PROBLEM5.

129
KNOWN: Plane wall of thickness 2L, initially at a uniform temperature, is suddenly subjected to
convection heat transfer.
FIND: The mid-plane, T(0,t), and surface, T(L,t), temperatures at t = 50, 100, 200 and 500 s, using
the following methods: (a) the one-term series solution; determine also the Biot number; (b) the
lumped capacitance solution; and (c) the two- and 5-node finite-difference numerical solutions.
Prepare a table summarizing the results and comment on the relative differences of the predicted
temperatures.
SCHEMATIC:
= 7800 kg/m
c = 440 J/kg-K
k = 15 W/m-K

3
Symmetry
adiabat
x x L = 20 mm
(a) Plane wall, thickness 2L (b) Nodal networks
L
Nodal network # nodes Ax
At = 1 s
T = 25 C
o
oo
h = 500 W/m -K
2
5 L/4
L
1 2 3 5 4
1 2
2
ASSUMPTIONS: (1) One-dimensional conduction in the x-direction, and (2) Constant properties.
ANALYSIS: (a) The results are tabulated below for the mid-plane and surface temperatures using the
one-term approximation to the series solution, Eq. 5.43 and 5.44. The Biot number for the heat
transfer process is
2
Bi h L/ k 500 W/ m K 0.020 m 15 W/ m K 0.67 / = = =
Since Bi >> 0.1, we expect an appreciable temperature difference between the mid-plane and surface,
as the tabulated results indicate.
(b) The results are tabulated below for the wall temperatures using the lumped capacitance method
(LCM) of solution, Eq. 5.6. The LCM neglects the internal conduction resistance and since Bi = 0.67
>> 0.1, we expect this method to predict systematically lower temperatures (faster cooling) at the
midplane compared to the one-term approximation.
Solution method/Time(s) 50 100 200 500
Mid-plane, T(0,t) (C)
One-term, Eqs. 5.43, 5.44 207.1 160.5 99.97 37.70
Lumped capacitance 181.7 133.9 77.69 30.97
2-node FDE 210.6 163.5 100.5 37.17
5-node FDE 207.5 160.9 100.2 37.77
Surface, T(L,t) (C)
One-term, Eqs. 5.43, 5.44 160.1 125.4 80.56 34.41
Lumped capacitance 181.7 133.9 77.69 30.97
2-node FDE 163.7 125.2 79.40 33.77
5-node FDE 160.2 125.6 80.67 34.45
(c) The 2- and 5-node nodal networks representing the wall are shown in the schematic above. The
implicit form of the finite-difference equations for the mid-plane, interior (if present) and surface
nodes can be derived from energy balances on the nodal control volumes. The time-rate of change of
the temperature is expressed in terms of the IHT integral intrinsic function, der(T,t).
Continued
PROBLEM5.129 (Cont.)
Mid-plane node
( ) ( ) ( ) 2 1 / 2 1, / k T T x der T t x c A A =
Interior node (5-node network)
( ) ( ) ( ) 1 2 3 2 2, / / k T T T T der T t x k x c x A + A = A
Surface node (shown for 5-node network)
( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) 4 5 inf 5 / 2 5, / k T T T T c x der T t x h = A A +
With appropriate values for Ax, the foregoing FDEs were entered into the IHT workspace and solved
for the temperature distributions as a function of time over the range 0 s t s 500 s using an integration
time step of 1 s. Selected portions of the IHT codes for each of the models are shown in the
Comments. The results of the analysis are summarized in the foregoing table.
COMMENTS: (1) Referring to the table above, we can make the following observations about the
relative differences and similarities of the estimated temperatures: (a) The one-term series model
estimates are the most reliable, and can serve as the benchmark for the other model results; (b) The
LCM model over estimates the rate of cooling, and poorly predicts temperatures since the model
neglects the effect of internal resistance and Bi = 0.67 >> 0.1; (c) The 5-node model results are in
excellent agreement with those from the one-term series solution; we can infer that the chosen space
and time increments are sufficiently small to provide accurate results; and (d) The 2-node model under
estimates the rate of cooling for early times when the time-rate of change is high; but for late times,
the agreement is improved.
(2) See the Solver | Intrinsic Functions section of IHT|Help or the IHT Examples menu (Example 5.3)
for guidance on using the der(T,t) function.
(3) Selected portions of the IHT code for the 2-node network model are shown below.
// Writing the finite-difference equations 2-node model
// Node 1
k * (T2 - T1)/ deltax = rho * cp * (deltax / 2) * der(T1,t)
// Node 2
k * (T1 - T2)/ deltax + h * (Tinf - T2) = rho * cp * (deltax / 2) * der(T2,t)
// Input parameters
L = 0.020
deltax = L
rho = 7800 // density, kg/m^3
cp = 440 // specific heat, J/kgK
k = 15 // thermal conductivity, W/m.K
h = 500 // convection coefficient, W/m^2K
Tinf = 25 // fluid temperature, K
(4) Selected portions of the IHT code for the 5-node network model are shown below.
// Writing the finite-difference equations 5-node model
// Node 1 - midplane
k * (T2 - T1)/ deltax = rho * cp * (deltax / 2) * der(T1,t)
// Interior nodes
k * (T1 - T2)/ deltax + k * (T3 - T2 )/ deltax = rho * cp * deltax * der(T2,t)
k * (T2 - T3)/ deltax + k * (T4 - T3 )/ deltax = rho * cp * deltax * der(T3,t)
k * (T3 - T4)/ deltax + k * (T5 - T4 )/ deltax = rho * cp * deltax * der(T4,t)
// Node5 - surface
k * (T4 - T5)/ deltax + h * (Tinf - T5) = rho * cp * (deltax / 2) * der(T5,t)
// Input parameters
L = 0.020
deltax = L / 4
..
..