UNIT-III

Convection heat transfer

Dr. Manjunath G A
In the previous chapters, we dealt with heat conduction, which is a mechanism of heat transfer due to random
molecular activities through a stationary medium, solid or fluid. The convection heat transfer was restricted to
the boundary conditions only and the rate of heat convection at the boundaries was considered constant so far.

The convection heat transfer is of importance to practical problems in industrial application. The flow of a
liquid or a gas through a heat exchangers, two phase flow in the boilers and condensers, cooling of electronic
chips, heat removal from the condenser of a refrigerator are some common examples of convection heat
transfer.

The convection heat transfer is recognized closely related to the fluid flow. Hence understanding of convection
should start with basic knowledge of fluid dynamics, momentum transfer, energy transfer, shear stress,
pressure drop, friction coefficient and the nature of fluid flow like laminar or turbulent etc.
MECHANISM OF HEAT CONVECTION

 As discussed in chapter one, the heat convection involves two mechanism,

simultaneously.
 One is energy transfer from a hot surface to a adjacent fluid by random molecular
motion, it is called diffusion.
 The other one is advection, i.e., the transport of energy by bulk movement of the
fluid from higher temperature region to lower temperature region. Such motion in
presence of temperature gradient will enhance the heat transfer rate.
 The molecules in aggregate retain their random motion and the fluid motion brings
the hotter and colder fluid chunks in contact, thus initiating the high rate of
conduction at a large number of sites in the fluid.
 Therefore, the rate of heat transfer in the convection is due to superposition of
energy transfer by random molecular motion (conduction) at the surface as well as
the energy transfer by bulk motion of fluid.
CLASSIFICATION OF CONVECTION:
The convection heat transfer is classified as natural (or
free) or forced convection, or mixed convection
depending on how the fluid motion is initiated.

•The natural or free convection is a process,

in which the fluid motion results from heat
transfer. When a fluid is heated or cooled, its
density changes and the buoyancy effects
produce a natural circulation in the affected
region, which causes itself the rise of Natural convection
warmer fluid and the fall of colder fluid :
Therefore, energy transfers from hotter
region to colder region and such process is
repeated as long as the temperature
difference in the fluid exists.

In the forced convection, the fluid is forced

to flow over a surface or in a duct by
external means such as a pump or a fan. A
large number of heat transfer applications
utilize forced convection, because the heat
transfer rate is much faster than that in free
convection
Forced convection
 CONVECTION HEAT TRANSFER COEFFICIENT
Newton’s law of cooling suggests a basic relationship for heat transfer by convection:

 
Where,
h = constant of proportionality and is called heat transfer coefficient,
Ts = temperature of the surface, °C
T∞ = temperature of free stream fluid, °C.
Based on the interpretation, the convective heat transfer coefficient is expressed as

or it is defined as the rate of convection heat transfer per unit surface area per unit temperature difference. It is measured
in W/m2.K or W/m2. °C.
The value of convective heat transfer coefficient h depends upon the following factors .
 Surface condition:
• Rough or Smooth, clean or dirt
 Geometry and orientation of surface:
Plate, Tube, duct or cylinder, sphere placed horizontally, vertically or with
inclination.
 Thermophysical properties of the fluid:
Density, viscosity, specific heat, thermal conductivity etc..
 Nature of fluid flow:
Laminar or Turbulent
 Boundary layer configuration :
 Prevailing thermal conditions:
 Some typical values of convection heat transfer
coefficient are listed in the following table:

Sl.
Free convection Forced convection
No.
1 Air 3.7 W/m2K Air or superheated steam 30-300 W/m2K

2 Gases 2.28 W/m2K Oil 60-3000 W/m2K

3 Liquids 30-300 W/m2K Water 300-1000 W/m2K

Hydrodynamic boundary
layer or Velocity boundary
layer
 
This fluid layer then acts
to retard the motion of particles of next fluid layer and so on,
until a distance y = from the surface reaches, where these effects
become negligible and the fluid velocity u reaches the free stream
velocity u∞. as a result of frictional effects between the fluid
layers, the local fluid velocity u will vary from x =0, y = 0 to y =
u∞
 
  

13
Definition and physical significance of dimensionless numbers viz.

 Reynolds number

 Prandlt’s number

 Nusselt number

 Grashoff number

 Peclet, number
Reynolds number (Re).
It is the ratio of inertia forces to viscous forces in the velocity boundary layer. It is used in forced convection and
approximated as:

Significance
The Reynolds number is a dimensionless quantity. It characterises the type of flow, whether it is laminar or turbulent
flow.
Grashof number (Gr).
It is defined as the ratio of the buoyancy forces to the viscous forces acting in the fluid layer. It
is used in free convection and its role is same as that of Reynold number in forced convection.
The Grashof number characterises the type of boundary layer developed in natural convection
heat transfer. It is denoted by Gr and expressed as
 

Significance
 
For free convection, the transition from laminar to turbulent occurs, when Gr ≅ 109
Prandtl number (Pr).
It is defined as the ratio of the momentum diffusivity 𝝊 to the thermal diffusivity α

Significance
 

It provides a measure of relative effectiveness of momentum and energy transfer in the velocity and thermal
boundary layers, respectively.
For gases Pr ≅ 1; i.e., both momentum and heat diffusion through the fluid take place at the same rate.
For liquid metal Pr << 1; indicates heat diffuses in the fluid very quickly, and for oils, Pr >> 1; indicates heat
diffusion is very slow in the fluid relative to momentum.
Nusselt Number (Nu).
It is defined as the ratio of convection heat flux to conduction heat flux in the fluid boundary layer.

Significance
Based on the interpretation, the value of Nu as unity indicates that there is no convection, the heat transfer is by pure
conduction in the boundary layer. Large value of Nu indicates large convection in the fluid.

Peclet Number (Pe)

It is the ratio of heat transfer by convection to heat transfer by conduction. It is denoted by Pe and expressed as

Mathematically, the Peclet numbers is product of Reynolds number and Prandtl number.
Pe = Re.Pr