M ECH 375 H EAT T RANSFER

L ECTURE 3: M ODES OF H EAT T RANSFER

Monday, Sep 11, 2023
15:00–15:50 in M CML 166

1 I NTRODUCTION
1.1 Learning Objectives
By the end of this lecture, you should be able to:
1. Describe the difference between heat transfer and thermal energy

2. Define the concept of a medium

3. Describe the three commonly-recognized modes of heat transfer (conduction,

convection, and radiation) and the similarities and differences between them

4. Perform simple calculations involving conduction, convection, and radiation

1.2 Textbook Readings (Optional)

• Section 1.3, excluding:

◦ subheading “One-dimensional heat conduction equation” (pg. 17)

◦ subheading “Lumped-capacity solution” (pg. 21)

1.3 Textbook Practice Problems (Optional)

• Easy: Examples 1.2, 1.3, 1.5, and 1.6

• Medium: 1.1, 1.3, 1.27

• Hard: 1.12

1.4 Assignment Connections

Following this lecture, you should be able to complete:
• Assignment 1: Question 1

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L3: Modes of Heat Transfer M ECH 375 Mon, Sep 11, 15:00–15:50

2 O VERVIEW
2.1 Heat vs. Thermal Energy
What is the difference between heat and thermal energy?
• Heat is

• Thermal energy is

2.2 Media
We label anything capable of storing thermal energy—all matter—as a medium
which can facilitate heat transfer. The concept of a medium extends beyond heat
transfer:
• a sponge is a medium which can hold

• a bus is a medium which can hold

• a hard drive is a medium which can hold

2.3 Modes of Heat Transfer (Definitions)

It is common to divide all varieties of heat transfer into three modes based on how
heat moves relative to the medium:
1. Conduction: heat flows

•
•
•

2. Convection: heat flows through the medium and . This can

be viewed as conduction enhanced by

•
•
•

3. Radiation: heat flows

•
•
•

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Mon, Sep 11, 15:00–15:50 M ECH 375 L3: Modes of Heat Transfer

3 M ODES OF H EAT T RANSFER (D ESCRIPTIONS )

3.1 Conduction
• Whenever matter experiences a temperature gradient, heat spontaneously flows
down the gradient by conduction

• Imagine a solid material connecting two bodies at constant temperatures

Thi

Tlo

If we can neglect the heat transfer to/from the surroundings at the edges of the
central material, we find that at steady state

Q̇ = Direction of Q̇:

where

◦ Q̇ is the rate of heat transfer, with SI units

◦ k is the thermal conductivity of the material, with SI units
■ Many k values are tabulated in the textbook’s Appendix A
◦ A⊥ is the cross-sectional area of the material (area normal to the direction
of flow), with SI units

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Mon, Sep 11, 15:00–15:50

Synthetic Insulations Materials Occurring in Nature Synthetic Conductors

Glass
Evacuated Insulations

Sapphire
Nonmetallic Gases

Unevacuated

Sodium
Stone
Insulations

Copper
Other Nonmetallic Solids

Nonmetallic Metallic

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M ECH 375

Liquids Liquids

Metallic Solids Heat Pipes

Silica Aerogel

Balsa wood
R-1234yz

Water

Ice

Mercury

Silver

Diamond
Stainless Steel/
Nickel Alloys
L3: Modes of Heat Transfer

10−3 10−2 10−1 100 101 102 103 104 105

Thermal Conductivity, k [W/(m · K)]

Figure 1: Approximate ranges of thermal conductivity values of various substances. All values are evaluated at room
temperature, or the closest temperature at which the phase described can occur at atmospheric pressure (e.g. 0 ◦ C for
ice). Adapted from Figure 1.6 of A Heat Transfer Textbook, 5th Edition by John H. Leinhardt IV and V
Mon, Sep 11, 15:00–15:50 M ECH 375 L3: Modes of Heat Transfer

3.2 Convection
• Imagine a boundary between a solid and a fluid ( ). The solid and
the fluid far from the solid are both maintained at constant temperature, while
the fluid near the wall changes temperature in response to the wall
• Fluid near the wall can’t move (the boundary condition), while fluid far
away behaves as though the wall isn’t there
• In this set-up, the fluid near (but not at) the wall tends to move move:
◦ In forced convection, it is driven by an external force (fan, pump. . . )
◦ In natural convection, the heating/cooling of the fluid near the wall triggers
a density change which gives rise to a buoyancy difference
The moving fluid carries internal energy with it, increasing the rate of energy
transfer beyond that which would be expected if the fluid were stationary

Twall

T∞

• We find that, at steady state

Q̇ = Direction of Q̇:

where
◦ Q̇ is the rate of heat transfer, with SI units
◦ h is the average convection coefficient for the entire wall, with SI units

◦ A is the contact area between the solid and the fluid, with SI units

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L3: Modes of Heat Transfer M ECH 375 Mon, Sep 11, 15:00–15:50

3.3 Radiation
(1) In General
• Imagine a scenario in which two bodies can clearly see each other—they could
be separated by a transparent material, or by empty space. As before, the bodies
are each maintained at a different constant temperature

1 2

• Both materials spontaneously emit and absorb electromagnetic radiation (all

materials do this, all the time). The hotter body emits more radiation, however,
so there is a net transfer of thermal energy from the hot body to the cold body.

Q̇1→2 =
where
◦ Q̇1→2 is the net rate of heat transfer from 1 to 2, with SI units
◦ A1 is the total surface area of body 1, with SI units
◦ F1−2 is the transfer factor, which is dimensionless and depends on:
■ the geometry, including separation distance (what fraction of 1’s surface

can “see” 2’s surface?)

■ the materials (how strongly does each material tend to radiate?)

For now, we will focus two special cases:

1. a small body (body which absorbs and emits at all wavelengths
equally well) 1 completely surrounded by a much larger isothermal
( ) body 2:
F1−2 = ε1
where ε1 is the emissivity or emittance of body 1, which is dimension-
less, falls on the closed (inclusive) interval , and can be looked up
in Table 10.1.
2. two infinite black (gray with ) plates facing each other:
F1−2 = 1
◦ σ is the Stefan-Boltzmann constant
σ=

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Mon, Sep 11, 15:00–15:50 M ECH 375 L3: Modes of Heat Transfer

(2) Linearizing Radiation

Suppose we encounter a scenario where
• T1 and T2 are varying, but

• the range of the temperature variation is “small,” and

• the temperature difference will always be “small,” and

• “small” means small relative to the absolute temperatures

In this scenario, we can linearize the radiation formula to
ref

3
Q̇1→2 ≈ A1 F1−2 σ · 4 Tmean (T1 − T2 )
´¹¹ ¹ ¹ ¹ ¹ ¹ ¹ ¹ ¹ ¹ ¹ ¹ ¹ ¹ ¹ ¹ ¹ ¹ ¹ ¹ ¹ ¹ ¹ ¹ ¹ ¹¸¹ ¹ ¹ ¹ ¹ ¹ ¹ ¹ ¹ ¹ ¹ ¹ ¹ ¹ ¹ ¹ ¹ ¹ ¹ ¹ ¹ ¹ ¹ ¹ ¹ ¹ ¹¶ ´¹¹ ¹ ¹ ¹ ¹ ¹ ¹ ¹ ¸¹¹ ¹ ¹ ¹ ¹ ¹ ¹ ¹ ¶
hrad ∆T

where
ref
• Tmean is the mean temperature (average of T1 and T2 ) evaluated at some repre-
sentative reference state (typically known initial conditions/some initial guess).

• hrad is a “radiation coefficient” (analogous to the convection coefficient)

The error that this approximation introduces is small as long as all of the conditions
above are respected. Mathematically, it’s like the idea of using the tangent to ap-
proximate a quartic: the approximation is good as long as we stay near the point of
tangency:

30

20

10

0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3

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L3: Modes of Heat Transfer M ECH 375 Mon, Sep 11, 15:00–15:50

3.4 Analogies

Barn

Well

Figure 2: Fire fighting as an analogy for heat transfer. Adapted from Fig. 1.4 of A Heat
Transfer Textbook, 5th Edition by John H. Leinhardt IV and V

Heat Transfer Barn Analogy

Medium Matter
Quantity Transported Thermal Energy
Transport: Direct Conduction
Advection-Enhanced Convection
Medium-Independent Radiation

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