Chapter 3 HEAT TRANSFER COEFFICIENT

Example 3.1 A steam pipe of 97 mm inner diameter and 114 mm outer diameter (4 inch,
schedule 80), is required to carry high pressure saturated steam at 30 bar absolute pressure.
It is covered by a layer of mineral wool in order to reduce heat loss. Though an extra thick
layer of insulation saves a lot of heat, it is expensive at the same time. As a standard
practice, a design engineer usually allows the temperature at the outer surface of the
insulation (also called the skin temperature) to remain at 15 - 25°C above the room
temperature. In order to calculate the thickness of insulation of the above steam pipe,
assume a skin temperature of 55°C. The ambient temperature is 30°C. The thermal
conductivity of mineral wool may be taken as 0.1 W/m °C, and that of the pipe material
(carbon steel) as 43 W/m °C. The external air-film coefficient for heat loss to the ambient is
8 W/m2 °C. Calculate the thickness of insulation and the rate of heat loss per metre length
of the pipe.
The actual rate of heat loss from the fin must be equal to the rate of heat input by
conduction at the fin base from the wall at steady state. Therefore, we have
If the fin temperature remains uniform at Tw (i.e. the base temperature), the rate of heat
loss is the maximum.
Qmax = (total area)(heat transfer coefficient)(driving force)

= (pl + bw) (h) (Tw - To)

The fin efficiency  is defined as

A simpler but nevertheless accurate expression for heat loss can be obtained by using an
alternative form of the boundary condition Eq. (3.14b). If we assume that heat loss from
the edge of the fin (at x = l) is negligibly small, we can write
If the fin thickness w is small, p = 2(b + w) = 2b, then 2 = 2h/kw.
If we take l = 5 cm, w = 4 mm, b = 1 m, k = 160 W/m °C, h = 50 W/m °C,
then  = [ph/kbw]1/2 = 12.5 m-1, and l = 0.625.
From Eq. (3.21),  = 0.88; and from Eq. (3.25),  = 0.887.
These values of  are very close to each other. Equation (3.25) is good enough for
practical purposes.
Example 3.2 A 3 inch schedule 40 carbon steel pipe (actual i.d. = 78 mm, wall
thickness = 5.5 mm) has eight longitudinal fins of 1.5 mm thickness. Each fin extends
30 mm from the pipe wall. The thermal conductivity of the fin material is 45 W/m °C. If
the wall temperature, the ambient temperature, and the surface heat transfer coefficient
are 150°C, 28°C, and 75 W/m2 °C respectively, calculate the percentage increase in the
rate of heat transfer for the finned tube over the plain tube.
3.4 THERMAL CONTACT RESISTANCE
Example 3.3 A two-layered cylindrical shell of high tensile steel (Cr-Mo-V) has an
i.d. of 90 cm, and an o.d. of 110 cm. The layers are equal in thickness. Under steady
operating conditions, the inside temperature of the shell is 180°C and that of the outer
surface is 170°C, making a temperature drop of 10°C across the composite wall. The
thermal conductivity of the alloy is 37 W/m °C, and the rate of heat loss through the wall is
known to be 5.18 kW per metre length of the shell.
(a)Is there any thermal contact resistance at the interface between the layers?
(b)If so, calculate the contact resistance based on one metre length of the shell and also
express it in terms of a contact heat transfer coefficient.
(c)Calculate the ‘temperature jump’ across the contact surface.
3.5 CRITICAL INSULATION THICKNESS
Example 3.4 A copper wire, 5.2 mm in diameter, is insulated with a layer of PVC
(polyvinyl chloride) of thermal conductivity kc = 0.43 W/m °C. The wire carries current,
and its temperature is 60°C. The film coefficient at the outer surface of the insulation is
11.35 W/m2 °C. Calculate the critical insulation thickness
1. The steady state temperature distribution in a 0.2 m thick wall is known to be T = 250
- 2750 x2, where x is the position in the wall in metre, and T is in °C. The thermal
conductivity of the material of the wall is 1.163 W/ m °C. The wall loses heat to an
ambient at 30°C (Figure 1).
a. Calculate the heat transfer coefficient at the surface of the wall at x = 0.2 m.
b. What can be said about the same at the other surface of the wall?
2. An 8% solution of alcohol from a fermenter is raised to 75°C in a heat exchanger before feeding it to the
distillation column for concentration. A 50 mm (schedule 40 IPS) pipe is used to carry the hot liquid to the
column. The pipe is insulated with a 4 cm thick layer of glass fibre blanket (k = 0.068 W/m °C). The liquid-
side film coefficient is estimated to be 800 W/m2 °C, and the outer air-film coefficient is 10 W/m2 °C. The
following data are also available: ambient air temperature = 28°C, actual pipe diameter: i.d. = 53 mm, o.d. =
60 mm. Thermal conductivity of pipe wall: 45 W/m °C. Calculate
a. the overall heat transfer coefficient based on the i.d. of the pipe,
b. the overall heat transfer coefficient based on the o.d. of the insulation,
c. the percentage of the total resistance offered by the 'air-film',
d. the rate of heat loss per metre length of the pipe, and
e. the insulation ‘skin temperature’.
3. An aluminum fin (k = 200 W/m.°C) 3.0 mm thick and 7.5 cm long protrudes from a
wall. The base is maintained at 300°C, and the ambient temperature is 50°C with h = 10
W/m2.°C. Calculate the heat loss from the fin per unit depth of material.
4. Calculate the critical radius of insulation for asbestos (k = 0.17 W/m.°C] surrounding
a pipe and exposed to room air at 20°C with h = 3.0 W/m2.°C. Calculate the heat loss
from a 200°C, 5.0-cm-diameter pipe when covered with the critical radius of insulation
and without insulation.