Delft University of Technology

Faculty 3ME – Process & Energy Department

Exam Advanced Heat Transfer (ME45000)

January 22nd, 2020, 9:00-12:00 (3 hours)

Please read the following carefully first:

• The exam consists of five problems, each divided into several sub-problems.
The number of points you can obtain for a problem is given in parentheses (90).
• If you need a numerical value from a previous problem which you didn’t find (or where
you strongly doubt): Mention and use a good engineer’s guess.
• Some questions may have
i), ii)… Further sub-questions!
• Please do NOT use a pencil (if at all, only in sketches).
• If your answer needs more space than the answer box, you can continue on the two
extra sheets at the end of the answer-booklet. No other paper is accepted.
• If you really mess up in an answer box, you can ask for a sticker to glue over.
• In case of ‘emergency’, don’t hesitate to raise your hand to ask a question…
• Good luck with the exam!

Problem 1: 20 points

Consider two square plates with a width and length of a and with a thermal conductivity k. For the
plate on the left, all sides are kept at a constant temperature as indicated. For the plate on the right,
two sides have a non-uniform temperature distribution as indicated. We will first consider the
steady-state condition of both plates.

a) (3) Calculate the 2D heat flux vector in point (a,a) for both plates, and sketch them.
b) (3) For plate I, sketch three heat flux vectors at all sides qualitatively.
c) (4) Draw a few relevant isotherms for plate I.
Imagine that one of the boundary condition suddenly changes for one of the
plates. As a result, unsteady heat transfer will occur. You decide that you
would like to investigate this unsteady heat transfer numerically. Therefore,
you divide the left plate into many square cells of size x by x.

d) (10) i) Derive an explicit relation for the temperature in node 0

(indicated in the figure to the right).
HINT: You could start with a conveniently chosen control volume.
ii) What should the numerical Fourier number be in order to
ensure a stable solution (and why)?
1/5
Problem 2: 23 points

Hot steam is condensed by a channel through which a newly developed cooling liquid flows in the
x-direction. The channel and the condensing steam film surrounding it are shown in the figure
below. Inside the coolant flow, there is a growing thermal boundary layer T (as shown). Because of
the condensation on the outside of the pipe, the temperature of the inner wall can be considered to
be constant.

The coolant flow is a plug flow. Thus, the velocity profile is entirely flat everywhere and the
velocity is U0 = 0.25 m/s. The coolant enters the channel at x=0 with a temperature T0. The thermal
boundary thickness can be approximated as T ( x ) = 2 ( x / U 0 ) . The coolant channel is insulated
1/2

in the dashed region. Use the following values for this problem:  = 1000 [kg/m3], cp = 2000
[J/kg.K] and k = 10 [W/m.K], H = 0.02 [m] and b = 0.2 [m].

Far away from x=0, the rate of condensation is much less than it is close to x=0. You may assume
that this phenomenon is the result of the thermal resistance of the coolant flow inside the channel.

a) (7) i) Give two arguments or mechanisms why the rate of condensation decreases with x.
ii) Calculate the thermal development length Lth.

Consider the control volume inside the thermal boundary

layer as indicated.

b) (6) Set up a thermal balance for the control volume

shown and show that the heat flux at the wall, qs,
can be expressed as:

 T
qs ( x ) = c pU 0 (T ( x, y ) − T0 ) dy .
x 0
 y 
We model the thermal profile in the channel as T ( x, y ) − T0 = 10 1 −
  ( x )  for y  T .
 T 
c) (10) i) Calculate the average heat flux qs = Lth  qs dx inside the developing region.
−1

ii) Give one argument why the thermal profile is realistic, and one argument why it is not.
iii) How much steam condenses onto the channel in the developing region, in kg/s?
The condensation enthalpy of the steam can be taken as hlg = 2.26 MJ/kg.
HINT: if you didn’t find Lth in a), use Lth=1.0 [m].

2/5
Problem 3: 22 points
Bread slice Grill wires Reflector
T3 T1 = 700 oC T2

D = 2 mm

d = 0.5 mm
A slice of bread is put in the grill. The latter consists of a row electrically heated (horizontal) ‘red-
hot grill wires’ that can be heated to a very high temperature of 700 oC. Immediately behind the
wires, we find a reflector that can be taken as homogenous in temperature. The bread slice is
initially at 12oC. It is standing against a (vertical) grid. The influence of this grid can be ignored.
We investigate radiative heat transfer, where for the moment the grill-wires are ‘black’. The
reflector is well-insulated. We denote de wires ‘1’, the reflector ‘2’, and the bread ‘3’. You may
regard this case to be entirely 2D and in steady state.

a) (5) Determine the full view factor matrix Fij.

Hint: Start with the diagonals of the matrix.
Hint: Each wire has two neighbour-wires!
Hint: In a viewfactor table in ‘Mills’ I found:

We first assume that the reflector, the grill wires and the bread are black surfaces.
Assume that the reflector, the bread slice and the set of grill wires, all measure 10×10 cm2.

b) (6) i) Determine the heat flow towards the bread slice in W.

ii) What will be the reflector temperature in oC?
Hint: You could first draw a radiative resistance scheme.

Actually, the grill wires are not black but dull grey with an emission coefficient of 1 = 0.55.

c) (7) i) Sketch the appropriate radiative resistance scheme including symbols,

ii) Determine the wire temperature in oC in case the total heat flow is the same as in b).
(if you had no result there, choose Qb = 350 Watt).

d) (4) We remove the bread slice, and position a spectrometer ‘viewing’ both the wires and the
reflector. Sketch the irradiance spectrum G onto the sensor in a single graph qualitatively
(and give a few lines of arguments) in case:
1) The reflector is a well-insulated black surface (as before).
2) The reflector is a (more realistic) shiny metal surface of low emittance; equally insulated
and of equal temperature as before.

3/5
Problem 4: 20 points

We consider the door of a porcelain oven. While in action, the inside of the oven is at 900 oC, with a
high overall heat transfer coefficient towards the door of ho = 80 W/m2.K. The cold side of the door
is in a factory hall of which air and walls are at 25 oC, with only a mild transfer coefficient of hh =
11 W/m2.K.

The door is built out of stacked kaolin bricks (k = 0.24 W/m.K;  = 2200 kg/m3; c = 900 J/kg.K). It
measures L = 80 cm thickness.

a) (4) i) Determine the heat flux in W/m2, assuming the width and height of the door are much
larger than its thickness, and the process is in steady state.
ii) Determine the door surface temperature at the hall side in oC.

The door is removed from the oven. It is placed outside the factory, where it is left to cool down.
The surrounding temperature, Te, is here 25oC as well.
The heat transfer coefficient at the cold side remains 11 W/m2.K, at the hot side it is now on average
40 W/m2K. We will here investigate the cooling down process of the door.

b) (4) Determine a characteristic time scale, tslab, for the whole slab to fully cool down, in days.

c) (3) After how much time, tcore, will the core (the point halfway) start to sense the cooling
process, in hrs?

The surface temperature of the hot side of the slab, Tsurf, can be described during the first few days
2
 ho 
Tsurf − Te   t h 1/2 
by (no need to prove this!): = 1 − e k   erfc  o ( t )  .
T0 − Te k 

d) (4) i) What is the characteristic time scale, tsurf, of this process in equation form and
determine it in minutes?
ii) Describe in some words why the temperature drop of the surface takes much less time
than that of the core. Your answer requires a Biot number.

After a long time, the core has cooled down to 40 oC.

e) (5) Sketch in one figure the following temperature profiles versus depth in the door, where
you take sufficient care for accuracy:
i) at time 0; i.e. the initial profile.
ii) at the characteristic time determined in d), tsurf.
iii) at the time determined in c), tcore.
iv) at the characteristic time determined in b), tslab.
v) at the time the core has cooled down to 40 degrees.

4/5
Problem 5: 5 points

Last week the Taal-volcano near Manilla, Philippines erupted.

Volcanologists are investigating the complex physical
processes taking place in the large ash-column above the
volcano. You are going to deliver engineering support to the
research team.

a) (0) What is your current M.Sc. and if applicable your

M.Sc.-track?

b) (5) Describe two engineering solutions related to

research on the ash-column you could possibly deliver:
i) One solution relating to the track/specialisation you
are studying, and
ii) One solution using things you learned during this
AHT course.
Convince us that you can contribute to the better
understanding of ash-column physics!
A meaningful answer should be some eight-ten lines
(four-five for each problem).

5/5