• EXPERIMENT 4

HEAT TRANSFER IN NATURAL CONVECTION

BITS Pilani
Pilani Campus
CONTENTS

• THEORY
– Introduction
– Modes of heat transfer
– Convection
– Newtons law of cooling
– Natural convection

• EXPERIMENT

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INTRODUCTION

• Heat is a form of energy which is transferred from one body to another as a result
of temperature difference
• Thermodynamics deals with types of energy , what is heat , how much heat is
transferred
• Heat transfer is defined as the movement of heat energy from one substance to
another
• Heat transfer deals with the rate at which the heat is transferred
• The need of heat transfer is to attain thermal equilibrium
• Heat transfer plays a major role in design of many devices such as radiators ,
solar collectors , various components of power plants and even space crafts

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 MODES OF HEAT TRANSFER

1. Conduction • Newtons law of cooling

2. Convection – It states that the rate of heat loss of a body
3. Radiation is directly proportional to the temperature
difference between the body and its
environment
CONVECTION Q = h A (Ts − T∞ )
• Convection is the process by which
heat is transferred through fluids
• Types of convection
– Natural convection
– Forced convection

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Natural Convection

• Natural convection occurs whenever heat flows between a solid and fluid or
between fluid layers
• Mechanism
– When the fluid is in contact with a heated surface, it expands and lowers its density
– The less dense fluid rises and its place is taken by more denser colder liquid
– This movement of fluid forms the convection current
– Convection current is much faster in gases than in liquids because of extremely low cohesive
forces existing between the molecules of gases
• Dimensionless numbers associated with natural convection are
1. Nusselt number (Nu)
2. Grashof number (Gr)
3. Prandtl number (Pr)
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Nusselt number

• It is the ratio of convective heat transfer to conductive heat transfer.

Nu =
• where
– h= the convective heat transfer coefficient
– L= the characteristics length
– k= the thermal conductivity
• Significance
– It describe the enhancement of heat transfer because of convection in
comparison to conduction

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Grashof number

• It is the ratio of buoyancy force to viscous force.

Gr =

• Where
– g is acceleration due to gravity
– β is the coefficient of thermal expansion = 1/Tf , Tf = mean film temperature
– Ts is the surface temperature
– T ∞ is the fluid temperature
– ν is the kinematic viscosity of fluid=μ/ρ , μ Is the dynamic viscosity

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Prandtl number

• It is the ratio of momentum diffusivity to heat diffusivity

Pr =
• Where
– μ = dynamic viscosity
– Cp = specific heat
– k = thermal conductivity

• Pr = 0.7

BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus

EXPERIMENT

OBJECTIVE

To find out the heat transfer coefficient of vertical cylinder in natural convection

BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus

Experimental setup

BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus

Procedure

1. Clean the apparatus and make it free from dust

2. Ensure that all on/off switches on panel are at off position
3. Ensure that variac knob on panel is at ZERO position
4. Switch on the main power supply
5. Switch on the panel with the help of the on/off switch on it
6. Fix the power input to the heater with the help of variac , ammeter and voltmeter
7. After 30 minutes , record the temperature of test section at various points in each 5
minute interval
8. If temperature readings are same for 3 times then assume that steady state is reached
9. Record final temperatures

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Formulas

• Heat transfer coefficient = h = w/k

where
Q = heat transfer rate = V * I (W)
A = surface area of cylinder = )

Ts =

T∞ = ambient temperature in duct

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Observation table

V I T1 T2 T3 T4 T5 T6 T7 T8
(volt) (amp)

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RESULT

• Heat transfer coefficient of the vertical cylinder = w/k

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