HEAT TRANSFER PROBLEMS

2010/2011

Week 1: 14/9-16/9

1. A glass window of width W=1 m and height H=2m is 5mm thick and has a thermal conductivity of
1.4 W/mK. If the inner and outer surface temperatures of the glass are 15 oC and -20oC,
respectively, on a cold winter day, what is the rate of heat loss through the glass? To reduce heat
loss through windows, it is customary to use a double pane construction in which adjoining panes
are separated by a air space. If the spacing is 10 mm and the glass surfaces in contact with the air
have temperatures of 10oC and -15oC, what is the rate of heat loss from a 1m x 2 m window? The
thermal conductivity of air is 0.024 W/mK. [19600W; 120 W].

2. A square isothermal chip is of width w=5mm on a side and is mounted in a substrate such that
its side and back surfaces are well insulated, while the front surface is exposed to the flow of a
coolant at 15oC. From reliability considerations, the chip temperature must not exceed 85 oC. If the
coolant is air and the corresponding convection coefficient is h=200 W/m2K, what is the maximum
allowable chip power? If the coolant is a dielectric liquid for which h=3000 W/m 2K, what is the
maximum allowable power? [0.35W; 5.25W]

3. Consider the conditions of problem 2. With heat transfer by convection to the air, the maximum
allowable chip power is found to be 0.35W. If consideration is also given to the net heat transfer by
radiation from the chip surface to large surroundings at 15 oC, what is the percentage increase in
the maximum allowable chip power afforded by this consideration? The chip surface has an
emissivity of 0.9. [3.5%]

Week 2: 21/9-24/9

4. Consider a small furnace with thickness equal to 0.025m designed to make bread. The wall of
the furnace is made with an insulating material with thermal conductivity equal to k=0.1W/mK.
Knowing that the inner wall temperature is equal to 400 oC, what is the outside wall temperature?
The outer wall is cooled by the flow of moving air at 35 oC and characterized by a convective heat
transfer equal to h=500W/m2K. [38 oC]

5. Consider the steady state heat conduction in a rectangular plate. The surface x=0 is heated with
a constant heat flux q0’’, while the opposing surface is kept at constant temperature T 0. The surface
y=0 is isolated while the surface y=0 losses heat to a fluid at temperature T ∞ and the convective
heat transfer rate is h. The thermal conductivity of the plate is constant and there is no energy
generation within the plate. Write the equation governing the temperature field T(x,y) in the plate
and specify the boundary conditions for this problem.

6. Determine the temperature distribution in a solid whose thermal conductivity depends on the
temperature, k(T)=k0+aT, where k0 is a positive constant and ‘a’ is a coefficient that may be
positive of negative. Sketch the temperature distribution the for three cases corresponding to a>0,
a=0, and a<0.

Week 3: 28/9-1/10

7. Consider a slice of a revolving conical body as sketched in the figure. The body has two
surfaces at x0 and x1. Obtain the steady state temperature distribution inside the body knowing that
the upper surface receives heat with a constant heat flux q 0‘’, while the lower surface is kept at
constant temperature T1. The lateral surface is isolated and the thermal conductivity is constant.

8. A cylindrical cable with radius R heats up due to a constant electrical current flowing inside the
cable. The cable looses heat to the ambient flow which is at temperature T ∞. The amount of heat
generated within the cable is constant across the cable section. How does the thermal conductivity
of the cable affect the temperature at the centre T(r=0) and at the external surface T(R) of the
cable?

Week 4: 6/10-8/10
9. Consider the heat transfer in a hollow sphere made with material with thermal conductivity equal
to k, and where the inner radius and temperature are ri and Ti, respectively, while the outer radius
and outer sphere temperature are r0 and T0. Knowing that the sphere is immersed in a fluid at
temperature T∞ and that the convective heat transfer coefficient is h derive an expression for the
critical insulation radius of the sphere r0, considering two situations: (a) constant h; (b) h=cr0-1/2,
Where c is a constant.

10. Consider a long rod with diameter equal to 10mm made of steel inside an electric grill. ). The
rod surface is kept at 200oC due to the passage of an electric current. The rod is cooled by air at
25oC and the convection coefficient is 140W/m2K. (a) What is the critical radius if a coating of
bakelite (k=1.4W/mK) is used over the rod? (b) What is the heat transfer rate per unit length for the
bare rod? (c) What is the heat transfer rate per unit length for the rod with the bakelite coating?

11. Consider the cooling of a square chip with sides with w=12.7mm and height Lb=0.005mm that
operates at 75oC and is attached from one side to an array of 16 cylindrical copper (k=400W/mK)
fins with diameter Dp=1.5mm and height Lp=15mm. The convective heat transfer coefficient of the
air, at 20oC, flowing around the chip is ho=1000W/m2K. From the other (opposing) surface the chip
is attached to the motherboard with thermal conductivity equal to kb=1W/mK. The contact thermal
resistance between the chip and the motherboard is R’’t,c=10-4 m2K/W. The motherboard looses
heat by convection with another stream of ambient air with h o=40W/m2K. What is the heat transfer
rate from the chip? Compare the thermal resistance from the two sides of the chip.

Week 5: 11/10-15/10
12.
13.

14. A 1D plate with thickness L, and with constant properties ( and Cp), is initially at uniform
temperature T0. For t>0, one of its surfaces starts to receive heat, characterised by heat flux equal
to q”. The heat is dissipated in the other surface where the ambient temperature is T∞. Let h be the
convective heat transfer coefficient associated with heat transfer to the fluid. Determine the
temperature in the plate as function of time, supposing that the thermal gradients inside the plate
are small.
 Week 6: 18/10-22/10
15. The nozzle wall of the exhaust system of a rocket engine has a thickness L = 25 mm (assume that the
nozzle diameter is much larger than its thickness) and is made of a steel alloy ( = 8,000 kg/m3, c = 500 J/kg
and k = 25 W/mK). During a resistance test to fire the internal wall, initially at 25ºC, is exposed to the hot
exhaust gases at 1750 ºC with a convection coefficient h = 500 W/m2K. The outer wall is thermally insulated.
The wall temperature must never exceed the limit value of 100 ºC below the material melting temperature
(1600 ºC).
a) Determine the temperature of the wall surface in contact with the hot gases after 30s.
b) Determine the time required for the wall to attain the maximum admissible temperature.

16. A composite material rod with circular cross-section ( = 81500 kg/m3, c = 1800 J/kg and k = 1.2 W/mK)
has a 3 cm diameter and is initially at 30 ºC. The rod is then heated up inside a chamber with saturated steam
at 120 ºC that condensates at its surface (with phase change assume a convection coefficient with a very high
value). When the rod axis reaches the temperature of 110 ºC it is removed from the chamber and cooled
down in air at 20 ºC (with a convection coefficient h = 15 W/m2K) until its axis reaches the temperature of 30
ºC. Determine the time requires for both heating and cooling processes.

COMPLEMENTARY PROBLEMS (chapter 5 from the 6th ed. of text book):

5.35; 5.37; 5.43; 5.47; 5.51; 5.53; 5.58; 5.62

Week 7: 26/10-29/10

17. A thick wall made of concrete ( = 2300 kg/m3, c = 880 J/kg and k = 1.4 W/mK) is initially at 400K. The
wall is to be cooled by a stream of water so that the wall surface temperature can be considered to be constant
and equal to 300K. How long does it take for a point 5 cm below the wall surface to reach 320K? [27880,4 s
~ 7.7h].

18. A cylinder made of copper ( = 2010-6 m2/s, k = 50 W/mK) with 100 mm of height and 50 mm of
diameter is initially at a uniform temperature of at 20 ºC. The cylinder is placed between two plates that
allow for the base and top of the cylinder to be at 500 ºC (for this boundary one can consider that the Biot
number is Bi=. At the same time the lateral cylinder surface is subjected to convective heat transfer with
Air with 500 ºC and coefficient h = 75 W/m2K.
(a) How long does it take for the time at the center of the cylinder to reach 350 ºC? [64s].
(b) What is the minimum temperature in the cylinder for the time computed in (a)? [350ºC].

COMPLEMENTARY PROBLEMS (chapter 5 from the 6th ed. of text book):

5.71; 5.72; 5.75; 5.76; 5.78; 5.81
 Week 8: 2/11-6/11

19. The temperature profile in the thermal boundary layer of air over a warm plate is given by (T(y)-Ts)/(T-
Ts)=1-exp(-Pr Uy/), where y is the distance perpendicular to the plate surface. The Prandtl number is 0.7,
T=400K, Ts=300K, U/=5000m-1. Determine the convection heat transfer coefficient.

A lightly loaded journal bearing operates at a rotational speed of 3600 rpm and is lubricated with oil ( = 800
kg/m3,  = 10-5 m2/s, k = 0.13 W/mK). The journal diameter is 75 mm and the space between the bearing and
the journal measures 0.25 mm.
a) Determine the temperature distribution in the oil assuming that there is no heat transfer to the journal and
that the lubricated surface bearing temperature is 75ºC.
b) Determine the rate of heat transfer to the bearing and the bearing operating power.

20. A lightly loaded journal bearing operates at a rotational speed of 3600 rpm and is lubricated with oil ( =
800 kg/m3,  = 10-5 m2/s, k = 0.13 W/mK). The journal diameter is 75 mm and the space between the bearing
and the journal measures 0.25 mm.
a) Determine the temperature distribution in the oil assuming that there is no heat transfer to the journal and
that the lubricated surface bearing temperature is 75ºC.
b) Determine the rate of heat transfer to the bearing and the bearing operating power.

21. Air at 15ºC and 15m/s flows parallel to a flat plate with a heated surface at a constant temperature of
140ºC. The plate area is 0.25 m2 and the drag force is 0.25N. What is the power required to keep the plate at
that temperature?

22. Experimental measurements of the convection heat transfer coefficient for a square bar in cross flow
yielded the following values:

Assume that the functional form of the Nusselt number is Nu  C Rem Pr n , where C, m and n are constants.
a) What will be the convection heat transfer coefficient for a similar bar with L = 1 m when V = 15 m/s?
b) What will be the convection heat transfer coefficient for a similar bar with L = 1 m when V = 30 m/s?
c) Would your results be the same if the side of the bar, rather then its diagonal, were used as the
characteristic length.

Week 9: 9/11-12/11
23. In the laminar flow over an isothermal flat plate with length L, the Nusselt number is:
Nux=0.332Rex1/2 Pr1/3 for 0.6<Pr<50.
(a) Sketch the heat flux along the plate q”(x).
(b) Obtain the position x at which q”(x) is equal to the mean heat flux for the whole plate.
 (c) What is the ratio between the heat flux at the middle of the plate and the mean heat flux in the whole
plate?

24. A heated cylinder with diameter D=9mm and height L=3cm is used to measure the mean speed of the
Ocean current, by measuring the temperature of its surface, and the heat rate dissipated to the Ocean.
Compute the speed of Ocean water knowing that the ocean temperature at a particular location is 20,54ºC and
that the temperature of the surface of the cylinder is 21.35ºC. The heat rate dissipated in the cylinder is 1.101
W.