Single-Phase Heat Transfer

Materials processes typically occur at high temperature, often in excess of 1000 °C.
Thus, such processes involve heat transfer which may be accompanied by
significant heat loss. A thorough understanding of heat transfer is therefore essential
in materials processing operations

Heat transfer is that science which seeks to predict the energy transfer that occurs
between material bodies as a result of temperature difference

Conduction

Convection
Heat transfer
Radiation
• Some Application Areas of Heat Transfer
• Some Examples of Heat Transfer
Conduction Heat
Transfer

5
Consider heat conduction through a large plane wall such as the wall of a house,

the glass of a single pane window, the metal plate at the bottom of a pressing iron,

a cast iron steam pipe, a cylindrical nuclear fuel element, an electrical resistance

wire, the wall of a spherical container, or a spherical metal ball that is being

quenched or tempered. Heat conduction in these and many other geometries can

be approximated as being one-dimensional since heat conduction through these

geometries will be dominant in one direction and negligible in other directions

Conduction is 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

Conduction can take place in solids, liquids, or gases

In gases and liquids,

conduction is due to the collisions and diffusion of the molecules during their
random motion.

In solids,
it is due to the combination of vibrations of the molecules in a lattice and the energy
transport by free electrons.

The rate of heat conduction through a medium depends on the geometry of the
medium, its thickness, and the material of the medium, as well as the temperature
difference across the medium
When a temperature gradient exists in a body, there is an energy transfer from the
high-temperature region to the low-temperature region. This type of heat transfer
is called conduction heat transfer
where the constant of proportionality k is the
thermal conductivity of the material, which is a
measure of the ability of a material to conduct heat.

In the limiting case of Δx →0, the equation above

reduces to the differential form

which is called Fourier’s law of heat conduction

after J. Fourier, who expressed it first in his heat
transfer text in 1822
The heat transfer area A is always normal to the direction of heat transfer. For heat
loss through a 5-m-long, 3-m-high, and 25-cm-thick wall, for example, the heat
transfer area is A = 15 m2. Note that the thickness of the wall has no effect on A
(Fig.).

- The amount of heat transferred per unit time

is called heat transfer rate and is denoted by
Dividing both sides of Eq. (2) by A gives,

.
(3)

.
where q is the heat flux, i.e., rate of heat transfer per unit area. This equation
.
indicates that the heat flux, q, is proportional to the temperature gradient, dT/ dx

You may notice that a similar relationship exists in fluid flow as Newton’s law of
viscosity,
(4)

The unit of shear stress is (Pa or N/m2) and it can be transformed as follows:

(5)

In this equation (kgm/s) is the unit of momentum and, hence, (kgm/s)/(s m2) is the
momentum flux. Equation (4) therefore states that the momentum flux is
proportional to the velocity gradient, dv/dx
Exercise-1
The roof of an electrically heated home is 6 m long, 8 m wide, and 0.25 m thick, and
is made of a flat layer of concrete whose thermal conductivity is k 0.8 W/m · °C. The
temperatures of the inner and the outer surfaces of the roof one night are measured
to be 15°C and 4°C, respectively, for a period of 10 hours.
Determine (a) the rate of heat loss through the roof that night and (b) the cost of that
heat loss to the home owner if the cost of electricity is ₺0.3927/kWh.
Solution-1
(a) Noting that heat transfer through the roof is by conduction and the area
of the roof is A = 6 m x 8 m = 48 m2, the steady rate of heat transfer through
the roof is determined to be

(b) The amount of heat lost through the roof during a 10-hour period and
its cost are determined from

Cost = (Amount of energy)(Unit cost of energy)

= (16.9 kWh)(₺0.3927/kWh) = ₺6.64
Thermal Conductivity

The thermal conductivity k is a measure of a material’s ability to conduct heat

- For example, k is 0.608 W/m·°C for water and k is 80.2 W/m·°C for iron at room
temperature, which indicates that iron conducts heat more than 100 times faster than water can
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

Unlike metals, which are good electrical and heat conductors, crystalline solids such
as diamond and semiconductors such as silicon are good heat conductors but poor
electrical conductors. As a result, such materials find widespread use in the
electronics industry.
Pure metals have high thermal conductivities, and one would think that metal alloys
should also have high conductivities. One would expect an alloy made of two metals of
thermal conductivities k1 and k2 to have a conductivity k between k1 and k2. But this
turns out not to be the case!
Thermal Diffusivity

The product ρCp, which is frequently encountered in heat transfer analysis, is called the heat
capacity of a material

Both the specific heat Cp and the heat capacity ρCp represent the heat storage capability of a
material

But Cp expresses it per unit mass whereas ρCp expresses it per unit volume, as can be noticed
from their units J/kg · °C and J/m3 · °C, respectively.

Another material property that appears in the transient heat conduction analysis is
the thermal diffusivity, which represents how fast heat diffuses through a material
and is defined as

(6)
Heat Transfer Through Multiple Plates
- Steady-State Conduction

When plates are fixed, as shown in Fig., the heat flux is given by
Conduction Through a Long Hollow Cylinder
- Steady-State Conduction

The heat transferred per unit time and unit

length is expressed by

in which L is the height of the cylinder

Heat Transfer Through Composite Hollow Cylinder
If a vertical hollow cylinder is covered with insulator (see Fig.),

The following equation is valid for multiple-

layer cylindrical walls:
Convection Heat
Transfer

23
Heat transfer is accompanied by a fluid motion

Convection is the mode of energy transfer between a solid surface and the adjacent
liquid or gas that is in motion, and it involves the combined effects of conduction and
fluid motion
Energy is first transferred to the air layer adjacent to the block by conduction. This
energy is then carried away from the surface by convection, that is, by the
combined effects of conduction within the air that is due to random motion of air
molecules and the bulk or macroscopic motion of the air that removes the heated
air near the surface and replaces it by the cooler air
Convection is called forced convection if the fluid is forced to flow over the surface by
external means such as a fan, pump, or the wind. In contrast, convection is called
natural (or free) convection if the fluid motion is caused by buoyancy forces that are
induced by density differences due to the variation of temperature in the fluid
Heat transfer processes that involve change of phase of a fluid are also considered
to be convection because of the fluid motion induced during the process, such as the
rise of the vapor bubbles during boiling or the fall of the liquid droplets during
condensation.

Despite the complexity of convection, the rate of convection heat transfer is observed to be
proportional to the temperature difference, and is conveniently expressed by Newton’s law
of cooling as

(7)

where h is the convection heat transfer coefficient in W/m2 ·°C. As is the surface area
through which convection heat transfer takes place, Ts is the surface temperature,
and T∞ is the temperature of the fluid sufficiently far from the surface.

Note that at the surface, the fluid temperature equals the surface temperature of the solid
The convection heat transfer coefficient h is not a property of the fluid. It is an
experimentally determined parameter whose value depends on all the variables
influencing convection such as the surface geometry, the nature of fluid motion,
the properties of the fluid, and the bulk fluid velocity
Heat-Transfer Coefficient
Consider the one-dimensional system shown in Fig. The temperatures of fluids
surrounding the wall are Ta and Tb:

Newton’s law of cooling gives the following heat fluxes:

(Left-hand side)

(7)

(8)

Newton’s law of cooling gives the following heat fluxes:

(Right-hand side)

(9)
The heat flux in the plate is expressed by

(10)

Rewritten and addition of Equations (8), (9), and (10), the heat flux, thus:

(11)
If a plate (thickness: δ1, thermal conductivity: k1) is covered with an insulator
(thickness: δ2, thermal conductivity: k2) as shown in Fig., the heat flux is given by :

(12)

From a practical point of view, it is convenient

to express Eq. (12) as

(13)

where h is the overall heat-transfer

coefficient:

(14)
Exercise-2
A 2-m-long, 0.3-cm-diameter electrical wire extends across a room at 15°C, as
shown in Fig. Heat is generated in the wire as a result of resistance heating, and the
surface temperature of the wire is measured to be 152°C in steady operation. Also,
the voltage drop and electric current through the wire are measured to be 60 V and
1.5 A, respectively.
Disregarding any heat transfer by radiation, determine the convection heat transfer
coefficient for heat transfer between the outer surface of the wire and the air in the
room
Solution-2
When steady operating conditions are reached, the rate of heat loss from
the wire will equal the rate of heat generation in the wire as a result of
resistance heating. That is,

The surface area of the wire is

Newton’s law of cooling for convection heat transfer is expressed as

Disregarding any heat transfer by radiation and thus assuming all the heat loss
from the wire to occur by convection, the convection heat transfer coefficient is
determined to be
Convection from Sphere and Circular Cylinder

Convection due to temperature difference between a solid body and surrounding

fluid is called natural convection. Some examples of this type of convection are
shown in Figs.
The convection occurring when a solid body is immersed in a flowing fluid is called
forced convection (see Figs.).
- Natural Convection (Sphere)
Ranz and Marshall proposed the following correlation:

where The symbols are as follows: β is the

volume coefficient of expansion (1/Tf), Tf is
the temperature of fluid far from the
sphere, vf is the kinematic viscosity (m2/s),
kf is the thermal conductivity (W/m·K), αf is
the thermal diffusivity (m2/s), g is the
acceleration due to gravity (m/s2), d is the
sphere diameter (m), Ts is the surface
temperature of solid, Tfm is the mean
temperature of fluid
- Natural Convection (Horizontal Circular Cylinder)

McAdams derived the following equation for the Nusselt number as a function of the
Grashof number (Gr), and the Prandtl number (Pr), for horizontal cylinder of unit
length:
- Meaning of Dimensionless Numbers (Natural Convection)

The Nusselt number (Nu) can be defined as the ratio of heat convection to heat
conduction thus:

The Prandtl number (Pr) is defined as the ratio of momentum diffusivity to

thermal diffusivity

For most gases over a wide range of temperature and pressure, Pr is

approximately constant. Therefore, it can be used to determine the thermal
conductivity of gases at high temperatures, where it is difficult to measure
experimentally due to the formation of convection currents
The Grashof number (Gr) expresses the product of the Reynolds number and the ratio of
buoyancy force to viscous force, thus:
Exercise-3
Solution-3
Solution-3 continue
Solution-3 continue
Exercise-4
Solution-4
Solution-4 continue
- Forced Convection (Sphere)

Ranz and Marshall derived the following equation for the Nusselt number (Nu), of a
sphere placed in a flow with approach velocity, v:
- Forced Convection (Circular Cylinder)

Eckert proposed a relation of the form:

The coefficient, C, and the index, n, are expressed as follows:

Exercise-5
Solution-5
Solution-5 continue
Exercise-6
Solution-6
Solution-6 continue
Convection from Flat Plate
- Natural Convection from Vertical Flat Plate
Convection from a vertical flat plate (see Fig.) is represented in the following
form:

where Num is the mean Nusselt number averaged

between x = 0 and x= L, hm is the mean heat-transfer
coefficient, and L is the height of the plate
The coefficient, C, and the index, m, are expressed as follows:
- Forced Convection from Vertical Flat Plate

The Nusselt number in this case (see Fig.) can be

approximated by the equation of Num proposed for a
horizontal flat plate.
Convection from Flat Plate
- Forced Convection from Horizontal Flat Plate
If Laminar Flow

where Nux is the local Nusselt number, Num is the mean Nusselt number
averaged between x = 0 and x = L, Rex is the local Reynolds number, and ReL is
the Reynolds number based on the length of the plate, L. The physical properties
of the fluid are evaluated at the film temperature, Tfm.
If Turbulent Flow
Exercise-7
Solution-7
Combined Conduction and Convection Through
a Long Hollow Cylinder

where Ta and Tb are the temperatures at

location a and location b, respectively
Heat Transfer (Combined Conduction and Convection)
Through Composite Hollow Cylinder

where Ta and Tb are the temperatures at

location a and location b, respectively
Phase Transformation
- Solidification and Melting
Heat transfer occurs between metal and the surroundings during
solidification and fusion (melting) of metal. The melting temperature, Tm, and
latent heat of fusion, ΔHm, of metals extensively used in practical
applications are given in Table below
 - Boiling Heat Transfer
Boiling heat transfer occurs between a liquid and the surface of a solid body
which is heated in the liquid above the saturation temperature, Tsat*. When
the surface is immersed in a liquid pool without any liquid motion (see Fig.),
the process is referred to as pool boiling.

*Saturation temperature means boiling point. The saturation temperature is the temperature for a

corresponding saturation pressure at which a liquid boils into its vapor phase
On the other hand, if the surface is immersed in flowing liquids such as a
liquid pipe flow (see Fig.), the process is called forced convection boiling
- Classification of Pool Boiling Heat Transfer
Some heat-transfer patterns appear depending on the difference in
temperature between the surface, Tw, and the saturation temperature, Tsat,
as schematically shown in Fig.

Point C is called the burnout point or the maximum heat flux point, and point D is the
minimum heat flux point.
From previous Fig.,

1. Natural convection heat transfer: The liquid near the surface evaporates. The heat-
transfer rate increases slightly with increase in the temperature difference, Tw ̶ Tsat.

2. Nucleate boiling: Many bubbles are generated on the surface and dissipate in the
liquid after leaving the surface. The heat-transfer rate increases significantly with
temperature difference, Tw ̶ Tsat.

3. Partial nucleate boiling and unstable nucleate film boiling: Vapor films partly cover
the surface. These films suppress the heat transfer, and, hence, the heat transfer rate
decreases as the covered surface area increases.

4. Stable film boiling: Stable vapor films are generated on the surface. The heat
transfer rate is kept almost constant.

5. Radiation heat transfer becomes important: The heat-transfer rate increases again
with Tw ̶ Tsat.
- Factors Affecting Boiling Heat Transfer
1. Gases dissolved in a liquid pool

2. Liquid pressure

3. Surface roughness
- Empirical Relation for Heat-Transfer Rate
Nucleate Boiling
Stefan and Abdelsalam proposed the following
empirical relation for nucleate boiling heat
transfer in an arbitrary liquid:

where p (Pa) is the pressure, pcr is the critical

pressure (Pa), Nu is the Nusselt number, h is the
heat-transfer coefficient (W/m2 K), dB is the bubble
diameter· (m), α is the thermal diffusivity of liquid
L

(m2/s), q is the heat flux (W/m2), Tsat is the saturation

temperature (K), ρ is the density of liquid (kg/m3), σ
L

is the surface tension (N/m), Δh is the latent heat of

evaporation (J/kg), ρv is the density of vapor (kg/m ),
3

θc is the contact angle of liquid (º), and g is the

 Stable Film Boiling
A vapor film exists between the surface of a solid body and liquid. The surface of the
solid body is completely covered with the vapor film. The surface temperature, Tw, is
usually much higher than the saturation temperature, Tsat. The Nusselt number is given
by

where Gr* is the Grashof number ( ̶ ), Prv

is the Prandtl number of vapor ( ̶ ), h is
the heat-transfer coefficient (W/m2 K), q·w
is the heat flux on the surface (W/m2), Tw
is the surface temperature (K), Tsat is the
saturation temperature (K), ρL is the
density of liquid (kg/m3), ρv is the density
· of vapor (kg/m3), L is the representative
length (m), μL is the dynamic viscosity of
liquid (kg/m s), cpv is the specific heat of
vapor at constant pressure (J/kg K), kv is
the thermal conductivity of vapor (W/m
K), Δhv is the latent heat of evaporation
(J/kg), L' is the modified latent heat of
The physical properties of vapor should be evaluated at the film
temperature and those of the liquid phase at the saturation temperature.
The representative length, L, and the coefficients, C1 and C2, for some
solid bodies used frequently in practical applications are given as
follows:

(i)Horizontal circular cylinder:

(ii) Sphere: