Two-Dimensional, Steady State Conduction

CHAPTER 4

Incropera F. P., DeWitt D. P., Bergman T. L., Lavine A. S. Principles of Heat and Mass Transfer, 7th Ed., Wiley, 2013 1
Chapter Map
4.1 General Consideration and Solution Techniques
4.2 The Method of Separation of Variables (not included)
4.3 The Conduction Shape Factor & the Dimensionless Conduction Heat Rate
4.4 Finite-Difference Equations
4.5 Solving the Finite-Difference Equations
4.6 Summary (Reading)

Incropera F. P., DeWitt D. P., Bergman T. L., Lavine A. S. Principles of Heat and Mass Transfer, 7th Ed., Wiley, 2013 2
 General Considerations
• Two-dimensional conduction:
– Temperature distribution is characterized by two spatial coordinates, e.g., T (x,y).

– Heat flux vector is characterized by two directional components, e.g., qx” and qy”.

• e.g. Heat transfer in a long, prismatic solid with two isothermal surfaces and two insulated surfaces:
• Note the shapes of lines of constant temperature
(isotherms) and heat flow lines (adiabatic).

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 Governing Equation and methods of
solution
Heat Diffusion Equation reduces to:

 T  T q x , y  2T 2T
 2 0
2 2
 2 0
x 2
y k x 2
y

1- Exact/Analytical: Separation of Variables (Section 4.2): Limited to simple geometries and boundary conditions.

 
2- Approximate/Graphical q  0 : limited value for quantitative considerations but a quick aid to establish physical insights.

3- Approximate/Numerical: Finite-Difference (Section 4.4), Finite Element or Boundary Element Method. Most useful
approach and adaptable to any level of complexity.

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 4.2 Mathematical Method (overview)
2T 2T
 2 0
x 2
y

• Partial, rather than ordinary Differential equation

• Conduction heat transfer is primarily in the x- and
y-directions.

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4.3 The conduction shape factor
In many cases, existing solutions to 2D and 3D solution can be reported in terms of a shape factor
S or a steady-state dimensionless conduction heat rate, q*ss.
The shape factor is defined such that

q  Sk T1 T2 
1
Rcond  2 D  
Sk

The shape factor S can be found in Table 4.1 for different systems.

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Conduction shape factor

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Problem: Shape Factor

Problem 4.9 Radioactive wastes are temporarily stored in a spherical container, the center of which is buried a distance of 10 m
below the earth’s surface. The outside diameter of the container is 2 m, and 500 W of heat are released as a result of radioactive
decay. If the soil surface temperature is 20°C, what is the outside surface temperature of the container under steady-state
conditions?

Heat-generating radioactive waste in a buried container of known size and shape.

Find container surface temperature.

Schematic:
ASSUMPTIONS: (1) Steady-state conditions, (2) Soil is a
homogeneous medium of known and constant properties,
(3) Negligible contact resistance.

PROPERTIES: Table A.3, Soil (300 K): k = 0.52 W/m·K.


ANALYSIS: From an energy balance on the container, q  E g and from case 1 of Table 4.1(a),

2 D q 1  D 4 z 
q k T1  T2   T1  T2 
1  D 4z k 2 D
500W  1 - 2m/40m 
=20 oC   92.7 oC
(0.52 W/m  K)2π (2m)

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4.4 Numerical Method
• An approximate method for determining temperatures at discrete (nodal) points of the physical
system.

• Procedure:
– Represent the physical system by a nodal network.

– Use the energy balance method to obtain a finite-difference equation for each node of unknown
temperature.

– Solve the resulting set of algebraic equations for the unknown nodal temperatures.

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4.4 Finite Difference Method:

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 4.4 Numerical Method
Mesh:
One option is to subdivide the medium or body of
interest into small regions and assign a reference point
at the center of each small region. The reference points
are usually called nodal points or nodes. All nodes
together are the nodal network, mesh, or grid.

The temperature of a node (e.g. Tm,n) is the average

temperature of the surrounding region (in red).

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4.4 Numerical Method
The x and y replaced by the m and n indices

The entire nodal region is characterized by a single

temperature, which represents an average of the
actual temperature distribution in the region.

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Reading

4.4 Finite Difference Method:

Steady state 2D without heat source:

and

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Reading

4.4 Finite Difference Method:

Similarly for y-direction:

For ∆x = ∆y:

Approximate algebraic equation, replacing the exact differential equation (PDE)

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4.4 Finite Difference Method:
Steady state 2D heat duffision equation with heat source:

Energy balance for node (m,n), assuming all heat fluxes go to the node:

q 
i 1
i  m ,n 
 q  x  y  1  0

For ∆x = ∆y:

q  x 
2

T m ,n 1  T m ,n 1  T m 1,n  T m 1,n   4T m ,n  0
k
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 4.4 Finite Difference Method:
How can we treat convective boundary conditions?
Example: Internal corner with convection

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4.4 Finite Difference Method:
More boundary conditions:
1- Plane surface with convection:

2- External corner with convection:

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4.4 Finite Difference Method:
Interface between two dissimilar materials with contact resistance:

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Solving the Finite Difference System of Equations
 Once a mesh or nodal network has been set up and a finite-difference equation for the energy
balance of each node has been derived, the temperature distribution can be determined.
 The resulting system of equations is a system of linear, algebraic equations, which can be
described in matrix form.
 For N unknown temperatures, there are N finite-difference equations:

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Solving the Finite Difference System of Equations
- The temperatures of nodes Ti are now identified by a single integer subscript i, instead of the
double subscript (m, n).
- The coefficients aji and Cj are known and dependent on ∆x, h, k, T∞, etc.
- The system of equations can be written in matrix form:
[A] [T] = [C]

NxN N N
Solve matrix equations numerically!
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Accuracy of Solution
• The solution of a finite-difference calculation is approximate due to assumptions made during the
derivation of energy balances.
• To verify a numerical solution, check the energy balance for one or multiple control elements by
substituting the calculated temperatures into the energy balance. The energy balance should be fulfilled
with an adequate precision.
• The solution might be not accurate enough due to a coarse mesh, leading to inaccurate approximations. A
grid independence study should be performed: Refine the mesh (e.g. reduce ∆x by a factor 2, i.e. increasing
the number of nodes by a factor 4) and check if the inaccuracy in the solution reduces. Once the solution
doesn‘t further improve by mesh refinement, the so-called grid-independent solution has been found.
• If available, compare your numerical solution to a known exact solution. However, this option is limited by
the fact that we seldom seek numerical solutions to problems for which there exist exact solutions.
Nevertheless, if we seek a numerical solution to a complex problem for which there is no exact solution, it
is often useful to test our finite-difference procedures by applying them to a simpler version of the problem.

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 Example on Finite Difference Method
Steady-state temperatures (K) at three nodal points of a long rectangular rod are as shown.
That is, TA = 398 K, TB = 374.6 K, and TC = 348.5 K. The rod experiences a uniform
volumetric generation rate of 5 x 107 W/m3 and has a thermal conductivity of 20 W/m-K.
Two of its sides are maintained at a constant temperature of 300 K, while the others are
insulated.

1- Develop a general nodal equation for an internal node (e.g. node# 3) with heat generation.

T 2  T c  T B  300  4T 3  q  x  k  0
2

 x 
2
0.0052
2- Use the above equation to calculate the temperatures at nodes 1, 2, and 3. q  5  10 
7
 62.5K
k 20
3- The heat transfer rate per unit length from the rod using an overall energy balance on T 2  390.15K
the rod, in W/m. V T 3  368.94K
  q  5  107  3x  2y  7500W  m 1
qbar
L T1  362.42K

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