School of Engineering

Department of Mechanical Engineering

Semester: Fall 2015-2016
Course: MENG420 – Heat Transfer

Instructors: Dr. Farouk Hachem – Dr. Mohamad Ramadan – Dr. Omar Melhem - Dr. Wassim
Salameh – Dr. Kifah Sarraf – Dr. Amne El Cheikh – Dr. Houssein Ammar – Dr. Rabih El Murr - Dr.
Mahmoud Khaled

Final Examination
Time: 120 minutes (Tuesday February 2nd, 2016 – 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 17 pages including this one. Equations are given pages 14 to 17. Students
are ALLOWED to detach them. Make sure all these pages are attached.
2. Closed book examination.
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: Heat exchangers (25 points)

A concentric tube counter-flow heat exchanger (See Figure below) is to cool ethylene glycol (Cp = 2560
J/kg.K) flowing at a rate of 3.5 kg/s from 80°C to 40°C by water (Cp = 4180 J/kg · °C) that enters at 20°C
and leaves at 55°C.

The overall heat transfer coefficient between ethylene glycol and water is 250 W/m2.K. Considering no heat
losses from the exchanger to its surrounding, determine:
a) The rate of heat transfer; (6 pts)
b) The mass flow rate of water; (7 pts)
c) The heat transfer surface area; (12 pts)

Solution:

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QUESTION 2: Convection - Internal flow (25 points)

In many industries, the energy (heat) of exhaust gases can be re-used in a useful manner. In this problem,
the case of an industry that uses the hot exhaust gases to generate steam is considered. The problem is
modeled as combustion gases passing through a 3-cm internal diameter circular tube (See Figure below).
The circumference of the tube is carrying water that is to be vaporized (transformed to steam). At the stage
of vaporization, the inner surface of the tube is considered equal to 110 °C, which corresponds to a
temperature of 100 °C at the outer surface of the tube at which water evaporates.

Water Evaporating at 100 C

Exhaust gases
Exhaust gases Ts= 110 C
Tm,i = 250 C 3 cm Tm,o = 150 C
Pipe material

Water Evaporating at 100 C

0.271 kg/s of hot gases enter the tube at 250 °C and leave at 150 °C. The heat of vaporization of water at
100 °C is hfg = 2257 kJ/kg. Exhaust gases are modeled as air having the following properties:
C p  1023 J / kg.K , Pr  0.707 , k  0.027 W / m.K and   19 *10 6 kg / m.s . The pipe in which hot gases
flow is considered smooth. The gas flow is considered fully developed.

a) Determine the rate of heat transfer exchanged between the exhaust gases and water; (4 pts)
b) Show that the average convective heat transfer coefficient is equal to 681 W/m².K; (8 pts)
c) Calculate the tube length; (9 pts)
d) Calculate the rate of vaporization of water. (4 pts)

Solution:

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QUESTION 3: Application of the lumped capacitance method (25 points)

Sensors known as thermocouples are based on the principle that when two dissimilar metals are joined, an
electromotive force that is primarily a function of temperature will exist in a circuit. The thermocouple
junction may be approximated in many engineering applications as a sphere. Analysis has shown that
thermocouple sensibility as well as precision are heavily dependent on the junction diameter (effective
diameter). Let us consider this type of analysis through the lumped capacitance method. Consider a
thermocouple junction to be used for temperature measurement in a gas stream (See Figure Below).

Thermocouple junction
Gas modeled as sphere
D
h T k c 
The convection coefficient between the junction surface and the gas is h  500 W / m².K , and the junction
thermo-physical properties are k  20W / m.K , c  400 J / Kg.K , and   8500Kg / m 3 .

a) Determine the junction diameter needed for the thermocouple to have a thermal time constant of 1
second; (11 pts)
b) If the junction is at 20 °C and is placed in a gas stream that is at 100 °C; how long will it take for the
junction to reach 99 °C; (6 pts)
c) Determine the maximum diameter of a thermocouple used for temperature-time measurement to be
carried out with a time interval of 1 second. It is considered that the thermocouple junction put a
time of 5 t to achieve a temperature to be measured. (8 pts)

Solution:

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QUESTION 4: Thermal resistance and convection calculations (25 points)

A photovoltaic panel is a panel that receives a solar irradiation AG and convert it into electrical power P . It
consists from top to bottom of:

1- A 3-mm-thick ceria-doped glass (kg = 1.4 W/m.K),

2- A 0.1-mm-thick optical grade adhesive (ka = 145 W/m. K),
3- A very thin layer of silicon (of negligible thermal resistance) within which solar energy is converted to
electrical energy,
4- A 0.1-mm-thick solder layer (ksdr = 50 W/m.K),
5- A 2-mm-thick aluminum nitride substrate (kal = 120 W/m.K).

Surrounding, Tsur

The solar-to-electrical conversion efficiency within the silicon layer depends on the silicon temperature Tsi
and is described by the following expression:

P
  0.28  0.001Tsi Where Tsi is in 0 C and 250 C  Tsi  250 0 C
0.83GA

10% of the incident solar irradiation is absorbed at the top surface of the glass while 83% of the solar
irradiation is transmitted to and absorbed by the silicon (the remaining 7% is reflected away from the top
surface of the glass). The radiative heat transfer coefficient between the upper surface and the surrounding is
considered constant and equal to 5.85 W/m².K. Consider an L = 1 m long and W = 0.1 m wide solar cell that
is placed on an insulated surface.

Determine the silicon temperature Tsi and the electric power produced by the solar cell at steady state
for an air velocity of 4 m/s parallel to the long direction with air and surroundings temperatures of 25 °C.

Consider a solar irradiation of 700 W/m2 and the boundary layer is considered turbulent all over the length
of the panel.
3
Properties of air: k = 0.0269 W/m.K, ρ = 1.22 kg/m , ν = μ/ρ = 1.669 *10-5 m2/s, Pr=0.706.

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Solution:

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Equations

Chapter 3
1- The thermal resistance of conduction is written as:

''
L Rconduction
Rconduction  
kA A

2- The thermal resistance of convection is:

''
1 Rconvection
Rconvection  
hc A A

3- The thermal resistance of radiation is:

1 R ''
Rradiation   radiation
hr A A

Where: L is the thickness, k is the conductivity, hc is the convective heat transfer coefficient, hr is the
radiative heat transfer coefficient, and A is the heat transfer area.

4- Relation between heat rate and thermal resistance:

T T
q or q' ' 
R R' '

5- The equivalent resistance Req of two thermal resistances R1 and R2 in series is:

Req  R1  R2

6- The equivalent resistance Req of two thermal resistances R1 and R2 in parallel is:

R1 R2
Req 
R1  R2

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Chapter 5
1- Validity of the Lumped Capacitance Method LCM: LCM is applicable if:

Bi  0.1

Where Bi is the Biot number defined as follows:

hLc
Bi 
k

Where Lc is a characteristic length defined by the relation:

Volume of the solid V

Lc  
Heat transfer area As

2- LCM equations: If LCM is applicable, the time t and temperature T are given by the following relations:

   T  T 
t   t ln  i    t ln  i 
   T  T 

 T  T  t 
  exp   
 i Ti  T  t 

Vc cLc
Where:  t   is the thermal time constant;  : density and c : specific heat.
hAs h

Chapter 7: Convection - External flows

1- The Reynolds number in external flows is:

VL VL
Re L  
 

2- For laminar flow over an isothermal plate:

hL L
Nu L   0.664 Re1L/ 2 Pr1 / 3 for Pr  0.6
k

3- For turbulent flow over an isothermal plate:

hLL
Nu L   0.037 Re 0L.8 Pr1 / 3 for 0.6  Pr  60
k

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4- For mixed boundary layer over an isothermal plate:

Nu L 
hL L
k
 
 0.037 Re 4L / 5  A Pr1 / 3 for 0.6  Pr  60 and Re x ,c  Re L  108

A  0.037 Re 4x,/c5  0.664 Re1x/,c2 ; Re x,c  5 *10 5

Chapter 8: Convection - Internal flows

1- For a steady flow of an incompressible fluid or ideal gas with one inlet and one outlet exchanging heat
with the tube surface at constant temperature, the heat transfer rate is written as follows:

 C p Tm,o  Tm,i   hATlm

q  m

Where:

To  Ti
Tlm 
 T 
ln  o 
 Ti 

To  Ts  Tm,à

Ti  Ts  Tm,i

2- The Reynolds number in internal flows is:

VD 4m
Re D  
 D

3- For smooth pipes and fully developed flow, the friction coefficient and Nusselt number are given as
follows:

f  0.79 ln Re D  1.64
2

hD  f / 8Re D  1000 Pr
Nu D  
k 
1  12.7 f / 8 Pr 2 / 3  1
1/ 2


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Chapter 11: Heat Exchangers
1- The heat transfer rate gained by the cold fluid is:

 c C p ,c Tc,o  Tc,i 
q c  m

2- The heat transfer rate in the hot side is:

 h C p ,h Th,i  Th,o 
q h  m

3- For a heat exchanger without losses to its surrounding, one can write:

q c  q h  q  UATlm

Where U is the overall heat transfer coefficient, A the heat transfer area, and Tlm is the logarithmic mean
temperature difference written for a counter-flow heat exchanger as follows:

T1  T2
Tlm 
 T 
ln  1 
 T2 

T1  Th,i  Tc,o

T2  Th,o  Tc,i

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