Assignment

Assignment
Aim: Heat Transfer by Natural Convection

1. To determine the overall heat transfer coefficient at the surface of
a given vertical metal cylinder by the natural convection method.
2. To determine the value of Nusselt number.
Apparatus:
Natural Convection Apparatus - a metal cylinder fitted vertically in a
wooden rectangular duct which is open at the top and the bottom
(Fig 1). An electric heater is provided in the vertical cylinder, which
heats the surface of the cylinder. Heat is lost from the cylinder to the
surrounding air by natural convection, because the air in contact with
the cylinder gets heated and becomes less dense, causing it to rise.
This in turn creates a continuous flow of air upward in the duct. The
temperature at the various locations on the surface of the vertical
cylinder and in the incoming and outgoing air is monitored with
thermocouples. The duct is made of wood because it is a poor
conductor, so not much heat will transfer from the air to the duct.
Thus the duct will enhance air flow without introducing another
convective surface.
Theory:
Heat transfer theory seeks to predict the energy transfer that takes
place between material bodies as a result of temperature difference.
This energy transfer is defined as heat. The three modes by which
heat can be transferred from one place to another are conduction,
convection and radiation.
It is well known that a hot plate of metal will cool faster when placed
in front of a fan than when placed in still air. With the fan, we say
that the heat is convected away, and we call the process convection
heat transfer. Convection involves the transfer of heat by motion and
mixing of a fluid.
Forced convection happens when the fluid is kept in motion by an
external means, such as a turbine or a fan. Some examples of forced
convection are stirring a mixture of ice and water, blowing on the
surface of coffee in a cup, orienting a car radiator to face airflow, etc.
Convection is called natural convection when motion and mixing of
fluid is caused by density variation resulting from temperature
differences within the fluid. The density of fluid near the hot surface
is less than that of the colder fluid away from the heated surface, and
gravity creates a buoyant force which lifts the heated fluid upward.
In the case of conduction through a solid of area A and thickness L,

heat flow is given by
(1)
Where, temperature difference across the thickness L, and k is the
thermal conductivity of the object.
In the case of convection, the heat flow is proportional only to the

surface area A of the object,
(2)
Where h is the convective heat transfer coefficient (units Wm-2 K-1)
which depends on the shape and orientation of the object.
Convection is an enhanced form of conduction, since the movement
of the fluid helps carry heat transferred by conduction, so one would
expect some relation between h and k. If the temperature of the
cylinder is not much above that of the surrounding air, the moving
fluid can be approximated as a stationary layer having some
characteristic thickness L. Comparing equations (1) and (2), one
immediately has the relation h = k/L. In fact, as the temperature of
the cylinder increases, fluid motion increases and becomes turbulent,
whereupon the fluid becomes more efficient at carrying heat, and h
can turn out.
(4)
Where k is thermal conductivity of air and L is the characteristic
length. Note that N is a dimensionless quantity.
In our case, which does involve turbulent flow, we are interested in

temperature variation along the length of a metal cylinder, so we will
take the characteristic length L to be the length of the cylinder.
Applications:
Natural convection heat transfer is extensively used in the following
areas of engineering:
1. Cooling of commercial high voltage electrical power transformers.
2. Heating of houses by electrical baseboard heaters.
3. Heat loss from steam pipe lines in power plants and heat gain in
refrigerant pipe lines in air conditioning applications.
4. Cooling of reactor cores in nuclear power plants, though often the
coolant is driven by pumps, resulting in more efficient heat transfer
by forced convection.
Simulator Controls
1. Choose material - This can used to select the material for

the metal cylinder.
2. Side of wooden box - Side of the outer wooden hollow
rectangular box can be varied in cm.
3. Height of wooden box - Height of the outer wooden
hollow rectangular box can be varied in cm.
4. Diameter of cylinder- Diameter of the vertical cylinder can
be varied in cm.
5. Length of the cylinder - Length of the vertical cylinder can
be varied in cm.
6. Thickness of cylinder - Thickness of the vertical cylinder
can be varied in cm.
7. White knob - can be rotated by clicking the side arrows to
adjust the voltage and corresponding current, which can be
used to calculate input power.
8. Power On - click to start the experiment.
9. Temperature indicator - used to read the temperature at
the positions of the various thermocouples. After a steady
state is reached (when the timer shows 20 minutes), click the
arrows on either side of the knob to read
temperatures T1 to T6 in degrees Celsius.
Procedure for Simulation

1. Choose a particular material to carry out the
experiment.
2. Choose the height and side of the wooden box with
the box sliders.
3. Adjust the diameter, length and thickness of the
cylinder using the cylinder sliders.
4. Apply a particular voltage and corresponding current
using white knob in the simulator.
5. Using temperature indicator, note the values of T1, T2,
T3, T4, T5 and T6 and, using the table and worksheet
below, calculate the heat transfer coefficient and Nusselt
number.
6. Click show result to check your calculations. You can
also enter your data in the worksheet on the Simulator
to check some of the intermediate quantities in the main
calculations.

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Assignment

Aim: Heat Transfer by Natural Convection

In the case of conduction through a solid of area A and thickness L,

In the case of convection, the heat flow is proportional only to the

In our case, which does involve turbulent flow, we are interested in

1. Choose material - This can used to select the material for

Procedure for Simulation

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