ME5129: Principles of Thermal Energy

Conversion
Dr. V. Raghavan
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Thermodynamics and Combustion Engineering Lab
IIT Madras
Phone: 044-22574712
Email: raghavan@iitm.ac.in

Dr. V. Raghavan, IIT Madras 1

Conduction heat transfer
 Thermal diffusivity and thermal conductivity
• Thermal diffusivity, α=k/ρc; a higher value of α could result either from a
high value of thermal conductivity, which would indicate a rapid energy
transfer rate, or from a low value of thermal heat capacity ρc.
• A low value of heat capacity would mean that less of the energy moving
through the material gets absorbed and used to raise temperature of the
material. Thus more energy would be available for further transfer. Its unit
is m2/s
• The thermal conductivity, k, is usually experimentally measured for
different materials.

Dr. V. Raghavan, IIT Madras 3

 Conduction heat transfer in gases
• For gases, at moderately low temperatures, analytical treatments in the
kinetic theory of gases may be used to predict accurately the
experimentally observed values.
• In gases, the molecules are in continuous random motion, colliding with
one another and exchanging energy and momentum. The molecules have
this random motion whether or not a temperature gradient exists in the
gas.
• If a molecule moves from higher temperature region to that of lower
temperature, it transports kinetic energy to the lower temperature part of
the system and gives up this energy through collisions with lower‐energy
molecules.
Dr. V. Raghavan, IIT Madras 4
 Conduction heat transfer in gases
• Faster the molecules move, the faster they transport energy. From kinetic
theory, the mean velocity of gas molecules is proportional to square root of
temperature.
• Thermal conductivity of a gas varies as square root of its absolute
temperature

Dr. V. Raghavan, IIT Madras 5

 Conduction heat transfer in liquids and solids
• Physical mechanism of thermal energy conduction in liquids is same as in
gases. Mechanism is more complex because the molecules are more
closely spaced and molecular force fields exert a strong influence on the
energy exchange in the collision process.
• In solids, thermal energy is conducted by two modes: lattice vibration and
transport by free electrons. In good electrical conductors, the large
population of free electrons transports electrical charge and in a similar
manner thermal energy from high temperature region to low temperature
region as in the case of gases.
• These electrons are referred to as electron gas.

Dr. V. Raghavan, IIT Madras 6

 Conduction heat transfer in liquids and solids
• Energy may also be transported as vibrational energy of the lattice.
• Latter mode is not as large as electron transport which is why good
electrical conductors are good thermal conductors (Exception is diamond).

Dr. V. Raghavan, IIT Madras 7

 Rate of heat conduction
• Fourier law of heat conduction:

T2 − T1
Qx = − kA
L
where k is the thermal conductivity of
the wall’s material (W/mK); A is the
cross sectional area of the wall (m2); L is
the thickness of the wall; T1 and T2 are
the surface temperatures of the wall

Dr. V. Raghavan, IIT Madras 8

Governing equation for heat conduction

Dr. V. Raghavan, IIT Madras 9

 Heat conduction equation
• The heat conduction equation is given as:
  T    T    T  T
k + k + k  + Q =  c p
x  x  y  y  z  z  t
• Heat transfer through composite walls:

k1 A ( T0 − T1 )
Q1 = (T0 − T1 ) = Q1 = Q2 = Q3 = Qx =
T0 − T3
x1 Rk −1 Rk −1 + Rk − 2 + Rk −3
Q2 =
( T1 − T2 )
;Q =
( T2 − T3 )
3
Rk − 2 Rk −3

Dr. V. Raghavan, IIT Madras 10

Heat conduction equation

Q1 = Q2 = Q3 = Qx
T0 − T3
Qx =
Rk −1 + Rk − 2 + Rk −3

Dr. V. Raghavan, IIT Madras 11

 Overall heat transfer coefficient
• Heat transfer by convection between the wall’s surface and fluid can be
obtained from:
Q = hc . A. (Tw − T )
and the convective thermal resistance is
1
Rc =
hc . A
1
U =
1 x 1
+ +
h c −1 k hc −2

Dr. V. Raghavan, IIT Madras 12

Convective Heat Transfer
 Boundary Layer – effect of fluid viscosity

• Equation for viscosity is:

μ = dynamic viscosity
du u x
 = u = horizontal velocity Re x =
dy τ = shear stress 
Dr. V. Raghavan, IIT Madras 14
 Boundary Layer – effect of fluid viscosity
• Reynolds number for a flow in a tube is defined as:
um D
Re d =

• For laminar flow conditions: Red < 2300 and Rex < 105
• The transition range is given as: 2000 < Red < 4000
• Reynolds number in terms of Mass flow rate (G) is:
GD m G = mass flow rate
Re d = where G =
 A μ = dynamic viscosity

Dr. V. Raghavan, IIT Madras 15

 Thermal boundary layer
• Thermal boundary layer is defined as the region where the temperature
gradients are present in the flow as a result of heat flow.
• For the thermal boundary layer shown, the
local heat flux per unit area is:
q T 
= q = − k
A y  w
• Applying Newton’s law of cooling:

q = h (Tw − T )
Temperature profile of the thermal
boundary layer
Dr. V. Raghavan, IIT Madras 16
 Thermal boundary layer
• Therefore,
 T 
−k   where h = heat transfer coefficient and k is
 y  wall
h= the thermal conductivity of the fluid
Tw − T

Average Nusselt number, Nu = hL/k, where L is the length of the plate.

Dr. V. Raghavan, IIT Madras 17

 Flow over a heated plate
• For flow over a partially heated plate, a hydrodynamic boundary layer
develops from the leading edge of the plate. Heating does not begin until x
= x0, after which the thermal boundary layer also is formed, as shown in
the figure.

Dr. V. Raghavan, IIT Madras 18

 Flow over a heated plate
• If δ is the hydrodynamic boundary layer and δt is the thermal boundary
layer thickness, a function ζ is defined such that ζ = δt/δ.
• The boundary conditions for the hydrodynamic boundary layer is:
➢ u = 0 at y = 0
➢ u = u∞ at y = δ
• The solution for the hydrodynamic boundary layer is given as:
3
u 3 y 1 y
= −  
u 2  2   

5
• The exact solution is obtained as: =
x Re0.5
x
Dr. V. Raghavan, IIT Madras 19
 Flow over a heated plate
• The thermal boundary layer solution is obtained as:
1/3
t 1   x0  3/ 4

= = Pr −1/3
1 −    where Pr is Prandtl number
 1.026   x  

Pr =

• For the convective heat transfer coefficient we have:
 T 
−k  
  y  wall 3 k 3 k
h= = =
Tw − T 2  t 2 
Dr. V. Raghavan, IIT Madras 20
 Flow over a heated plate
• Combining the above equations, we get:
−1/3
  x0  
 u 
1/ 2 3/ 4

hx = 0.332k Pr 1/3
 1 −   

 x 
  x  
• Non dimensionalising the above equation by multiplying both sides by get
x/k we dimensionless group on left hand side called Nusselt number (Nu):
−1/3
hx x   x0  3/ 4

Nu x = ( Re )
1/ 2
Nu x = 0.332 Pr 1/3
1 −   
k   x  

Dr. V. Raghavan, IIT Madras 21

 Physical meaning of the constants
• Prandtl number: Relates relative thickness of hydrodynamic and thermal
boundary layers .
• Kinematic Viscosity: Conveys information about the rate at which
momentum may diffuse through the fluid because of molecular motion.
• Thermal Diffusivity: Conveys information about the rate at which heat may
diffuse through the fluid

Dr. V. Raghavan, IIT Madras 22

 Average heat transfer coefficient
• For flow over a plate, the average heat transfer coefficient and Nusselt
number is obtained by integrating over the length of the plate.
• For a fully heated plate, x0 = 0. Therefore,
Nu x = 0.332 Pr1/3 Re1/x 2
• The average heat transfer coefficient and the average Nusselt number is
thus:
h = 2hx = L
hL
Nu L = = 2 Nu x = L = 0.664 Pr1/3 Re1/L 2
k
 u L Property evaluation should be done at film
Re L =
 temperature Tf = 0.5(Tw + T∞)
Dr. V. Raghavan, IIT Madras 23
 Heat Exchangers
• A heat exchanger is any device that effects the transfer of thermal energy
from one fluid to another.
• In its simplest form, the fluids exchange heat by mixing with each other.
But, more commonly and practically useful are those where the fluids are
separated by a wall. This is called a recuperator.
• Recuperators may range from a simple plane wall between two flowing
fluids to complex configurations involving multiple passes, fins, or baffles.
• Examples of heat exchangers are: Intercoolers, condensers and boilers in
steam plant, automobile radiators, milk chiller of a pasteurizing plant.

Dr. V. Raghavan, IIT Madras 24

 Classification of Heat Exchangers
• Based on the direction of fluid motion, the heat exchangers can be
classified as:
1. Parallel flow or unidirectional flow heat exchanger

Dr. V. Raghavan, IIT Madras 25

 Classification of Heat Exchangers
2. Counter flow heat exchanger

Dr. V. Raghavan, IIT Madras 26

 Classification of Heat Exchangers
3. Cross flow heat exchanger

Dr. V. Raghavan, IIT Madras 27

 Heat transfer calculations
• The primary objective in the thermal design of heat exchangers is to
determine the necessary surface area required to transfer heat between
two fluids that are flowing at given flow rates.
• The fundamental heat transfer relation is given as:

q = UAT
where U is the overall heat transfer coefficient, A is the required surface
area, ∆𝑇 is the average effective temperature difference for the entire heat
exchanger.

Dr. V. Raghavan, IIT Madras 28

 Overall heat transfer coefficient
• Overall heat transfer coefficient has the units of W/m2-K
• It is proportional to the reciprocal of the sum of the thermal resistances.
• For common configurations such as plane wall and cylindrical wall, it is
given as:
1
Plane wall: U =
1 h0 + L k + 1 hi
1
Cylindrical wall: Uo =
ro ri hi +  ro ln ( ro ri )  / k + 1 / ho
1
Ui =
1 hi +  ro ln ( ro ri )  / k + ri / ro ho
Dr. V. Raghavan, IIT Madras 29
 Log Mean Temperature Difference
(LMTD)
• The average effective temperature
difference between the two fluids is
called the log mean temperature
difference.
• Consider a parallel flow flat plate
exchanger, For a differential length dx,
the heat transfer between the hot
fluid at temperature Th and cold fluid
at temperature Tc is given as:

dq = U (Th − Tc ) dA

Dr. V. Raghavan, IIT Madras 30

 Log Mean Temperature Difference
(LMTD)
• By energy balance:
mc cc dTc = − mh ch dTh = dq
d (Th − Tc )  1 1 
= −U  +  dA
(Th − Tc )  mh ch mc cc 
• Upon integration we get,

T2  1 1 
ln = −UA  + 
T1  mh ch mc cc 

Dr. V. Raghavan, IIT Madras 31

 Log Mean Temperature Difference
(LMTD)
• From an energy balance on each fluid:
q q
mh ch = ; mo co =
(Thi − Tho ) (Tci − Tco )
• Upon integration we get,

ln
T2
= −U
( Thi − Tho ) + (Tco − Tci )
T1 q
• In terms of differences in end temperatures:
T2 − T1
q = UA  q = UAT
ln ( T2 / T1 )
Dr. V. Raghavan, IIT Madras 32
 Flow over a single tube

• The widely used relation to calculate the Nusselt number for flow over
cylinders is given as:
Nu D = c Re mD Pr1/3 Re D = u D 
• All the properties are evaluated at film temperature (Tf).
• The values of c, m depends on Re and are tabulate as follows:
Re c m
0.4 – 4 0.989 0.33
4 – 40 0.911 0.358
40 – 4000 0.683 0.466
4000 – 40000 0.193 0.618
40000 - 400000 0.027 0.805
Dr. V. Raghavan, IIT Madras 33
 Flow across bundle of tubes

(a) In-line tube bank (b) Staggered tube bank

Dr. V. Raghavan, IIT Madras 34

 Flow across bundle of tubes

• In any arrangement, D is the diameter of the tube, SL is the longitudinal

tube spacing and ST is the transverse tube spacing.
• Flow over a bank of tubes is different from flow over a single tube.
• The flow is influenced by effects such as blockage of a tube by another
tube etc. Thus the heat transfer for any particular tube is not only
determined by the incident fluid conditions v∞ and T∞ but also by D, SL and
ST
• The heat transfer coefficients is generally larger because of the wake
generation by the previous tubes.

Dr. V. Raghavan, IIT Madras 35

 Flow across bundle of tubes

• Unlike flow over single tube, here the Reynolds number is calculated as:
Re = umax D 
where u max is the maximum fluid velocity occurring at the minimum vacant
area of the tube bank. It is evaluated as:
u ST
In-line tube bank: umax =
ST − D
• For staggered arrangement, a parameter SD is defined such that:
2
 ST 
SD = S +
2
L 
 D
Dr. V. Raghavan, IIT Madras 36
 Flow across bundle of tubes

• If 2(SD – D) > (ST – D), then

u ST
umax =
ST − D
• If 2(SD – D) < (ST – D), then
u ( ST / 2 )
umax =
SD − D
• To evaluate the Nusselt number, the correlation given by Zakauskas is used,
which is given as:
0.25
hav D 0.36  Pr 
Nu = = c Re Pr 
m

k  Prw 
Dr. V. Raghavan, IIT Madras 37
 Flow across bundle of tubes

• In the above relation, all the properties are evaluated at free stream
temperature except for Prw which is evaluated at the cylinder wall
temperature.
• Further, the heat transfer coefficient is calculated from Nusselt number.

Dr. V. Raghavan, IIT Madras 38

 Effectiveness of heat exchanger

• It is defined as the ratio of actual heat transfer to the maximum possible

heat transfer.
qactual
=
qmax
• A new parameter called the Number of Transfer Units (NTU) is defined,
which is given as:
UA where Cmin is the minimum fluid capacity rate, i.e
NTU =
Cmin minimum of (mccc) or (mhch)

Dr. V. Raghavan, IIT Madras 39

 Effectiveness relation for different heat exchangers

• Parallel flow, single pass:

1 − exp ( − NTU (1 + C ) ) Cmin
= ;C =
1+ C Cmax
where Cmin is the minimum fluid capacity rate, i.e minimum of (mccc) or
(mhch) and Cmax is the maximim fluid capacity rate, i.e maximum of (mccc) or
(mhch)
• Counter flow single pass:
1 − exp ( − NTU (1 − C ) )
=
1 − C exp ( − NTU (1 − C ) )
Dr. V. Raghavan, IIT Madras 40
 Effectiveness relation for different heat exchangers
• Counter flow single pass:
NTU
=
NTU + 1
• Shell and tube (1 shell passes; 2, 4, 6 etc. tube passes)

 (
−1

( ) 
1/ 2
1 + exp − NTU 1 + C 2
 1/ 2 
1 = 2 1 + C + 1+ C 2
)


1 − exp − 
NTU 1 + C 2
( )
1/ 2
 



Dr. V. Raghavan, IIT Madras 41

 Effectiveness relation for different heat exchangers
• Shell and tube (n shell passes; 2n, 4n, 6n etc. tube passes)
−1
 1 −  C n
  1 −  C   n

 1 =  1
 − 1  
1
 − C
 1 − 1    1 − 1  

• When the effectiveness of a heat exchanger configuration is known, the

actual heat transfer can be calculated using the relation:
Q =  Cmin (Th1 − Tc1 )
where Th1 and Tc1 are the inlet temperatures of the hot and the cold fluid
streams respectively. Thus, if there are more than one inlet/outlet and/or the
outlet conditions are unknown, NTU-ε is used to evaluate Qactual
Dr. V. Raghavan, IIT Madras 42