KATHMANDU UNIVERSITY

DHULIKHEL, KAVRE

SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING

DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

TERM PAPER II ON

STEADY STATE HEAT CONDUCTION THROUGH PLANE WALLS

SUBMITTED BY SUBMITTED TO

BIGYAN PARAJULI [32142] ER. MALESH SHAH

ENERGY TECHNOLOGY DOME, KU

23-Sep-20
 TABLE OF CONTENTS
TABLE OF FIGURES..............................................................................................................................ii

CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................................................1

1.1 Heat transfer.......................................................................................................................................1

1.2 Steady and unsteady heat transfer..................................................................................................1

1.3 Conduction heat transfer...................................................................................................................1

CHAPTER 2. DISCUSSION....................................................................................................................2

2.1 Steady heat conduction in plane walls............................................................................................2

2.2 Electrical analogy of heat transfer rate through a plane wall.......................................................3

2.3 Conduction heat transfer through a composite plane wall............................................................4

CHAPTER 3. SUMMARY........................................................................................................................6

REFERENCES..........................................................................................................................................7

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 TABLE OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Plane Wall [4]............................................................................................................................2
Figure 2: Analogy between thermal and electrical resistance concepts [4]......................................4
Figure 3: Heat flow through multilayer wall [2]......................................................................................5

CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 Heat transfer

The transfer of energy from higher temperature medium to the lower temperature medium is
called heat transfer. High temperature medium is associated with higher molecular energies
whereas lower temperature medium is associated with lower molecular energies. It can also be
taken as thermal energy transit due to spatial temperature difference. Existence of temperature
difference between any medium leads to heat transfer. Mainly heat transfer is found in three
basic modes: conduction, convection and radiation. The basic requirement for all the modes of
heat transfer is temperature difference present on them as no heat transfer is possible between
two medium with same temperature. It is concerned with conservation of energy equation
[ CITATION JPH10 \l 1033 ].

Using Fourier law, heat flux is obtained from

dT (X )
q ( x )=−K ……………….. (1)
dX

And heat flow is

Q= Aq ( X ) ……………………… (2)

1.2 Steady and unsteady heat transfer

There are mainly two modes of heat transfer steady and unsteady heat transfer state for the
analysis of heat transfer problems. In case of steady heat transfer state, temperature within the
system is independent of time and temperature. It is function of space coordinates only.
Mathematically it is expressed as T=f(x, y, z).

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Under unsteady condition, temperature within system is dependent of time. Unsteady state
conditions are precursor to steady state conditions[ CITATION Raj15 \l 1033 ].

1.3 Conduction heat transfer

Conduction is the transfer of heat through the solid or a stationary fluid due to the temperature
difference across the medium. It is the interaction between particles which lead to the transfer of
energy from more energetic particles of substance to the less energetic particles. Collision and
diffusion of molecules in gases and liquids during the random motion is due to combinations of
vibrations of molecules[ CITATION CPK06 \l 1033 ]. For heat conduction, Fourier’s law is
considered as rate equation and is expressed as

dT
Q=−KA …………………… (3)
dX

Where,

Q is the heat transfer rate in J/s.

K is thermal conductivity in W/m.

A is area of cross section in m^2.

dT/dX is the temperature gradient.

CHAPTER 2. DISCUSSION

2.1 Steady heat conduction in plane walls

Let us consider a plane wall of thickness L, its left face at x=0, is at temperature T 1 and right

face at x=L is at temperatureT 2. The wall has no heat generation and its thermal conductivity k
is assumed constant. Heat transfer through the wall is taken into account as steady and one
dimensional.

The governing equation for plane wall is

d dT
( )
dx dx
=0............................. (4)

Integrating we get, slope as

dT ( x )
=C1………………….… (5)
dx

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 Figure 1: Plane Wall [ CITATION Mah16 \l 1033 ]

Integrating above equation for the second time, we get C 1 and C 2 as constant of integration.

T ( x )=C 1 x +C 2……………… (6)

We have boundary conditions

T ( x )=T 1 at x=0

T ( x )=T 2 at x=L

First of all, we use first condition in equation (6) then we get

C 2=T 1

Again, applying second stipulation in same equation we get

T 2−T 1
C 1=
L

Now, substituting the obtained values in equation (6) we get,

x
T ( x )=( T 2−T 1 ) + T 1……………… (7)
L

In the above equation we are able to found that temperature of wall is depending on one
direction only and is expressed as T(x). It is a linear function of x as shown in figure (1).

Differentiating equation (7) with respect to x, we get

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 dT ( x) T 2−T 1
= …………………….….. (8)
dx L

Now, for calculation of heat flux from Fourier law with respect to equation (1)

T 1−T 2
q ( x )=K ……………………… (9)
L

Then, total flow rate Q through an area A normal to heat flow

T 1−T 2
Q=KA ( L ) ………..…….…… (10)

2.2 Electrical analogy of heat transfer rate through a plane wall

Rearranging the above equation (10), we get

∆T
Q=
L ……………………………… (11)
KA

In this equation, the temperature difference, ∆ T on two sides of wall is driving potential which
causes transfer of heat. The form L/KA is the quantity which rejects the heat flow in material and
is equal to thermal resistance Rth of wall which is known as conduction resistance of wall. Then
above equation is rearranged as

∆T
Q= (W )………………………… (12)
Rwall

Where

L K
Rwall = ( )……………………… (13)
KA W

There is analogy between a heat flow system and an electric current flow system where current
I is given by

V 1−V 2
I= ……………………………… (14)
Re

Comparing equation (12) and (14) indicates that rate of heat transfer Q through a layer
analogous to electric current I, thermal resistance Rth analogous to electric resistance Re and

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temperature difference ∆ T analogous to voltage difference∆ V . Such combination is called
electrical analogy rate of heat transfer through a plane wall[ CITATION Mah16 \l 1033 ].

Figure 2: Analogy between thermal and electrical resistance concepts [ CITATION Mah16 \l 1033 ]

Thermal conductance Kc is defined as the inverse phenomenon of thermal resistance and is

expressed as

KA
K c=
L

2.3 Conduction heat transfer through a composite plane wall

Let us consider composite walls attached with each other and made up of several materials
along with different thermal conductivities and thickness. All the above materials are in series as
shown in figure. Assume the thickness of walls is x 1, x 2, x 3 and thermal conductivities of walls K 1,
K 2, K 3 respectively. Temperature at contact surfaces are assumed to beT 1,T 2,T 3,T 4.

Figure 3: Heat flow through multilayer wall [ CITATION Raj15 \l 1033 ]

From Fourier law,

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 q dT
=−K
A dx

x1
T 1−T 2 = q
K1 A

x2
T 2−T 3 = q
K2 A

x3
T 3−T 4= q
K3 A

Now, total temperature difference,

∆ T =∆ T 1 +∆ T 2+ ∆ T 3

x1 x x
T 1−T 4=q ( + 2 + 3 )
K1 A K2 A K3 A

Total heat transfer through composite wall is

T 1−T 4
q= ……………… (15)
R 1+ R 2 + R 3

CHAPTER 3. SUMMARY
Equation (10) derived above tells that rate of heat conduction through a plane wall is
proportional to the average thermal conductivity, the wall area and temperature difference, but it
is inversely proportional to the wall thickness. In steady operation, the rate of transfer of heat
through wall is constant.

Similarly, from the equation (13) we can tell that thermal resistance of a medium depends on the
geometry and thermal properties of medium as it is directly proportional to length and inversely
proportional to thermal conductivity and area of wall.

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 REFERENCES

[1] J.P.Holman, Heat Transfer, New York: McGraw-Hill, 2010.

[2] D. A. P. P. V. H. P. P. T. K. Rajendra P.Patil, "Analysis of steady state heat conduction in different

composite wall," IJIRSET, vol. 4, no. 7, july 2015.

[3] C. Kothandaraman, Fundamentals of heat and mass transfer, Delhi: New age international limited
publisher, 2006.

[4] M. M. Rathore, Engineering heat and mass transfer, Maharastha: Laxmi publications ltd, 2016.

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