Basics of Heat Transfer

MUHAMMAD SYAHIR SARKAWI, PhD

Nuclear Engineering Program
Energy Engineering Department
N01-273 | 0133274154
[email protected]

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 Objectives of topic

Understand the fundamental

concepts and principles that
underlie heat transfer processes

Calculate the heat transfer rates

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 What and How ?

▪ From the study of thermodynamics, you have learned

that energy can be transferred by interactions of a
system with its surroundings.
▪ These interactions are called work and heat.
▪ However, thermodynamics deals with the end states of
the process during which an interaction occurs and
provides no information concerning the nature of the
interaction or the time rate at which it occurs.
▪ The aim of this topic is to extend thermodynamic
analysis through the study of the modes of heat transfer
and through the development of relations to calculate
heat transfer rates.

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 What and How ?

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 What and How ?

A simple, yet general, definition provides sufficient response to

the question: What is heat transfer?

Heat transfer (or heat) is thermal

energy in transit due to a spatial
temperature difference.

Whenever a temperature difference exists in a medium or

between media, heat transfer must occur.

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 What and How ?

We refer to different types of heat transfer processes as modes.

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 What and How ?

CONDUCTION: Heat transfer that occur between a stationary medium

(solid or liquid in contact) when they are at different temperatures.

CONVETION: Heat transfer that will occur between a surface and a

moving fluid when they are at different temperatures.

RADIATION: All surfaces of finite temperature emit energy in the form

of electromagnetic waves. In the absence of an intervening medium,
there is net heat transfer by radiation between two surfaces at different
temperatures.

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 Physical Mechanisms

As engineers, it is important that you

understand the physical mechanisms which
underlie the heat transfer modes and that
you be able to use the rate equations that
quantify the amount of energy being
transferred per unit time.

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 Conduction

▪ Conduction may be viewed as the transfer of energy from the more energetic to the
less energetic particles of a substance due to interactions between the particles.
▪ Higher temperatures are associated with higher molecular energies. When
neighbouring molecules collide, as they are constantly doing, a transfer of energy from
the more energetic to the less energetic molecules must occur.
▪ In the presence of a temperature gradient, energy transfer by conduction must then
occur in the direction of decreasing temperature.
▪ Example: The exposed end of a metal spoon suddenly immersed in a cup of hot coffee
is eventually warmed due to the conduction of energy through the spoon. On a winter
day, there is significant energy loss from a heated room to the outside air. This loss is
principally due to conduction heat transfer through the wall that separates the room
air from the outside air.

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 Conduction

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 Conduction

▪ For heat conduction, the rate equation is known as Fourier’s law.

▪ The heat flux q” (W/m2) is the heat transfer rate in the x-direction per unit area perpendicular to the direction
of transfer, and it is proportional to the temperature gradient, dT/dx, in this direction.
▪ The parameter k is a transport property known as the thermal conductivity (W/m2.K) and is a characteristic of
the wall material.
▪ The minus sign is a consequence of the fact that heat is transferred in the direction of decreasing temperature.
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 Conduction

Note: The equation provides a heat flux, that is, the rate of heat transfer per unit area
(W/m2). The heat rate by conduction, qx (W), through a plane wall of area A is then the
product of the heat flux and the area, qx = q’’x . A.

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 Conduction

𝑑𝑇
𝑞𝑥 = −𝐴𝑘
𝑑𝑥

In heat conduction The rate of heat conduction

analysis, A represents through a solid is directly
the area normal to proportional to its thermal
the direction of heat conductivity.
transfer.

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 Exercise 1

A plane wall made of a material with thermal conductivity of 1 W/m.K is used as a

thermal barrier between a hot chamber and atmosphere. The temperature of the wall
on the hotter side is 250 °K while that on the colder side is 30 °K. Determine the rate of
heat transfer across the wall, if the wall is 1 m x 1 m x 0.1 m.

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 Thermal Conductivity

▪ The proportionality is converted to an equality by introducing a coefficient that is a measure of the

material behavior

▪ SOLIDS: Thermal energy transports by

1) lattice vibration waves;
2) free electron movements.
Metals use both modes, non-metallics use lattice vibration only.

▪ LIQUIDS: Thermal energy transports by kinetic energy exchanges – molecules are closely spaced,
with strong molecular force field.

▪ GASES: Same as liquids, but loosely spaced molecules and weaker force field.

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 Thermal Conductivity

A high value for thermal conductivity indicates that the material is a good heat
conductor, and a low value indicates that the material is a poor heat conductor or
insulator. A simple experimental setup to determine
the thermal conductivity of a material.

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 Thermal Conductivity

▪ The thermal conductivity of various materials at room temperature.

▪ Pure crystals and metals have the highest thermal conductivities, and gases and insulating
materials the lowest.

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 Convection

▪ Convection heat transfer mechanism can be described as energy transfer occurring

within a fluid due to the combined effects of conduction at the fluid-solid interface
and bulk fluid motion.

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 Convection

▪ Convection heat transfer may be classified according to the nature of the

flow:
▪ Forced convection is when the flow is caused by external means, such as
by a fan, a pump, or atmospheric winds.
▪ Free (or natural) convection is when the flow is induced by buoyancy
forces, which are due to density differences caused by temperature
variations in the fluid.
▪ Convection heat transfer results from fluid motion induced by vapor
bubbles generated at the bottom of a pan of boiling water.
▪ Convection heat transfer by the condensation of water vapor on the outer
surface of a cold water pipe.
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 Convection

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 Convection

Regardless of the nature of the convection heat transfer process, the appropriate rate
equation is of the form:

▪ For heat conduction, the rate equation is known as Newton’s law of cooling.
▪ q” is the heat flux (W/m2), is proportional to the difference between the surface and fluid
temperatures, Ts and T∞, respectively.
▪ h (W/m2.K) is termed the convection heat transfer coefficient. This coefficient depends on
conditions in the boundary layer, which are influenced by surface geometry, the nature of the
fluid motion, and an assortment of fluid thermodynamic and transport properties.
▪ The convection heat flux is presumed to be positive if heat is transferred from the surface
(Ts > T∞) and negative if heat is transferred to the surface (T∞ > Ts).

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 Convection

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 Exercise 2

A hot cylinder at a temperature of 200 °K is exposed to air at 30 °K. If the heat transfer
coefficient is 20 𝐖/𝐦𝟐 𝐊, determine the rate of heat transfer per unit area

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 Radiation

▪ Radiation is the mode of heat transfer that involves emission

and absorption of electromagnetic radiation between two
objects placed at different temperatures.
▪ This mode of heat transfer does not require a material medium
and can occur even in vacuum.
▪ In fact, heat transfer by radiation is fastest (at the speed of light)
and it suffers no attenuation in a vacuum. This is how the energy
of the sun reaches the earth.

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 Radiation

▪ In heat transfer studies we are interested in thermal radiation, which

is the form of radiation emitted by bodies because of their
temperature.
▪ All bodies at a temperature above absolute zero emit thermal
radiation.
▪ Radiation is a volumetric phenomenon, and all solids, liquids, and
gases emit, absorb, or transmit radiation to varying degrees.
▪ However, radiation is usually considered to be a surface phenomenon
for solids.

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 Radiation

Stefan-Boltzmann Law

𝒒 = 𝑸 = 𝜺𝝈𝑨𝒔 𝑻𝟒𝒔
𝜺 – emissivity (1.0 for black body)
𝑻𝒔 − Surface temperature
𝝈 − Stefan-Boltzmann coefficient (= 5.67 × 10−8 𝑊/𝑚2 ∙ 𝐾 4 )
𝑨𝒔 − Surface area

Blackbody: The idealized surface that emits radiation at the maximum rate.

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 Radiation

When a surface is completely enclosed by a much larger (or black) surface at temperature
Tsurr separated by a gas (such as air), the net rate of radiation heat transfer between
these two surfaces is given by

𝑸 = 𝜺𝝈𝑨𝒔 (𝑻𝟒𝒔 −𝑻𝟒𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒓 )

Radiation heat transfer between a

surface and the surfaces
surrounding it.

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 Radiation

Emissivity 𝜀 : A measure of how closely a surface

approximates a blackbody for which 𝜀 = 1 of the
surface. 𝟎 < 𝜀 < 𝟏.

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 Radiation

Absorptivity 𝛼: The fraction of the radiation energy incident on a surface that is

absorbed by the surface. 𝟎 < 𝛼 < 𝟏

A blackbody absorbs the entire radiation incident on it (𝛼 = 1). Kirchhoff’s law: The
emissivity and the absorptivity of a surface at a given temperature and wavelength
are equal.

𝑸𝒂𝒃𝒔𝒐𝒓𝒃𝒆𝒅 = 𝑸𝜶𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒕

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 Radiation

▪ Net radiation heat transfer: The difference between the rates of

radiation emitted by the surface and the radiation absorbed.
▪ The determination of the net rate of heat transfer by radiation between
two surfaces is a complicated matter since it depends on
• the properties of the surfaces
• their orientation relative to each other
• the interaction of the medium between the surfaces with radiation

Radiation is usually significant relative to conduction or natural

convection, but negligible relative to forced convection.

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 Exercise 3

An overhead 25-m-long, uninsulated industrial steam pipe of 100-mm diameter is routed through a
building whose walls and air are at 25 ℃. Pressurized steam maintains a pipe surface temperature of
150 ℃, and the coefficient associated with natural convection is ℎ = 10 W/m2 K. The surface
emissivity is 𝜀 =0.8.

a) What is the rate of heat loss from the steam line?

b) If the steam is generated in a gas-fired boiler operating at an efficiency of 𝜂𝑓 = 0.90 and natural
gas is priced at Cg = $0.02 per MJ, what is the annual cost of heat loss from the line?

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Thank You
Stay safe!

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