First Topic Summary (Fourier’s Law Under Steady-State Conditions)

Fourier’s Law Under Steady-State Conditions

• When the heat transfer (in most of the industrial processes) is stabilized, there is no change in
temperature from one end to another end. This is called steady state condition.
• Under the steady state condition Fourier’s law is expressed as:
𝒅𝑸 −𝑲𝑨𝒅𝒕
= 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒕 =
𝒅𝜽 𝒅𝒙
Resistance to Flow Heat

• When the heat flows through a solid conduction, there is a certain resistance to the flow
determined by the thermal conductivity, cross-sectional area, and thickness of the particular
substance
𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑐𝑘𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑒
𝑹𝒆𝒔𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆 =
𝑀𝑒𝑎𝑛 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑋 𝐴𝑟𝑒𝑎 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑒
𝑥
𝑹=
𝑘·𝐴
Types of Resistance

With the reference to the direction of heat flow:

• Resistance in Series
• Resistance in Parallel

• Compound Resistance in Series

o Solid is placed in series with another solid so the heat must pass through both of these,
the resistance to the flow of the heat will be greater than it would be for one of the solid
alone.
o If 3 solids of equal cross-sectional area, designated as 1,2 and 3 are placed in series, and
if condition of steady heat flow exists, then exactly same amount of heat per unit time
must be transferred through each of the solids
o This can be expressed mathematically as…

EQ-(1)
𝑸 𝑸 𝑸 𝑸
= ( )𝟏 = ( )𝟐 = ( )𝟑
𝜽 𝜽 𝜽 𝜽
Thus characteristic are:

• Thickness of the layers = 𝐿1 , 𝐿2 , 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐿3 (𝑚)

𝑊
• Conductivities of materials of which layers are made =𝐾1 , 𝐾2 , 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐾3 (𝑚·𝑘)
• Area of the entire wall = A (𝑚2 )0
• Temperature drop across three layers = Δ𝑡1 , Δ𝑡2 , and Δ𝑡3 (𝐾)
• Resistance of three layers = 𝑅1 , 𝑅2 , 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑅3

So, for the above description, the total temperature drop maybe written as:

𝑫𝒓𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒄𝒆, 𝜟𝒕𝒕𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒍 = 𝜟𝒕𝟏 + 𝜟𝒕𝟐 + 𝜟𝒕𝟑

The rate of flow of heat through several resistances in series is exactly analogous to the current
flowing through several electrical resistance in series. Therefore, the overall resistance (R) is
equal to the sum of individual resistances.

𝑹 = 𝑹𝟏 , 𝑹𝟐 , 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑹𝟑

𝜟𝒕𝒕𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒍 = 𝜟𝒕𝟏 + 𝜟𝒕𝟐 + 𝜟𝒕𝟑

𝑸 𝑸 𝑸
𝜟𝒕𝒕𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒍 = ( )𝟏 𝑹𝟏 = ( )𝟐 𝑹𝟐 = ( )𝟑 𝑹𝟑
𝜽 𝜽 𝜽
Now using EQ-(1):
𝑸
𝜟𝒕𝒕𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒍 = ( )𝒕𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒍 (𝑹𝟏 + 𝑹𝟐 + 𝑹𝟑 )
𝜽
𝜟𝒕𝒕𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝑸
= ( )𝒕𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒍
(𝑹𝟏 + 𝑹𝟐 + 𝑹𝟑 ) 𝜽

• Resistance in Parallel
When several solids are placed side by side with their edges touching in such a manner that the
direction of heat flow is perpendicular to the plane of the exposed face surfaces, the solids are
said to be placed in parallel

Total cross-sectional area available for heat transfer with parallel resistance is greater than it
would be for any one of the resistance alone.

If the resistance are in parallel, the total amount of heat resistance equal to the sum of heat
transfer by all individual resistances in the same time of period, i.e.

𝑸 𝑸 𝑸 𝑸
= ( )𝟏 = ( )𝟐 = ( )𝟑
𝜽 𝜽 𝜽 𝜽
 𝑸 𝑸 𝑸 𝑸
= ( )𝟏 = ( )𝟐 = ( )𝟑
𝜽 𝜽 𝜽 𝜽

𝑸 𝑲𝑨𝜟𝒕 𝑲𝑨𝜟𝒕 𝑲𝑨𝜟𝒕

( )𝒕𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒍 = ( ) ( ) ( )
𝜽 𝒙 𝟏 𝒙 𝟐 𝒙 𝟑
Now, assuming that 𝛥𝑡 is same for each of the 3 solids;
𝑸 𝑲𝑨𝜟𝒕 𝑲𝑨𝜟𝒕 𝑲𝑨𝜟𝒕
( )𝒕𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒍 = [( ) ( ) ( ) ]𝛥𝑡
𝜽 𝒙 𝟏 𝒙 𝟐 𝒙 𝟑
Substituting value of R i.e. R=x/KA
𝑸 𝟏 𝟏 𝟏
( )𝒕𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒍 = [( )𝟏 ( )𝟐 ( )𝟑 ]𝛥𝑡
𝜽 𝑹 𝑹 𝑹