Chapter 6

Introduction to Convection

By: Taz 1
 Physical Mechanism of Convection
 Heat transfer through a fluid is by convection in the presence of bulk fluid
motion and by conduction in the absence of it.
 Convection heat transfer is complicated by the fact that it involves fluid
motion as well as heat conduction.
 The fluid motion enhances heat transfer, since it brings hotter and cooler
chunks of fluid into contact, initiating higher rates of conduction at a greater
number of sites in a fluid.
 Therefore, the rate of heat transfer through a fluid is much higher by
convection than it is by conduction.
 In fact, the higher the fluid velocity, the higher the rate of heat transfer.
 Convection heat transfer strongly depends on the fluid properties, the
geometry and the roughness of the solid surface, in addition to the type of
fluid flow (such as being streamlined or turbulent).
 The Convection Boundary Layers
 The concept of boundary layers is central to the understanding of convection
heat transfer between a surface and a fluid flowing past it.

1) The Velocity Boundary Layer

 To introduce the concept of a

boundary layer, consider flow over
the flat plate.

 When fluid particles make contact with the surface, they assume zero velocity.
 These particles then act to retard the motion of particles in the adjoining fluid
layer, which act to retard the motion of particles in the next layer, and so on
until, at a distance from the surface, the effect becomes negligible.
 This retardation of fluid motion is associated with shear stresses acting in
planes that are parallel to the fluid velocity. With increasing distance y from the
surface, the x velocity component of the fluid, u, must then increase until it
approaches the free stream value .
 Cont...

 The region of the flow above the plate bounded by

in which the effects of the viscous shearing forces
caused by fluid viscosity are felt is called the velocity
boundary layer.

 The boundary layer thickness,  , is typically define as the distance y from the
surface at which u  0.99u .
 Accordingly, the fluid flow is characterized by two distinct regions, a thin fluid
layer (the boundary layer) in which velocity gradients and shear stresses are
large and a region outside the boundary layer (inviscid flow region) in which
velocity gradients and shear stresses are negligible.
 For external flows it provides the basis for determining the local friction
coefficient.
 Cont...
 The surface frictional drag may be determined. Assuming a Newtonian fluid,
the surface shear stress may be evaluated from knowledge of the velocity
gradient at the surface

 In a velocity boundary layer, the velocity gradient at the surface depends on the
distance x from the leading edge of the plate. Therefore, the surface shear
stress and friction coefficient also depend on x.
2) The Thermal Boundary Layer

 The thermal boundary layer must develop if the fluid free stream and surface
temperatures differ.
 Consider flow over an isothermal flat
plate. At the leading edge the
temperature profile is uniform,
 Cont...
 However, fluid particles that come into contact with the plate achieve thermal
equilibrium at the plate’s surface temperature.
 In turn, these particles exchange energy with those in the adjoining fluid
layer, and temperature gradients develop in the fluid. The region of the fluid
in which these temperature gradients exist is the thermal boundary layer, and
its thickness  t is typically defined as the value of y for which the ratio,

 With increasing distance from the leading edge,

the effects of heat transfer penetrate further into
the free stream and the thermal boundary layer
grows.
 The relation between conditions in this
boundary layer and the convection heat transfer
coefficient may readily be demonstrated.
 Cont...
 At any distance x from the leading edge, the local surface heat flux may be
obtained by applying Fourier’s law to the fluid at y = 0. That is

The subscript s has been used to emphasize

6.1 that this is the surface heat flux.

 The previous expression is appropriate because, at the surface, there is no

fluid motion and energy transfer occurs only by conduction.
 Recalling Newton’s law of cooling we see that.

 and combining this with Eq. 6.1, we obtain

 Accordingly, the magnitude of decreases with increasing x, and it

follows that qs and h decrease with increasing x.
 3) The Concentration Boundary Layer

 When air moves past the surface of a pool of water, the liquid water will
evaporate, and water vapor will be transferred into the air stream. This is
an example of convection mass transfer.
 More generally, consider a binary
mixture of chemical species A and B
that flows over a surface.
3
 The molar concentration (kmol/m )
of species A at the surface is CA,s,
and in the free stream it is C A, .
 If C A, s differs from C A, transfer of species A by convection will occur.
 For example, species A could be a vapor that is transferred into a gas stream
(species B) due to evaporation at a liquid surface or due to sublimation at a
solid surface. In this situation, a concentration boundary layer will develop that
is similar to the velocity and thermal boundary layers.
 Cont...
 The concentration boundary layer is the region of the fluid in which
concentration gradients exist, and its thickness  c is typically defined as the
value of y for which
 With increasing distance from the leading edge, the effects of species
transfer penetrate further into the free stream and the concentration
boundary layer grows.
 It is helpful to recognize that the molar flux associated with species transfer
by diffusion is determined by an expression that is analogous to Fourier’s
law, which is termed Fick’s law, has the form
where DAB is a property of the binary mixture
known as the binary diffusion coefficient

 Applying Fick’s law at y = 0, the molar flux at the surface at any distance from
the leading edge is then
6.2
 Cont...
 Analogous to Newton’s law of cooling, an equation can be written that
relates the molar flux to the concentration difference across the boundary
layer, as
6.3

 where hm (m/s) is the convection mass transfer coefficient, analogous to

the convection heat transfer coefficient.
 Combining Equations 6.2 and 6.3, it follows that

 Therefore, conditions in the concentration boundary layer, which strongly

influence the surface concentration gradient , also influence the
convection mass transfer coefficient and hence the rate of species transfer
in the boundary layer.
 Local and Average Convection Coefficients
 Heat Transfer

 Consider flows over a surface of arbitrary shape,

the surface is presumed to be at a uniform
temperature, Ts, and if Ts  T, we know that
convection heat transfer will occur.
 The total heat transfer rate q may be obtained by
integrating the local flux over the entire surface.
That is,


 Defining an average convection coefficient h for the entire surface, the total
heat transfer rate may also be expressed as

 Equating the above two Eq. it follows that the average and local convection
coefficients are related by an expression of the form
 Cont...
 The average and local convection coefficients

 For the special case of flow over a flat plate h varies

only with the distance x from the leading edge and
the above Eq. reduces to

Example 6.1
Solution
 Laminar and Turbulent Flow
 The flow regime in is said to be laminar,
characterized by smooth streamlines and highly-
ordered motion, and
 Turbulent characterized by velocity fluctuations
and highly-disordered motion.
 The transition from laminar to turbulent flow does not occur suddenly.
 Surface friction and the convection transfer rates depend strongly on which of
these conditions exists.
 Laminar and Turbulent Velocity Boundary Layers

 Boundary layer development

on a flat plate,
 In many cases, laminar and
turbulent flow conditions both
occur.
 Cont...
 Mixing within the boundary layer carries high-speed fluid toward the solid
surface and transfers slower-moving fluid farther into the free stream.
 Much of the mixing is promoted by stream wise vortices called streaks that are
generated intermittently near the flat plate, where they rapidly grow and decay.
 As a result of the interactions that lead to chaotic flow conditions, velocity and
pressure fluctuations occur at any point within the turbulent boundary layer.
 Three different regions may be delineated within the turbulent boundary layer as
a function of distance from the surface.
 A viscous sublayer in which transport is dominated by diffusion and the
velocity profile is nearly linear.
 there is an adjoining buffer layer in which diffusion and turbulent mixing are
comparable, and
 there is a turbulent zone in which transport is dominated by turbulent mixing.
 Cont...
 The transition from laminar to turbulent flow is ultimately due to triggering
mechanisms, such as the interaction of unsteady flow structures that develop
naturally within the fluid or small disturbances that exist within many typical
boundary layers.
 The onset of turbulence depends on whether the triggering mechanisms are
amplified or attenuated in the direction of fluid flow, which in turn depends on
a dimensionless grouping of parameters called the Reynolds number,
where, for a flat plate, the characteristic length
is x, the distance from the leading edge

 the Reynolds number represents the ratio of the inertia to viscous forces.
 If the Reynolds number is small, inertia forces are insignificant relative to
viscous forces. The disturbances are then dissipated, and the flow remains
laminar.
 For a large Reynolds number, however, the inertia forces can be sufficient to
amplify the triggering mechanisms, and a transition to turbulence occurs.
  Laminar and Turbulent Thermal and Species Concentration
Boundary Layers

 Similar to the laminar velocity boundary layer, the thermal and species boundary
layers grow in the stream wise (increasing x) direction,
 Temperature and species concentration gradients in the fluid at y = 0 decrease
in the stream wise direction, and,
 the heat transfer coefficients also decrease with increasing x.
 Because turbulence induces mixing, which in turn
reduces the importance of conduction and diffusion in
determining the thermal and species boundary layer
thicknesses, differences in the thicknesses of the
velocity, thermal, and species boundary layers tend to
be much smaller in turbulent flow than in laminar flow.
 The presence of heat and/or mass transfer can affect Variation of velocity
boundary layer thickness
the location of the transition from laminar to turbulent and the local heat transfer
flow coefficient h.
 Derivation of Differential Convection Equations
 Here, we will derive the governing equations of fluid flow in the boundary layers.
 Assume the flow to be steady and two-dimensional, and the fluid to be
Newtonian with constant properties (density, viscosity, thermal conductivity,
etc.).
 Consider the parallel flow of a fluid over a surface.
We take the flow direction along the surface to be
x and the direction normal to the surface to be y,
and we choose a differential volume element of
length dx, height dy, and unit depth in the z-
direction (normal to the paper) for analysis
 The fluid flows over the surface with a uniform free-stream velocity , but the
velocity within boundary layer is two-dimensional:
 the x-component of the velocity is u, and the y-component is v.
 Note that u = u(x, y) and v = v(x, y) in steady two-dimensional flow.
 Boundary Layer Equations for Laminar Flow
 Now apply three fundamental laws to this fluid element to this fluid element:
Conservation of mass, conservation of momentum, and conservation of
energy to obtain the continuity, momentum, and energy equations.
 Conservation of Mass Equation

 In steady flow, the amount of mass within the control volume remains constant,
and thus the conservation of mass can be expressed as

 The rate at which fluid enters the control volume from the
left surface is ρu(dy .1).
 The rate at which the fluid leaves the control volume from
the right surface can be expressed as

6.4
 Cont...
 Repeating this for the y direction and substituting the results into Eq. 6.4,
we obtain

6.5
 Simplifying and dividing by dx dy 1 gives

6.6
 This is the conservation of mass relation, also known as the continuity equation,
or mass balance for steady two-dimensional flow of a fluid with constant density.
 Conservation of Momentum Equations

 The differential forms of the equations of motion in the velocity boundary layer
are obtained by applying Newton’s second law of motion to a differential control
volume element in the boundary layer as.
 Cont...
or
6.7
 where the mass of the fluid element within the control volume is
6.8

 Noting that flow is steady and two-dimensional and thus u = u(x, y), the total
differential of u is

 Then the acceleration of the fluid element in the x direction becomes

 The forces acting on a surface are due to pressure and viscous effects
 the net surface force acting in the x-direction
becomes
 Cont...
 Since Substituting Eqs. 6.6, 6.7, and 6.8 into Eq. 6.5 and
dividing by dx.dy.1 gives

 This is the relation for the conservation of momentum in the x-direction, and
is known as the x-momentum equation.
 When gravity effects and other body forces are negligible and the boundary
layer approximations are valid, applying Newton’s second law of motion on
the volume element in the y-direction gives the y-momentum equation to be

 That is, the variation of pressure in the direction normal to the surface is
negligible, Furthermore, because the boundary layer is so thin, the x-direction
pressure gradient within the boundary layer can be approximated as the free
stream pressure gradient
  Conservation of Energy Equation
 The energy balance for any system undergoing any process is expressed as
For steady-flow process

 Noting that energy can be transferred by heat, work, and mass only, the
energy balance for a steady-flow control volume can be written explicitly as
6.9
 The total energy of a flowing fluid stream per unit mass is

 The kinetic and potential energies are usually very small relative to enthalpy,
and therefore it is common practice to neglect them.
 Then the energy of the fluid per unit mass can be
expressed as
 the rate of energy transfer to the control volume by
mass is determined from

6.10
 Cont...
 since from the continuity equation.
 The net rate of heat conduction to the volume element in the x-direction is

 Repeating this for the y-direction and adding the results, the net rate of energy
transfer to the control volume by heat conduction becomes

6.11

 Then the energy equation for the steady two-dimensional flow of a fluid with
constant properties and negligible shear stresses is obtained by substituting
Eqs. 6.10 and 6.11 into 6.9 to be
 Cont...
 When the viscous shear stresses are not negligible, their effect is accounted
for by expressing the energy equation as

 where the viscous dissipation function Φ is obtained after a lengthy analysis

 For the special case of a stationary fluid, u = v = 0 and the energy equation
reduces, as expected, to the steady two-dimensional heat conduction equation,

Exercise 6.1
 Boundary Layer Similarity: The Normalized Boundary Layer Equations

 Each equation is characterized by advection terms on the left-hand side and a

diffusion term on the right-hand side.
 This situation describes low-speed, forced convection flows, which are found in
many engineering applications. Implications of this similarity may be developed
in a rational manner by first non-dimensionalizing the governing equations.
 Boundary Layer Similarity Parameters
 The boundary layer equations are normalized by first defining dimensionless
independent variables of the for

 where L is a characteristic length for the surface of interest (e.g., the length of a
flat plate). Moreover, dependent dimensionless variables may also be defined as

where V is the velocity upstream of the surface

 Cont...
and

 Introducing these variables into Eqs. and simplifying give

 with the boundary conditions

where is the dimensionless Reynolds number and

is the Prandtl number
 For a given type of geometry, the solutions of problems with the same Re and Nu
numbers are similar, and thus Re and Nu numbers serve as similarity parameters.
 Functional Form of the Solutions
 Previous Eqs. are extremely useful from the standpoint of suggesting how
important boundary layer results may be simplified and generalized.
 The momentum equation suggests that, although conditions in the velocity
boundary layer depend on the fluid properties ρ and μ, the velocity V, and
the length scale L, this dependence may be simplified by grouping these
variables in the form of the Reynolds number.
 Therefore anticipate that the solution to momentum equation will be of the
functional form.

6.12

 Since the pressure distribution p*(x*) depends on the surface geometry and may
be obtained independently by considering flow conditions in the free stream,
 The appearance of dp*/dx* in Eq. 6.12 represents the influence of geometry on
the velocity distribution.
 Cont...
 The shear stress at the surface, y* = 0, may be expressed as

6.13
 The friction coefficient is

6.14
 From Eq. 6.12 we also know that

 Hence, for a prescribed geometry Eq. 6.14 may be expressed as

 This Eq. is the friction coefficient, a dimensionless parameter of considerable

importance to the engineer, may be expressed exclusively in terms of a
dimensionless space coordinate and the Reynolds number.
 Cont...
 In particular, the solution to Energy equation may be expressed in the form

where the dependence on dp*/dx* originates from the influence of the geometry
on the fluid motion (u* and v*), which, in turn, affects the thermal conditions.

 From the definition of the convection coefficient, and the dimensionless variables,
Eqs, we also obtain

6.15

 This expression suggests defining a dependent dimensionless parameter termed

the Nusselt number.

 This parameter is equal to the dimensionless temperature gradient at the

surface, and it provides a measure of the convection heat transfer occurring at
the surface.
 Cont...
 From Eq. 6.15 it follows that, for a prescribed geometry,

 The Nusselt number is to the thermal boundary layer what the friction coefficient
is to the velocity boundary layer.
 Physical Significance of the Dimensionless Parameters

 All of the foregoing dimensionless parameters have physical interpretations

 For example, the Reynolds number, which may be interpreted as the ratio of
inertia to viscous forces in a region of characteristic dimension L.

 Inertia forces to dominate for large values of ReL and viscous forces to dominate
for small values of ReL
 the Reynolds number determines the existence of laminar or turbulent flow
 Cont...
 The physical interpretation of the Prandtl number follows from its definition
as a ratio of the momentum diffusivity to the thermal diffusivity .
 The Prandtl number provides a measure of the relative effectiveness of
momentum and energy transport by diffusion in the velocity and thermal
boundary layers, respectively.

where n is a positive exponent. Hence for a gas ; for a liquid metal

; for an oil
 Analogies Between Momentum And Heat Transfer
 In forced convection analysis, we are primarily interested in the determination of
the quantities Cf (to calculate shear stress at the wall) and Nu (to calculate heat
transfer rates).
 Such relations are developed on the basis of the similarity between momentum
and heat transfers in boundary layers, and are known as Reynolds analogy and
Chilton–Colburn analogy.
 Reconsider the nondimensionalized momentum and energy equations for
steady, incompressible, laminar flow of a fluid with constant properties and
negligible viscous dissipation.
 When Pr = 1 (which is approximately the case for gases) and (which
is the case when, in the free stream, as in flow over a
flat plate), these equations simplify to
 Cont...
 which are exactly of the same form for the dimensionless velocity u* and
temperature T*. The boundary conditions for u* and T* are also identical.
 Therefore, the functions u* and T* must be identical, and thus the first
derivatives of u* and T* at the surface must be equal to each other,

 Then from Eqs. 6.13, 6.14, and 6.16 we have

 which is known as the Reynolds analogy, This is an important analogy since it

allows us to determine the heat transfer coefficient for fluids with Pr = 1 from a
knowledge of friction coefficient which is easier to measure.
 Reynolds analogy is also expressed alternately as
 Cont...
where

 is the Stanton number, which is also a dimensionless heat transfer coefficient

 Reynolds analogy is of limited use because of the restrictions Pr = 1 and
P*/x* 0 on it, and it is desirable to have an analogy that is applicable
over a wide range of Pr.
 This is done by adding a Prandtl number correction. The friction coefficient
and Nusselt number for a flat plate are determined to be

 Taking their ratio and rearranging give the desired relation, known as the
modified Reynolds analogy or Chilton–Colburn analogy,

 for 0.6 < Pr < 60. Here j H is called the Colburn j-factor. Although this relation is
developed using relations for laminar flow over a flat plate.
Example 6.2