX is
observed to be -60.786 and the value of Q is 35.162 W.

Table 4.4: Observation of Heat gained, Time and thermal conductivity.

Time (min) Q (W) k (W/m oC)

0 35.162 829.276
10 32.651 1005.382
20 32.651 1055.539
30 22.604 752.074
40 35.162 1178.131
50 33.906 1146.846
60 32.650 1097.861
70 33.906 1146.846

So, after the calculations the thermal conductivity of the metal rod is to be 1146.846
±30 W/m oC at 40 min and the rate of Q is 33.906 ± 2W. At this point the rod observes
its maximum rate of heat change and conduction.

8
5.0. Conclusion and Recommendations:

In conclusion, the temperature of the points within the metal rod at various
distances follows a decreasing trend with time and the slope generated is negative.
The temperature of the water inlet and outlet increases due to increase in temperature
of the metal rod. After calculating the various values a thermal conductivity of the metal
rod is to be 1146.846 ±30 W/m oC. And the temperature reaches a steady state where
further not more the ±0.2 oC is being observed, Q is 33.906 ± 2W. At this state the
metal rod has reached it thermal equilibrium and it’s in constant state.

In recommendation, the water used should be clean to avoid any waste

particles that will affect the heat transfer to the water. The voltage used should be
controlled to avoid any damage to the equipment.

9
6.0. References:

Thermtest, 2018, thermalconductivity.[online].[Accessed 25th April,2019]. Available

from World Wide Web:

https://thermtest.com/what-is-thermal-conductivity

Hyperphysics, 2000, Fourierslaw.[online].[Accessed 26th April,2019]. Available from

World Wide Web:

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/hframe.html

phys, 2014, heatconduction.[online].[Accessed 27th April,2019]. Available from World

Wide Web:

https://phys.org/news/2014-12-what-is-heat-conduction.html

sciencedirect, 2019, thermalconductivity.[online].[Accessed 27th April,2019].

Available from World Wide Web:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/chemistry/thermal-conductivity

Energyeducation, 2018, thermalequilibrium.[online].[Accessed 27th April,2019].

Available from World Wide Web:

https://energyeducation.ca/encyclopedia/Thermal_equilibrium

10
7.0. Appendix:

Specific heat of water Cp 4186 J/kg oC

Density of water ρw 1000 kg/m3
Diameter of rod d 0.025 m
Distance of first temperature sensor (T1) from the one end 0.035 m
point of pipe X1
Distance of second temperature sensor (T2) from the one end 0.075 m
point of pipe X2
Distance of third temperature sensor (T3) from the one end 0.115 m
point of pipe X3
Distance of fourth temperature sensor (T4) from the one end 0.155 m
point of pipe X4
Distance of fifth temperature sensor (T5) from the one end 0.195 m
point of pipe X5
Distance of sixth temperature sensor (T6) from the one end 0.235 m
point of pipe X6

𝐹 𝑥 𝜌 𝑥 10−6
𝑀= (kg/s)
𝑡1

Q = MCp (T8 – T7) (W)

𝜋
A= 𝑥 𝑑² (m²)
4

Slope from graph (T1, T2, T3, T4, T5, T6) VS (x1, x2, x3, x4, x5, x6) represented by
(dT/dx).

𝑄 𝑊
𝑘= ( ℃)
𝑑𝑇 𝑚
−𝐴 𝑥 ( )
𝑑𝑋

11
Sample Calculations:

𝐹 𝑥 𝜌 𝑥 10−6 280 𝑥 1000 𝑥 10−6

𝑀= = = 0.028 𝑘𝑔/𝑠
𝑡1 10

Q = MCp (T8 – T7) = 0.028 x 4186 J/kg℃ x (29.5 – 29.2)

𝜋 𝜋
A= 𝑥 𝑑2 = 𝑥 0.025 = 4.91 𝑥 10−4 𝑚²
4 4

𝑄
𝑘=
𝑑𝑇
−𝐴 𝑥 ( )
𝑑𝑋

35.162 𝑊
𝑘= = 829.276 ℃.
(−4.91 𝑥 10−4 ) 𝑥 (−86.357) 𝑚

12