Heat Transfer Tutorial – I

Problem 1: Consider a plane wall 100 mm thick and of thermal conductivity 100 W/m.K.
Steady state conditions are known to exist with T1 = 400 K and T2 = 600 K. Determine the
 dT   dT 
heat flux q"x  q"x  k  and the temperature gradient   for the co-ordinate systems
 dx   dx 
shown.

T(x) T(x)
T(x)
T2 T2
T2

T1 T1 T1

x x
x

Problem 2: An electric resistance heater is embedded in a long cylinder of diameter 30 mm.

When water with a temperature of 25C and velocity of 1 m/s flows crosswise over a cylinder,
the power per unit length required to maintain the surface at a uniform temperature of 90C is
28 kW/m. When air, also at 25C, but with a velocity of 10 m/s is flowing, the power per unit
length required to maintain the same surface temperature is 400 W/m. Calculate and compare
the convection coefficients for the flows of water and air.

Problem 3: Radioactive wastes are packed in a long thin walled cylindrical container. The wastes
  r 2 
generate thermal energy non-uniformly according to the relation q  qo 1     , where q is
  ro  
 
the local rate of energy generation per unit volume, qo is a constant, and ro is the radius of the
contrainer. Steady state conditions are maintained by submerging the container in a liquid that
is at T and provides a uniform heat transfer coefficient. Obtain an expression for the total rate
at which energy is generated in a unit length of the container. Use this result to obtain an
expression for the temperature Ts of the container wall.

Problem 5: The pressure vessel of a nuclear reactor is approximated as a large plane wall of
thickness L. The inside surface of the wall at x  0 is insulated. The outside surface at x  L is
maintained at a temperature T2 . The gamma ray heating of the plate can be represented as a
heat generation term of the form 𝑞̇ (𝑥) = 𝑞̇ 𝑜 𝑒 −𝛾𝑥 where q o and  are positive constants and x is
measured from the insulated surface. Develop expressions for the following:

a. Temperature distribution in the plate

 b. Temperature at the insulated surface
c. Heat flux at the outer surface

Problem 6: One dimensional, steady state conduction with uniform internal energy generation
occurs in a plane with a thickness of 50 mm and a constant thermal conductivity of 5 W/m.K. For
these conditions, the temperature distribution has the form 𝑇(𝑥) = a + 𝑏𝑥 + 𝑐𝑥 2 . The surface at
x = 0 has a temperature of T(0) = To = 120C and experiences convection with a fluid for which
T = 20C and h = 500 W/m2.K. The surface at x = L is well insulated.
a. Applying overall energy balance to the wall, calculate the internal energy generation rate,
q
b. Determine the coefficients a, b and c by applying the boundary conditions to the
prescribed temperature distribution

Problem 7 : The inside surface of a brick wall (k = 1 W/m-K) of 10 cm thickness is at a

temperature of 930C and the outside surface is exposed to ambient air at 30C providing a heat
transfer coefficient of 20 W/m2-K. Calculate the temperature of the outside surface. Calculate the
thickness of insulation (k = 0.1 W/m-K) that is needed so that outside surface surface temperature
exposed to air will not exceed 90C

Problem 8: The composite wall of an oven consists of three materials, two of which are of known
thermal conductivity, kA = 20 W/m.K and kc = 50 W/m.K and known thickness, LA = 0.3 m and
Lc = 0.15 m. The third material, B, which is sandwiched between materials A and C, is of known
thickness, LB = 0.15 m, but unknown thermal conductivity kB. Under steady state conditions,
measurements reveal an outer surface temperature of 20C, an inner surface temperature of
600C, and oven air temperature of 800C. The inside convection coefficient h is known to be 25
W/m2.K. What is the value of kB?