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Quickstart Guide

for

Interactive Heat Transfer (IHT) version 4.0

I. Overview

Interactive Heat Transfer (IHT) is a general-purpose, non-linear equation solver with an accompanying
library of built-in heat transfer correlations and thermophysical property functions. A comprehensive User’s
Manual can be found under Contents in the Help menu.

This Quickstart Guide provides an overview of the essential features of the software by considering several
simple examples. The basic use of IHT can be quickly mastered, allowing students and instructors to save
significant time, reduce mistakes, perform interesting parametric sensitivity studies quickly and accurately,
and produce plots that can be exported to reports and homework solutions.

Example 1 may be read prior to reading the text. Example 2 may be performed while reading Chapter 2.
Example 3 may be performed in conjunction with Chapter 7.

II. Basic Functions and Use of IHT

The essential value of IHT is to enable users to easily solve heat transfer problems as well as problems in
many other fields of engineering. The unique features of IHT allow users to increase their productivity by
focusing on the correct problem formulation, rather than spending time on the more mundane aspects of a
problem’s solution. Several simple examples will illustrate the power and ease-of-use of IHT. All of these
examples can be carried out from the Basic Interface of IHT; more advanced features are accessible from the
Advanced Interface by clicking on the button to the far right.

Example 1. We begin by demonstrating the ease with which IHT may be used to solve sets of coupled
algebraic equations. Consider the solution (b = p - 1 » 2.142) of Equations (1a) and (1b).

a+b=p (1a)
a=1 (1b)

When IHT is opened, a large blank area with a blinking vertical cursor will appear. This area is called the
Workspace and is represented by the box in the figure below. In the Workspace, type the three lines (left-
justified) as shown.

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MENU BAR
TOOLBAR

DATA BROWSER

WORKSPACE

After typing in the Workspace, click the Solve button that appears on the far left of the Toolbar. An Initial
Guesses window will immediately appear and you may enter or accept a default initial guess for the variable
b. The software will always include a default value of the initial guess (in this case, b = 1). For now, click the
“OK” button to accept the default value. Immediately, a Data Browser window will appear (as shown) with
the solution for b (2.142) in blue font, along with the message “Equation set successfully solved.”
Congratulations for successfully utilizing the equation solving capability of IHT! (Note: See the discussion of
the Dataset Exists window in Example 2 if you encounter that window in this exercise.)

Comments: (a) Double slashes are used to include comments in the Workspace, such as in the first line of
this example. (b) The equations are written in the Workspace exactly as in Eqns. (1a) and (1b), except the
Greek symbol “p” is written as “pi”. A convenient list of Mathematical Operators and Intrinsic Functions is

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available from the Help menu. (c) The unknown variable b does not need to be placed alone on the left hand
side of an equation, allowing implicit expressions to be solved with ease. (d) Of course, one does not need to
use a software package to solve this simple example. IHT can, however, be used to quickly solve systems of
hundreds of simultaneous equations in the same manner as demonstrated here. (e) In most problems, the
default initial guess will lead to a successful solution. However, in problems involving more complex
mathematical expressions, the default initial guess(es) may have to be adjusted in order to begin in the
vicinity of the actual solution. A clear message will be given instead of “Equation set successfully solved” if
an error occurs. Suggested ways to proceed in the event that the solution does not converge are discussed in
Comment (b) of Example 3. (f) Spaces do not need to be inserted on either side of the equals or plus signs. (g)
Variables in the IHT Workspace are case sensitive. (h) The contents of the Workspace may be saved (see File
menu) or may be selected, copied, and pasted into a word-processing document for easy archival, retrieval,
and re-insertion into IHT.

Example 2. We will now show how IHT can be used to evaluate the properties of various materials, how
parameter sensitivity studies can be quickly performed, and how plots can be generated. In this example, we
will evaluate and plot the thermal conductivity of aluminum (2024) and copper over the temperature range
300 K ≤ T ≤ 600 K.

Once the blank Workspace appears, enter the comment “//Example 2” if you so desire. Then, click on the
Tools menu, select Properties from the drop-down menu, move the cursor to the right, and click on
Aluminum 2024. A window with Property Functions for this material will appear including the density
(rho), thermal diffusivity (alpha), thermal conductivity (k), and specific heat (cp). Note that the density is
evaluated at T = 300 K, while the other properties are functions of the material temperature expressed in
kelvins. The units are indicated in comments delineated by double slashes, and the data in IHT correspond to
that of Table A.1 of the text. Place the cursor anywhere on the functional relationships of the Aluminum
2024 Property Functions, double-click, drag the expressions to the Workspace, and close the Property
Functions window. Alternatively, you can select the entire text, and use copy (CTRL-c) and paste (CTRL-v)
to enter it in the Workspace. Repeat the above procedure for copper, but after opening the Property Functions
window, enter “Cu” in the “ID” box to differentiate the copper property names from those for Aluminum
2024.

Finally, enter a temperature, in kelvins, at which the properties may be initially evaluated. A temperature of T
= 300 K is selected in order to easily compare the IHT results to the information shown in Table A.1 of the
text.

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Proceed to solve the expressions and subroutine calls within the Workspace by using the same process as in
Example 1. Note that you may observe a Dataset Exists window (see below) and you will be asked how to
dispose of an existing set of data. For example, if you have proceeded to Example 2 immediately after
performing Example 1, the data that are being referred to are the old data of Example 1. You may select the
appropriate option; in this case the default Discard option is acceptable.

The calculated properties of the two materials will be immediately shown in blue font in the Data Browser
window that opens upon discarding the old data. A comparison of IHT properties with those of Table A.1 will
reveal small differences attributable to the curve-fits used in IHT.

Now, we wish to perform a parameter sensitivity study by examining the variation of the thermal conductivity
with temperature over the temperature range specified in the example statement. To do so, click on the
Explore icon which is located adjacent to the Solve icon in the Toolbar. As shown below, you will be
prompted to enter starting, ending, and step values of the variable to be “swept,” in this case the swept
variable is the temperature, T, which can be selected from the drop-down menu or entered directly into the
“Variable to Sweep” box. Next, enter a “Starting Value” of 300 and an “Ending Value” of 600. Finally, enter
an appropriate step size. In this example, we might select a step size of “1”, resulting in calculation of 301
distinct values of the properties evenly spaced at 1 degree K intervals. After pressing “OK” and discarding
the previous data set, the Data Browser will contain 301 columns of information. Use the scroll bar located at
the bottom of the Data Browser window to examine the property information that is presented in tabular
form.

To plot the tabular data contained in the Data Browser, click on the Add Graph icon located adjacent to the
Explore icon on the Toolbar. In the Plot Data window (shown below), specify “T” as the “X” variable to
make temperature appear on the abscissa of the plot. For the “Y1” variable select the thermal conductivity of
the aluminum “k”, and for the “Y2” variable select the thermal conductivity of copper “kCu”. Since we wish
to plot the thermal conductivity only, complete the variables selection by clicking on “OK”. Once “OK” is
clicked, a rough draft of the plot will appear automatically.

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To polish the plot, we may select “Edit” and then go to the “Legends” tab. Enter “Aluminum” and “Copper”
for variables “Y1” and “Y2”, respectively. Also, select “Show Legends” so that the legend appears in the
final plot. Next, go to the “Titles” tab and enter “Thermal Conductivity of Aluminum and Copper” for the
plot title. Enter “Temperature (K)” for the X-axis title and “Thermal Conductivity (W/m-K)” for the Y-axis
title. Select the “Lines” tab and add “Data Markers” to variables “Y1” and “Y2”. Space the markers so that
they are clearly visible on the final plot. With 301 individual data points, selecting markers at intervals of
every 50 points will produce an attractive plot. Line color may also be selected for each variable
independently, and black is recommended for black-and-white reports. Press “OK.”

We may use the “Scales” feature to adjust the number of values and re-shape tick marks on the abscissa and
ordinate so as to produce a plot that is not too crowded. To do so, de-select the default “Auto Scale” and
“Auto Ticks and Labels”. In this example, we will select 6 major ticks on the x-axis, keeping the minimum
and maximum temperature values of 300 K and 600 K, respectively. For the y-axis, we will select minimum
and maximum values of 100 W/m∙K and 500 W/m∙K, respectively. We will also select 4 major ticks on the y-
axis. Conclude by pressing “OK.” Drag the borders to enlarge the plot as needed to avoid overcrowding of
text.

We are now ready to export the plot for inclusion in a report or homework solution by selecting “Copy” and
then pasting into word processing software. The final plot appears below.

Comments: (a) With a little practice, professional-looking plots can be generated quickly and easily. (b)
There is an “Explore” option in the Plot Window. By right-clicking on your mouse, you can determine x and
y quantities associated with particular locations on either of the lines that are plotted. This can sometimes be a
convenient, time-saving tool. (c) Many options exist within the IHT software to, for example, adjust font size
and type, produce logarithmic plots, and incorporate many other features. (d) To produce a composite plot in
which a dependent variable exhibits discontinuous behavior, such as in Comment 3 of Example 3.7, one must
perform separate calculations for each range of the independent variable, store the dependent variable results

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in separate data files, and plot data from multiple data files simultaneously. Hence, careful filing of data in the
Data Exists window is sometimes necessary.

Example 3. In this example, we will use a heat transfer correlation and property data to determine the air
velocity needed to induce a desired convective heat flux from a cylinder in cross flow. The cylinder is of
diameter D = 0.1 m and surface temperature Ts = 375 K. Air flows across the cylinder at T∞ = 325 K at an
unknown velocity. A convective heat flux of q² = 1000 W/m2 is desired. We will employ the Churchill and
Bernstein correlation, Equation (7.54), to determine the average heat transfer coefficient, , for use in
Newton’s law of cooling.

Before we begin, note that the Churchill and Bernstein correlation is of a relatively complex form, and if
performed by hand, the solution to this problem would require a trial-and-error procedure since the velocity is
not known, but is needed to evaluate the Reynolds number and, in turn, the Nusselt number and average heat
transfer coefficient.

We begin with a blank Workspace as in the previous examples, and enter the comment “//Example 3” if so
desired. As the First Step, from the Tools menu, select Properties, move the cursor to the right and click on
Air. Drag the appropriate property subroutines into the Workspace in the same manner as in Example 2.

For Step 2, we insert the appropriate convection correlation into the Workspace. From the Tools menu, select
Correlations, then proceed on to External Flow and finally to Cylinder. Drag the correlation and its
description into the Workspace.

At this point, note that the names for identical variables (e.g. k and k1) are different, and we therefore must
modify the Workspace information to ensure consistency in the variable names. Although there are different
ways to proceed, an easy approach is to eliminate the trailing “1” on the variable names in the correlation of
Step 2, and insert the equation “T = Tf” into the Workspace so that the air properties (with subroutine
arguments “T”) are evaluated at the film temperature, Tf. (The elimination of the trailing “1” could also have
been accomplished by clearing the “Element ID” box in the Correlations window.)

For Step 3, we add information regarding the cylinder geometry, surface and upstream air temperatures, the
desired heat flux, and Newton’s law of cooling, being careful to use consistent nomenclature. The final
Workspace is shown below and we may now press Solve, accept the default initial guesses, and determine the
desired velocity of V = 1.75 m/s.

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Comments: (a) In this example, IHT has been used to reduce the time needed (perhaps by hours) to solve
what would otherwise be a very tedious problem that would be highly prone to user error. Attention has been
given to the high-value-added process of formulating the problem correctly, and not to the mundane work of
executing a hand-calculated trial-and-error solution or writing a custom computer code. (b) In some problems
(such as problems involving radiation boundary conditions and the T4 dependence of the emissive power), the
solution may not converge. In these situations, an effective approach to find the correct answer is to perform a
parametric sensitivity study. To illustrate this strategy, we will modify the Workspace slightly, by eliminating
the specification of the heat flux, and adding a guessed value for the air velocity as illustrated below.
Subsequently, we may vary the air velocity over a specified range and find the velocity that produces the
desired heat flux. A plot of the heat flux sensitivity to the air velocity is shown below. We may use the
Explore option (or simply scroll through the Data Browser) to find the desired velocity to be V = 1.75 m/s, as
indicated by the crosshairs in the plot.

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III. Summary and Conclusions

In this brief tutorial, we have demonstrated key features of IHT that have proven to be valuable to students
and instructors for many years. After completing the tutorial, users will be well-prepared to use IHT as noted
in examples and end-of-chapter problems throughout the text.

Many additional, advanced features are in your copy of IHT, and the interested user is encouraged to explore
them.

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