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FREE CONVECTION
Program: Mechanical Engineering
Lab Section 3
Prepared for:
1
Summary
In this experiment, the free convective heat transfer coefficients for a horizontal
aluminum cylinder and an aluminum plate were calculated and compared. A hot air gun
was used to heat both the specimens for a specified time interval. Corresponding
calculations were made and then tabulated as displayed in the results section. A graph of
the log of Nusselt number vs the log of Prandtl Number was also plotted. A certain degree
of errors were seen in performing the experiment which could be attributed to poor
ventilation and also uneven heating of the aluminum bar. Here the percent errors in the
range of 42 – 47% were seen for the measured and theoretical values of h in the
horizontal cylinder, whereas errors in the range of 22%-35% were seen for the vertical
plate. Also the Biot number was calculated to be lower than 0.1, which subsequently
proved that lumped capacitance could also be used for corresponding calculations.
Generally the experiment was considered to be a success despite the percentage errors
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Table of contents:
2. Apparatus…………………………………………………………………….Pg.6
3. Procedure…………………………………………………………………….Pg.7
4. Results………………………………………………………………………. Pg.8
5. Discussion……………………………………………………………………Pg.10
6. Conclusion…………………………………………………………………...Pg.11
7. References……………………………………………………………………Pg.12
8. Appendices…………………………………………………………………...Pg.13
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1.0 Introduction
A heated fluid tends to rise in the presence of the Earth’s gravitational field and density
differences within the fluid produces buoyant forces that drive the flow. This buoyancy-
Figure1. Both objects have surface temperature TS and are immersed in a large body of
quiescent fluid at temperature . Most fluids expand when heated. So, the heated fluid
near the surface of the object will be less dense than the surrounding fluid. This fluid will
rise, producing a thermal boundary layer on the surface, and thermal plume above the
object.
vertical plate.
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--------------------(1)
heat transfer the dimension it has the biggest effect on the convective
----------------(2)
5
-----------------(3)
The values of both C and n depend on the Rayleigh number and are
2.0 Apparatus
4. Thermocouple
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3.0 Procedure
1. The air disturbance nearby the apparatus was kept at a minimum level.
2. The ambient temperature T and atmospheric pressure were recorded.
3. The experiment was started with the vertical plate first to avoid any interaction
with the plume from the horizontal cylinder. The vertical plate was heated to 160-
170 F by using a hot air gun.
4. The plate’s internal temperature was kept uniform by leaving it for 2 minutes after
the heating was completed.
5. The plate’s temperature was taken every 120 seconds for 16 minutes.
6. The above steps were repeated for the horizontal cylinder.
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4.0 Results
8
5
6.010026 9.045493 33.55778 9610191 50.37808
6
6.403375 8.88379 27.92068 9180241 49.62287
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5.721765 8.728303 34.44585 8779885 48.89803
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6.67398 8.569534 22.11968 8367875 48.12858
100
log Nusselt number
10
1
1 10 100 1000 10000 100000 1000000 10000000 1E+08
log Rayleigh number
Figure 1 – Graph Log of average Nusselt number vs. log Rayleigh number
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5.0 Discussion
For the horizontal cylinder, percent errors of 42%-47% were apparent for the
measured and theoretical heat transfer coefficient. While, for the vertical plate, percent
errors were calculated to be in the range of 22%-35% for the theoretical and measured
heat transfer coefficient. The reason for the percent errors can be explained by a couple of
factors during the experimentation. One of which is that the air in the room was not
perfectly quiescent and that it was disturbed because of the poor ventilation. Another
factor was the uneven heating of the aluminum bar as the temperature of the entire
surface had deviations. Also, inaccurate timing during the cooling stage may have
triggered some imprecise results. These errors might have accumulated to a point that it
Lumped capacitance method is certainly valid for this type of experiment because
the Biot number was less than 0.1. As the conductive temperature resistance is much
lower than the convective temperature resistance, this signifies that the temperature
variation within the metal plate is much lower than the temperature variation between the
The total heat loss for the vertical plate is m Cp∆T ≅ 18W, while the heat loss due to
radiation is εσA(T1 4 − T∞ 4 ) ≅ 3W. Hence, heat loss due to radiation accounts for about
10
16% of the total heat loss. Polished surfaces have lower emissivity as compared to rough
surface, hence the cylinder and the plate was polished to prevent any major heat loss to
radiation.
6.0 Conclusion
The objective of the experiment was to compare the free convective heat transfer
coefficients of a horizontal cylinder and a vertical plate. For the calculation of the average
convective heat transfer coefficients of the cylinder, the Grashof, Prandtl, Reyleigh and
Nusselt numbers were evaluated. The predicted value for h was found to be higher than
the measured value, in both cases. Generally percent errors in the range of 42 – 47% were
seen for the measured and theoretical values of h in the horizontal cylinder, whereas
errors in the range of 22%-35% were seen for the vertical plate. Generally, the horizontal
cylinder produced lower values for convective heat transfer coefficients when compared
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7.0 References
[1] Naylor D., MEC 701 Heat Transfer Laboratory Manual, Toronto: Ryerson University,
2008.
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8.0 Appendix
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dT1 4
− mC p − εσA(T 1 − T∞4 )
dt − 0.4505 (875)(-0.030093 ) - 0.04(5.67 × 10 −8 )(0.0559762)(342.6 4 − 295.6
h1 = =
A(T 1 − T∞ ) 0.0559762(342.6 - 295.6)
h1 = 4.212 (W/m 2 K)
hD 4.212(0.0246)
Nu D = = = 3.733247
k air 0.027779
Interpolating the air properties at T=319.98K and using Table A.4 we get:
β = 0.003125(1/K)
ρ = 1.094886(kg/m 3 )
µ = 1.94033 × 10 -5 ( N ⋅ s / m 2 )
Pr = 0.704202
Plugging in all this variables into equation for Rayleigh number we get
gβ (T1 − T∞ ) D 3 ρ 2
Ra D = Pr = 48048.75
µ2
Now we can find Nusselt number Nu = C Ra nD , where C = 0.480 and n = 0.250 because Ra
D ∈ 10 4 − 10 7
Nu D = 7.106598
From Nusselt number we can calculate the predicted value of h :
Nu D k
h predicted = = 8.024959 (W/m 2 K)
D
h predicted − h
%error = × 100% = 47.46787%
h predicted
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Test conditions for plate experiment
Barometric pressure: 746.15 mmHg
Initial Room Temperature: 71.3 ° F = 294.98 K
T1 = (T1 + T2 ) / 2 = 342.65 K
h1 = 6.480 (W/m 2 K)
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hD 6.480(0.1524)
Nu D = = = 35.56388
k air 0.027771
Interpolating the air properties at T=319.875K and using Table A.4 we get:
β = 0.003126(1/K)
ρ = 1.095256(kg/m 3 )
µ = 1.93981 × 10 -5 ( N ⋅ s / m 2 )
Pr = 0.704218
Plugging in all this variables into equation for Rayleigh number we get
gβ (T1 − T∞ ) L3 ρ 2
Ra L = Pr = 11462784
µ2
Now we can find Nusselt number Nu = C Ra nL , where C = 0.125 and n = 0.333 because Ra
L ∈ 10 7 − 1012
Nu L = 53.39563
From Nusselt number we can calculate the predicted value of h :
Nu L k
h predicted = = 9.7299 (W/m 2 K)
L
h predicted − h
%error = × 100% = 33.39552%
h predicted
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