12.1.

3 Heat Conduction through Cylindrical Pipes

Up to now we have seen heat-transter through slabs which have a definite cross-sectional area like a square
or a rectangle. But mostly we find heat-transfer applications to be through cylindrical pipes in which case
the heat transfers from inside the pipes to the outside or vice versa. In view of the thickness of the pipe, the
contact area on either side is not the same. lf r 0 and r¡ are outside and inside radii, thickness of the pipe is B
and the length of the pipe is L, -
A 0 = outside contact area = 2TI r O L (12.15)
A¡ = inside contact area = 2TI r¡ L (12.16)

and B = ro - r-1
[~ ] Biochemica/ Engineering

Since the two areas are differcnt, confusion arises as to which area is to be taken. One of the approaches
could be to take the average area as follows:
2n L (r0 + r¡ )
AAv = (12.17)
2
But a rigorous approach could be to use the logarithmic mean radius which is obtained as follows.
Consider a cylindrical pipe of length L with an elemental cylinder at a radius of r and having a thick-
ness of /1r (as shown in Fig. 12.3). We can apply Fourier law for heat conduction by replacing dx with dr in
Eq. (12.5).
q -kdT
(12.18)
2nrL dr
On rearrangement,

2nkL dT
q r,o
f = f..!:...
r. dr
M
l

which on integration between the limits gives

2nkL
- - (T¡ - T0 ) = In (rJr¡) (12.19)
q
The negative sign in Eq. ( 12.18) is taken care of by change of
limits. Fig. 12.3 Conductive heat transfer
through a cylindrica/ pipe
2nkL(T¡ -T0 )
ofradii r¡ and r0
or q=
ln(r0 /,¡)
Multiplying and dividing with (r0 - r¡)

(12.20)

(ro-,¡)
where 't = (12.21)
. ln(r /,¡)
0
and 1s known as the /og mean radius.

or _J_ = k AT
(12.22)
AL B
where AL = 2l1rLL
and is known as log mean area.