School of Engineering

Department of Mechanical Engineering

Semester: Fall 2013-2014
Course: MENG420 –Heat Transfer

Instructors: Dr. Farouk Hachem – Dr. Mohamad Ramadan – Dr. Omar Melhem – Dr. Charbel
Habchi

Final Examination
Time: 120 minutes (February 5th, 2014 – 11:30-13:30)

Student Name: ____________________________ Student ID: _______________ Section: ____

There are 4 questions in the booklet each has several parts, please answer all parts of the 4 questions to the
best of your ability.

Marking Scheme

Questions Weight Mark

Question 1 25 points
Question 2 25 points
Question 3 25 points
Question 4 25 points
Total 100 points

1. This booklet contains 15 pages including this one. Make sure all these pages are attached.
2. Closed book examination. Equations and tables are included pages 14 and 15.
3. Do not take the staple out. The exam booklet must remain intact.
4. Cheating penalty will be an “F” grade on the exam.
5. Only regular calculators are allowed.
6. Mobile phones/devices are to be turned off and stowed away.

Good luck

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QUESTION 1: Transient Conduction Analysis (25 points)

A Policeman found a person dead at 5 P.M. in a room whose temperature is 20°C.

The temperature of the body is measured to be 25°C when found, and the heat transfer
coefficient is estimated to be h= 8 W/m2.°C. Modeling the body as a 30 cm diameter, 1.7 m long
cylinder, prove that the time death of that person is around 5 A.M.
The average human body is 72 percent water by mass, and thus we can assume the body to
have the properties of water: k = 0.617 W/m.°C, ρ = 996 kg/m3 and cp = 4178 J/kg.°C.
Assume that we can use the Lumped Capacitance Method (LCM) if Bi < 1.

1.7 m

D = 30 cm

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QUESTION 2: Critical Radius of Insulation (25 points)

A 3 mm diameter and 5 m long electric wire is tightly wrapped with a 2 mm thick plastic cover
whose thermal conductivity is k = 0.15 W/m.°C. Electrical measurements indicate that a current of 10
Amperes passes through the wire and there is a voltage drop of 8 V along the wire. The insulated wire
is exposed to a medium at T∞ = 30°C with a heat transfer coefficient of h = 12 W/m2.°C.
a) Determine the temperature at the interface of the wire and the plastic cover in steady
operation. (10 pts)
b) Repeat part a) with a 4 mm thickness for the plastic cover. Comments. (15 pts)

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QUESTION 3: Convection Analysis (25 points)

Consider the external convection between an air flow with T  300K and a flat plate with an
obstacle having surface temperature Ts  500K as shown in the figure below. The obstacle inserted at

x0  0.3m is called vortex generator because it generates vortices which enhance the heat transfer
phenomenon.
The air has a thermal conductivity k = 0.025 W/m.K, density ρ = 1.2 kg/m3 and dynamic
viscosity μ = 18x10-6 Pa.s.
Experiments show that for U   1m / s , the heat transfer coefficient can be written as:

h1 x   100x 2 for 0 m  x  0.3 m


h2 x   3.44 x 0.8 for x  0.3 m

a) Sketch h1 x  and h2  x  on the same x axis showing the main features. (5 pts)
b) Determine the average Nusselt number Nu1 for the region between 0 and x 0 . (5 pts)
c) Determine the average Nusselt number Nu 2 for the region between x 0 and L. (5 pts)
Nu1  Nu 2
d) Assume that the overall Nusselt number is Nu  .
2
If the overall Nusselt number doubles when the velocity U  increases by a factor of 3,
determine a correlation for Nu of the form: Nu  a Re bL Pr1/ 3 where Pr  0.7 is the Prandtl
number taken constant. (10 pts)

U∞, T∞

x
Ts
0 x0 = 0.3 m L=1m

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QUESTION 4: Two Dimensional Conduction (25 points)

Consider a 5-m-long constantan block (k = 23 W/m·°C) 30 cm high and 50 cm wide. The block
is completely submerged in iced water at 0°C that is well stirred, and the heat transfer coefficient is so
high that the temperatures on both sides of the block can be taken to be 0°C. The bottom surface of
the block is covered with a low-conductivity material so that heat transfer through the bottom surface
is negligible. The top surface of the block is heated uniformly by a 6 kW resistance heater. Using the
finite difference method with a mesh size of Δx = Δy = 10 cm and taking advantage of symmetry:
(a) Obtain the finite difference formulation of this problem for steady two-dimensional heat
transfer
(b) Determine the unknown nodal temperatures by solving those equations taking initial
values: T1 =13°C, T2 =7°C, T3 =5°C, T4 =4°C, T5 =19°C, T6 =11°C, T7 =9°C, T8 =8°C.

(c) Determine the rate of heat transfer from the block to the iced water.

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Equations

Chapter 4: Two-Dimensional, Steady-State Conduction

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Chapter 5: Transient Conduction

Chapter 6 & 7: Convection

hL
Nu 
k

x
h   h x dx
1
x0

U  L
Re L 


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