Ministry of Higher

Education and Scientific

Research
Al-Muthanna University
Engineering College
Chemical Engineering
Department

Mechanisms of Heat
Transfer
By
Sadiq salem mohammed
Class:
Third stage
Subject:
HEAT TRANSFER

Supervised by:
Salwan Fadhil

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Introduction
Heat transfer is a discipline of thermal engineering that concerns the generation, use,
conversion, and exchange of thermal energy (heat) between physical systems. Heat
transfer is classified into various mechanisms, such as thermal conduction, thermal
convection, thermal radiation, and transfer of energy by phase changes. Engineers
also consider the transfer of mass of differing chemical species, either cold or hot,
to achieve heat transfer. While these mechanisms have distinct characteristics, they
often occur simultaneously in the same system.
Heat conduction, also called diffusion, is the direct microscopic exchange of kinetic
energy of particles through the boundary between two systems. When an object is at
a different temperature from another body or its surroundings, heat flows so that the
body and the surroundings reach the same temperature, at which point they are in
thermal equilibrium. Such spontaneous heat transfer always occurs from a region of
high temperature to another region of lower temperature, as described in the second
law of thermodynamics.
Heat convection occurs when bulk flow of a fluid (gas or liquid) carries heat along
with the flow of matter in the fluid. The flow of fluid may be forced by external
processes, or sometimes (in gravitational fields) by buoyancy forces caused when
thermal energy expands the fluid (for example in a fire plume), thus influencing its
own transfer. The latter process is often called "natural convection". All convective
processes also move heat partly by diffusion, as well. Another form of convection is
forced convection. In this case the fluid is forced to flow by use of a pump, fan or
other mechanical means.
Thermal radiation occurs through a vacuum or any transparent medium (solid or
fluid or gas). It is the transfer of energy by means of photons in electromagnetic
waves governed by the same laws.

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Mechanisms
The fundamental modes of heat transfer are:
Advection
Advection is the transport mechanism of a fluid from one location to another, and is
dependent on motion and momentum of that fluid.
Conduction or diffusion
The transfer of energy between objects that are in physical contact. Thermal
conductivity is the property of a material to conduct heat and evaluated primarily in
terms of Fourier's Law for heat conduction.
Convection
The transfer of energy between an object and its environment, due to fluid motion.
The average temperature is a reference for evaluating properties related to
convective heat transfer.
Radiation
The transfer of energy by the emission of electromagnetic radiation.
Advection
By transferring matter, energy—including thermal energy—is moved by the
physical transfer of a hot or cold object from one place to another. This can be as
simple as placing hot water in a bottle and heating a bed, or the movement of an
iceberg in changing ocean currents. A practical example is thermal hydraulics. This
can be described by the formula:

Where

 is heat flux (W/m2),

 is density (kg/m³),

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  is heat capacity at constant pressure (J/kg·K),
 is the difference in temperature (K),

 is velocity (m/s).

Conduction
Main article: Thermal conduction

On a microscopic scale, heat conduction occurs as hot, rapidly moving or vibrating

atoms and molecules interact with neighboring atoms and molecules, transferring
some of their energy (heat) to these neighboring particles. In other words, heat is
transferred by conduction when adjacent atoms vibrate against one another, or as
electrons move from one atom to another. Conduction is the most significant means
of heat transfer within a solid or between solid objects in thermal contact. Fluids—
especially gases—are less conductive. Thermal contact conductance is the study of
heat conduction between solid bodies in contact. The process of heat transfer from
one place to another place without the movement of particles is called conduction,
such as when placing a hand on a cold glass of water—heat is conducted from the
warm skin to the cold glass, but if the hand is held a few inches from the glass, little
conduction would occur since air is a poor conductor of heat. Steady state conduction
is an idealized model of conduction that happens when the temperature difference
driving the conduction is constant, so that after a time, the spatial distribution of
temperatures in the conducting object does not change any further (see Fourier's
law). In steady state conduction, the amount of heat entering a section is equal to
amount of heat coming out, since the change in temperature (a measure of heat
energy) is zero. An example of steady state conduction is the heat flow through walls
of a warm house on a cold—inside the house is maintained at a high temperature,

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and outside the temperature stays low, so the transfer of heat per unit time stays near
a constant rate determined by the insulation in the wall, and the spatial distribution
of temperature in the walls will be approximately constant over time.

Transient conduction (see Heat equation) occurs when the temperature within an
object changes as a function of time. Analysis of transient systems is more complex,
and analytic solutions of the heat equation are only valid for idealized model
systems. Practical applications are generally investigated using numerical methods,
approximation techniques, or empirical study.

Convection
Main article: Convection

The flow of fluid may be forced by external processes, or sometimes (in gravitational
fields) by buoyancy forces caused when thermal energy expands the fluid (for
example in a fire plume), thus influencing its own transfer. The latter process is often
called "natural convection". All convective processes also move heat partly by
diffusion, as well. Another form of convection is forced convection. In this case the
fluid is forced to flow by using a pump, fan or other mechanical means.

Convective heat transfer, or convection, is the transfer of heat from one place to
another by the movement of fluids, a process that is essentially the transfer of heat
via mass transfer. Bulk motion of fluid enhances heat transfer in many physical
situations, such as (for example) between a solid surface and the fluid.[10] Convection
is usually the dominant form of heat transfer in liquids and gases. Although
sometimes discussed as a third method of heat transfer, convection is usually used
to describe the combined effects of heat conduction within the fluid (diffusion) and
heat transference by bulk fluid flow streaming. The process of transport by fluid
streaming is known as advection, but pure advection is a term that is generally

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associated only with mass transport in fluids, such as advection of pebbles in a river.
In the case of heat transfer in fluids, where transport by advection in a fluid is always
also accompanied by transport via heat diffusion (also known as heat conduction)
the process of heat convection is understood to refer to the sum of heat transport by
advection and diffusion/conduction.

Free, or natural, convection occurs when bulk fluid motions (streams and currents)
are caused by buoyancy forces that result from density variations due to variations
of temperature in the fluid. Forced convection is a term used when the streams and
currents in the fluid are induced by external means—such as fans, stirrers, and
pumps—creating an artificially induced convection current.

Convection-cooling
Convective cooling is sometimes described as Newton's law of cooling:

The rate of heat loss of a body is proportional to the temperature difference between
the body and its surroundings.

However, by definition, the validity of Newton's law of Cooling requires that the
rate of heat loss from convection be a linear function of ("proportional to") the
temperature difference that drives heat transfer, and in convective cooling this is
sometimes not the case. In general, convection is not linearly dependent on
temperature gradients, and in some cases is strongly nonlinear. In these cases,
Newton's law does not apply.

Convection vs. conduction

In a body of fluid that is heated from underneath its container, conduction and
convection can be considered to compete for dominance. If heat conduction is too
great, fluid moving down by convection is heated by conduction so fast that its

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downward movement will be stopped due to its buoyancy, while fluid moving up by
convection is cooled by conduction so fast that its driving buoyancy will diminish.
On the other hand, if heat conduction is very low, a large temperature gradient may
be formed and convection might be very strong.

The Rayleigh number ( ) is the product of the Grashof ( ) and Prandtl ( )

numbers. It is a measure which determines the relative strength of conduction and
convection.

Where

 g is acceleration due to gravity,

 ρ is the density with being the density difference between the lower and
upper ends,

 μ is the dynamic viscosity,

 α is the Thermal diffusivity,

 β is the volume thermal expansivity (sometimes denoted α elsewhere),

 T is the temperature,

 ν is the kinematic viscosity, and

 L is characteristic length.

The Rayleigh number can be understood as the ratio between the rate of heat transfer
by convection to the rate of heat transfer by conduction; or, equivalently, the ratio
between the corresponding timescales (i.e. conduction timescale divided by
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convection timescale), up to a numerical factor. This can be seen as follows, where
all calculations are up to numerical factors depending on the geometry of the system.

Radiation
Thermal radiation occurs through a vacuum or any transparent medium (solid or
fluid or gas). It is the transfer of energy by means of photons in electromagnetic
waves governed by the same laws.

Thermal radiation is energy emitted by matter as electromagnetic waves, due to the

pool of thermal energy in all matter with a temperature above absolute zero. Thermal
radiation propagates without the presence of matter through the vacuum of space.

Thermal radiation is a direct result of the random movements of atoms and molecules
in matter. Since these atoms and molecules are composed of charged particles
(protons and electrons), their movement results in the emission of electromagnetic
radiation, which carries energy away from the surface.

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Phase transition
Phase transition or phase change, takes place in a thermodynamic system from one
phase or state of matter to another one by heat transfer. Phase change examples are
the melting of ice or the boiling of water. The Mason equation explains the growth
of a water droplet based on the effects of heat transport on evaporation and
condensation.

Phase transitions involve the four fundamental states of matter:

 Solid – Deposition, freezing and solid to solid transformation.

 Gas – Boiling / evaporation, recombination / deionization, and sublimation.

 Liquid – Condensation and melting / fusion.

 Plasma – Ionization.

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Boiling
The boiling point of a substance is the temperature at which the vapor pressure of
the liquid equals the pressure surrounding the liquid and the liquid evaporates
resulting in an abrupt change in vapor volume.

Saturation temperature means boiling point. The saturation temperature is the

temperature for a corresponding saturation pressure at which a liquid boils into its
vapor phase. The liquid can be said to be saturated with thermal energy. Any addition
of thermal energy results in a phase transition.

At standard atmospheric pressure and low temperatures, no boiling occurs and the
heat transfer rate is controlled by the usual single-phase mechanisms. As the surface
temperature is increased, local boiling occurs and vapor bubbles nucleate, grow into
the surrounding cooler fluid, and collapse. This is sub-cooled nucleate boiling, and
is a very efficient heat transfer mechanism. At high bubble generation rates, the
bubbles begin to interfere and the heat flux no longer increases rapidly with surface
temperature (this is the departure from nucleate boiling, or DNB).

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At similar standard atmospheric pressure and high temperatures, the
hydrodynamically-quieter regime of film boiling is reached. Heat fluxes across the
stable vapor layers are low, but rise slowly with temperature. Any contact between
fluid and the surface that may be seen probably leads to the extremely rapid
nucleation of a fresh vapor layer ("spontaneous nucleation"). At higher temperatures
still, a maximum in the heat flux is reached (the critical heat flux, or CHF).

The Leidenfrost Effect demonstrates how nucleate boiling slows heat transfer due to
gas bubbles on the heater's surface. As mentioned, gas-phase thermal conductivity
is much lower than liquid-phase thermal conductivity, so the outcome is a kind of
"gas thermal barrier".

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References

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 Lienhard, John H. IV; Lienhard, John H. V (2019). A Heat Transfer
Textbook (5th ed.). Mineola, NY: Dover Pub. p. 3.
 Welty, James R.; Wicks, Charles E.; Wilson, Robert Elliott (1976).
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