Experimental report of Thermal Fluids Laboratory

Department of Aerospace Engineering

AE 241
January 16th, 2018, Thermal Engineering lab,

FORCED CONVECTION HEAT TRANSFER

Jaya Kalyani, Kadira Manisha,Kavya Karampuri,

Kasukurthi Saathvika, Korlam Vamsi Krishna, Kumar Kshitiz
4th Semester Aerospace Engineering
IIST, Thiruvananthapuram

ABSTRACT Pr Prandtl number at T f ilm

An experimental study has been conducted to understand the
effect of forced convection on the heat transfer from the surface
of a cylinder. Velocity of medium plays a very important role
in the convective heat transfer coefficient value. As the amount
of heat transferred due to convection depends strongly on the
medium velocity, it is important to understand how the amount
of heat transferred varies with different medium velocities. This
work reports the heat transferred from the surface of the cylinder
due to forced convection at 5 different velocities. Results show
that, as the medium velocity increases the heat transfer from the
surface of the hot body to the medium increases and thus the
surface temperature of the body decreases. Possible reasons for
the heat transfer enhancement are discussed.
NOMENCLATURE
D Diameter of the cylinder [m]
L Length of the cylinder [m]
Q f Heat loss due to forced convection [J]
Qr Heat loss due to radiation [J]
A Surface area of the cylinder [m2 ]
σ Stefan Boltzmann constant [W ]
ε Emissivity of the cylinder
Ts Surface temperature of the cylinder [ 0C]
Ta Ambient temperature [ 0C]
K Thermal conductivity [ mWK ]
Nu Nusselt number
T f ilm Mean film temperature [ 0C]
Re Reynold’s number
Pr∞ Prandtl number at T∞
Prw Prandtl number at Ts
Gr Grashof number
g Gravity [ sm2 ]
1
β Coefficient of thermal expansion [ 0C ]
ν Dynamic viscosity [ Nm2s ]
INTRODUCTION
Forced convection is a heat transfer mechanism in which the
fluid is forced to move over a surface by an internal source such
as a fan, pump, stirrer etc. In natural convection the heat transfer
rate is limited by small movement of the fluid which is gener-
ated by small density changes caused due to heating of the fluid
near the surface of the hot body. But in case of the forced con-
vection the fluid movement can be greatly increased resulting in
improved heat transfer rate. Many of the real life scenarios like
air conditioning, boiling water etc. use convection as the major
phenomenon. It is important to know that increase in fluid veloc-
ity effects the heat transfer rate. As per the engineering aspect
it is very important to study about the dependence of velocity
on heat transfer rate. Other applications for forced convection
include systems that operate at extremely high temperatures for
functions for example propelling air across the hot computer cir-
cuits. Thus, engineers can determine what fluid flow velocity
is necessary to produce the desired temperature distribution and
prevent parts of the system from failing.

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APPARATUS
Cylinder( Diameter=0.01, Length=0.07)
Anemometer
Thermocouples
HT10X Heat Transfer Service Unit
2 K-Type Thermocouples

THEORY
In forced convection phenomenon a higher amount of
heat transfer takes place when compared to the normal natural
convection [1]. Therefore the surface subjected to forced con-
vection acquires lower surface temperature when compared to
the one exposed to natural convection. If the object is at a higher
temperature than the surrounding air, then the heat transfer will
take place from the surface of the body to the surroundings.

In our experiment we have considered a hot cylinder as

our body to be convected, and the air as the medium as shown
in the Fig. 1. In this type of arrangement heat transfer takes
place by both convection and radiation. In real case scenario
there is a small amount of extra heat transfer, taking place due
to conduction. But our equipment is arranged as shown in the
Fig. 2, such that the conduction effect is very much minimized
by placing the thermocouple at the centre of the cylinder, so that
it is not affected by the conduction at the ends.
Figure 1. EQUIPMENT USED FOR STUDYING THE CONVECTIVE
HEAT TRANSFER, THERMAL ENGINEERING LAB, IIST

Total heat trans f erred, Qtot = Q f + Qr For forced convection

 0.25
Pr∞
Nu = CRem Prn ×
Prw
Heat loss due to f orced convection, Q f = H f A(Ts − Ta )
For natural convection [2]

Heat loss due to radiation, Qr = Hr A(Ts − Ta ) ( " #)2

(GrD × Pr)0.1667
NuD = 0.6 + 0.387 
0.5625 0.296
1 + 0.559
Pr

Sur f ace area o f the cylinder, A = πDL

f or 10−5 < GrD Pr < 1012

(Ts4 − Ta4 )
Hr = σεF ×
(Ts − Ta )
gβ∆T L3
Gr =
υ2

Nu The cylinder blocks the air flow and decreases the cross-
Hf = k × sectional area. So as to obey the continuity the medium a higher
D
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 Enter
Start Voltage

Enter the
velocity

Wait for
the system
to attain
steady state

Try a
different Note T9 &
velocity T10 values

Figure 2. SCHEMATIC OF THE EQUIPMENT USED FOR CONDUCT-

ING FORCED CONVECTIVE HEAT TRANSFER EXPERIMENT

Is the
process
repeated
velocity. So the corrected velocity is 1.22 times the actual atleast for
no
velocity. 5 different
values of
velocity?
All these calculations take place at the mean film tempera-
ture,

yes
Ts + Ta
T f ilm =
2 Calculate
the Q

1 stop
β=
T f ilm

PROCEDURE
Start the centrifugal fan and follow the procedure as shown
below. Calculate Qtot and compare it with the input value.
RESULTS
Results obtained are shown below and are compared with
the input value
Qtot is obtained for different values of velocity, and are com-
pared with the input power in Table 1.

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 Sl.No. V T9 T10 Qtot Qin fer constant, as the input power is nearly constant. Experimental
values are lower than the input values because we have neglected
1 1 31.8 421 55.6970 69.6 heat transfer due to conduction.
2 2 33.1 363 52.9560 70
3 4 33.1 292 51.8476 69.8 CONCLUSION
4 6.5 32.3 244 41.4301 70.2 Heat transfer due to forced convection is higher than that of
5 0 33.4 516 54.0456 68.88 natural convection.

Table 1. OBSERVATIONS OBTAINED As the velocity of the medium increases, the surface
temperature of the body decreases.

With increase in the surrounding velocity more convective

heat transfer takes place.

APPENDIX A: Sample Calculations

Sample Calculations for Forced Convection

Ts + Ta 421 + 31.8
Tm = = = 226.4 (1)
2 2

Figure 3. TEMPERATURE PLOT FOR DIFFERENT MEDIUM VELOCI-

V × D 1.22 × 1 × 0.01
TIES Re = = = 321.9738 (2)
υ 3.789 × 10−5

 0.25
mPr∞n
Nu = C × Re Pr × (3)
Prw

 0.25
0.51 0.37 0.700764
= 0.51 × (321.9738) (0.678416) (4)
0.67989

Nu = 7.9872 (5)
Figure 4. HEAT LOST BY THE SURFACE AT DIFFERENT MEDIUM
VELOCITIES

Nu × K 7.9872 × 0.041089
As the velocity of the surroundings increases, it carries away Hf = = = 32.81663 (6)
D 0.01
more heat form the surface of the cylinder and thus its temper-
ature decreases as shown in the Fig. 3. At the same time the
convective heat transfer increases as shown in Fig. 4. But the ra-
diative heat transfer decreases so as to keep the total heat trans- Qconv = H f × A × (Ts − Ta ) = 28.0876 (7)

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 6944 − 304.84
 
−8 Parameter Value Uncertainty
Hr = 5.67 × 10 × = 32.53 (8)
694 − 304.8
Ts 694 0.1
Ta 31.8 0.1
Qrad = Hr × A × (Ts − Ta ) = 27.8485 (9) V 1.0 0.1

Table 2. PARAMETERS AND UNCERTAINTIES

Qtot = Qconv + Qrad = 55.9361 (10)

(Ts4 − Ta4 )
Hr = σεF ×
(Ts − Ta )
Sample Calculations for Natural Convection

 0.25
9.81 × 482.6 × 3.43 × 10−3 Pr∞
Gr = = 66.8377 (11) Nu f orced = CRem Prn ×
547.7 × 4.435946 × 10−5 Prw

( " #)2
( " #)2 (GrD × Pr)0.1667
(1.887259203)0.1667 Nunatural = 0.6 + 0.387 
0.5625 0.296
NuD = 0.6 + 0.387 
0.5625 0.296 1 + 0.559
1 + 0.8275131 Pr

Uncertainty in the value of Re=

   
= 1.44983 (12) ∂Re 0.01
εRe = εV = × 0.1 = 26.4967
∂V 3.7740 × 10−5

Uncertainty in the value of Nu=

0.044344 × 1.44983
Hf = = 6.42923 (13)
0.01
   
∂Nu 0.5 × 7.9884
εNu = εRe = × 26.4967 = 0.3273
∂Re 323.2602
Qconv = 6.823305 (14)
Uncertainty in the value of Hconv =

   
Qrad = 47.2223 (15) ∂Hconv 0.04108
εHconv = εNu = × 0.3274 = 1.345
∂Nu 0.01

Uncertainty in the value of Hrad =

Qtot = 54.0456 (16)
s 2  2
∂Hr ∂Hr
εHr = εT + εT
APPENDIX B: Error Analysis ∂Ts s ∂Ta a
Error in calculating Qtot

s 2  2
K Nu 0.19478 0.0165
Hconv = = × 0.1 + × 0.1 = 0.03821
D 389.2 389.2

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Uncertainty in the value of Qconv =

s 2  2  2
∂Qconv ∂Qconv ∂Qconv
εQconv = εH + εTs + εTa
∂Hconv conv ∂Ts ∂Ta

q
= (0.7325)2 + (7.2167 × 10−3 )2 + (7.2167 × 10−3 )2 = 0.85595

Uncertainty in the value of Qrad =

s 2  2  2
∂Qrad ∂Qrad ∂Qrad
εQrad = εH + εT + εT
∂Hrad rad ∂Ts s ∂Ta a

q
= (0.8558)2 + (7.1537 × 10−3 )2 + (7.1537 × 10−3 )2 = 0.03423

Therefore, uncertainty in Qtot=

s 2  2
∂Qtot ∂Qtot
εQtot = εQ + εQ = 0.85664
∂Qrad rad ∂Qconv conv

REFERENCES
[1] Frank P.Incropera, David P.DeWitt. Fundamentals of Heat
and Mas Transfer Fifth edition, 2006, Wiley India Edition.
[2] C.P.Kothandaraman, S.Subramanyan. Heat and Mass
Transfer Data Book Seventh edition, 2010, New Age In-
ternational (p)Ltd, Publishers
[3] Forced Convective Heat Transfer, IIST lab manual.

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