Midterm Test: Heat and Mass Transfer (ME 4413)

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Question 1:
The thermal contact resistance of solids varies from 10-6 to 10-4 m2C/W. Explain why
thermal contact resistance is significant and can even dominate the heat transfer in metals
such as copper (thermal conductivity k=400 W/mC), but can be disregarded for poor
heat conductors such as woods (thermal conductivity k=0.04 W/mC). Assume the
thickness of copper and woods is 1 cm.
(10 marks)

Question 2
Water flows in the tube with an average velocity of V=0.2 m/s. The tubes inner and outer
diameters are di=4 cm and do=5 cm, respectively. The length of the tube is L=10 m. For
water, the density is =1000 kg/m3, the Prandtl number is Pr=3.9, the thermal
conductivity is k=0.64 W/mC, the viscosity is =6.0x10-4 kg/ms. Assuming the
averaged Nusselt number and Reynolds number to be
V d i
h di
and Red =
ud =

k
for fluid in the tube, respectively, and the water flow to be turbulent inside the tube and
the averaged Nusselt number is
ud = 0.023 Re 0d.8 Pr 0.4 ,
answer the following questions:
(1) Determine the convection coefficient h of water flow inside the tube.
(10 marks)
(2) Show that the thermal resistance of the tube wall is
1
d
Rwall =
ln o
2kL d i
(15 marks)
(3) Calculate the thermal resistance of this tube with water flow inside. Assume that there
is no thermal radiation.
(15 marks)

Q1:
The thermal contact resistance ranges from 10-6 to 10-4 m2C/W.
The thermal resistance of 1-cm thick copper and woods can be calculated
as follows:
For woods

Rwood =

L 0.01
=
= 0.25( o C m 2 / W )
k 0.04

For copper

Rcopper =

L 0.01
=
= 2.5 10 5 ( o C m 2 / W )
k 400

Therefore the contact thermal resistance can be larger than that of thermal
resistance of copper, and much smaller than that of woods.
So thermal contact resistance is significant and can even dominate the heat transfer in metals, but
can be disregarded for poor heat conductors.

Q2.
(a)
The Re of the water flow in the tube is
Re= VD/
=/= 6.0x10-4/1000=6.0x10-7 m2/s
Re=0.2*0.04/6.0x10-7=13333.3
If the thermal boundary layer of water flow is turbulent
u = 0.023 Re 0.8 Pr 0.4 = 79
k
0.64
h = u =
(79) = 1265 W/m2 .C
D
0.04 m
Thus the average convection coefficient is 1265 W/m2C.
(b)
The heat flow is defined as
q=-kA (dT/dx) =-k(2xL) (dT/dx)
The thermal resistance dR of the thin wall with a diameter 2x and a thickness of dx is defined as
dR=- dT/q.
Therefore the total thermal resistance of the tube wall is
dO
1 dO / 2 1
1
d
Rwall = dR =
dx =
ln( o )

di
d
/
2
2kL i x
2kL d i

(c)
Heat convection resistance of the inner tube is Ri=1/hAi
Ai=10*3.14*(0.04)
Therefore
Ri=0.0006293 (C/W)
The heat conduction resistance of the tube wall is
Rwall=ln(0.05/0.04)/(2*3.14*0.64*10)=0.0056 (C/W)
Therefore
R=Ri+Rwall=0.0062 (C/W)