MEC301: Heat Transfer

MEC-301
Heat Transfer

Lecture-1
Modes of Heat Transfer
Conduction
&
Thermal Conductivity
Lovely Professional University
School of Mechanical Engineering

MineshVohra(U Id: 15783) Assistant Professor-SME Email: minesh.15783@lpu.co.in

 MEC301: Heat Transfer

Heat transfer and thermodynamics

In Thermodynamics, Heat is form of energy that can be transferred from one
system to another as a result of temperature difference, and it gives no indication
about how long the process will take.
 The transfer of energy as heat is always from the higher-temperature medium to
the lower-temperature one. Heat transfer stops when the two mediums reach the
same temperature.
Heat Transfer deals with the determination of the rates of such energy transfers
as well as variation of temperature.
Heat can be transferred in three different modes: conduction, convection, and
radiation

!! Heat transfer is inherently a non-equilibrium process !!

MineshVohra(U Id: 15783) Assistant Professor-SME Email: minesh.15783@lpu.co.in

 MEC301: Heat Transfer

Engineering Heat Transfer

The heat transfer problems encountered in practice can be considered in two groups:
 Rating
 Sizing Problems
• The rating problems deal with the determination of the heat transfer rate for an
existing system at a specified temperature difference.
• The sizing problems deal with the determination of the size of a system in order to
transfer heat at a specified rate for a specified temperature difference.

MineshVohra(U Id: 15783) Assistant Professor-SME Email: minesh.15783@lpu.co.in

 MEC301: Heat Transfer

MineshVohra(U Id: 15783) Assistant Professor-SME Email: minesh.15783@lpu.co.in

 MEC301: Heat Transfer

Scalar or Vector?

MineshVohra(U Id: 15783) Assistant Professor-SME Email: minesh.15783@lpu.co.in

 MEC301: Heat Transfer

Conduction heat transfer

Fourier Law, Thermal Conductivity and Its variation

Conduction: The transfer of energy from the more energetic particles of a

substance to the adjacent less energetic ones as a result of interactions
between the particles.
 In solids, it is due to the combination of vibrations of the molecules in a
lattice and the energy transport by free electrons.
 In gases and liquids, conduction is due to the collisions and diffusion of the
molecules during their random motion.

MineshVohra(U Id: 15783) Assistant Professor-SME Email: minesh.15783@lpu.co.in

 MEC301: Heat Transfer

Rate of Heat Conduction

The rate of heat conduction through a plane layer is proportional to
the
• Temperature difference across the layer
• Heat transfer area,
• and is inversely proportional to the thickness of the layer.

• The constant of proportionality “k” which is the thermal

conductivity of the material, which is a measure of the ability of a
material to conduct heat.

Heat conduction through a large plane

wall of thickness x and area A.

MineshVohra(U Id: 15783) Assistant Professor-SME Email: minesh.15783@lpu.co.in

 MEC301: Heat Transfer

Fourier law Conduction

• Heat is conducted in the direction of decreasing
temperature, and the temperature gradient becomes
negative when temperature decreases with increasing x.

• The negative sign in the equation ensures that heat In heat conduction analysis,
transfer in the positive x direction is a positive quantity. A represents the area normal to
the direction of heat transfer.

MineshVohra(U Id: 15783) Assistant Professor-SME Email: minesh.15783@lpu.co.in

 MEC301: Heat Transfer

Thermal conductivity, k
Thermal conductivity can be defined as:
The rate at which heat is getting transferred through unit
surface area (1 square metre) when the temperature falls by
one degree (1 Kelvin or 1 degree Celsius) per unit length (1
meter) of the material

The units of Thermal Conductivity are, therefore W/mK

A simple experimental setup to
determine the thermal conductivity of
a material.

MineshVohra(U Id: 15783) Assistant Professor-SME Email: minesh.15783@lpu.co.in

 MEC301: Heat Transfer

Thermal Conductivity…Solid
• In solids, heat conduction is due to two effects:
 The lattice vibrational waves induced by the vibrational
motions of the molecules positioned at relatively fixed
positions in a periodic manner called a lattice, and
 The energy transported via the free flow of electrons in the
solid.
• The relatively high thermal conductivities of pure metals
are primarily due to the electronic component.
• The lattice component of thermal conductivity strongly
depends on the way the molecules are arranged.
For example, diamond, which is a highly ordered crystalline
solid, has the highest
known thermal conductivity at room temperature
10
MineshVohra(U Id: 15783) Assistant Professor-SME Email: minesh.15783@lpu.co.in
 MEC301: Heat Transfer

MineshVohra(U Id: 15783) Assistant Professor-SME Email: minesh.15783@lpu.co.in

 MEC301: Heat Transfer

Thermal Conductivity…Liquids & Gases

In a liquid or gas, the kinetic energy of the molecules is due to their random
translational motion as well as their vibrational and rotational motions.
• The thermal conductivities of most liquids decrease with increasing
temperature.
• The higher the temperature, the faster the molecules move and the higher
the number of such collisions, and the better the heat transfer
• The kinetic theory of gases predicts and the experiments confirm that the
thermal conductivity of gases is proportional to the square root of the
absolute temperature T, and inversely proportional to the square root of the
molar mass M.
K √(T/M)

MineshVohra(U Id: 15783) Assistant Professor-SME Email: minesh.15783@lpu.co.in

 MEC301: Heat Transfer

Thermal Conductivity

13
MineshVohra(U Id: 15783) Assistant Professor-SME Email: minesh.15783@lpu.co.in