TUTORIAL 5 : CONVECTION

1. What is forced convection? How does it differ from natural convection? Is convection
caused by winds forced or natural convection?
2. What is external forced convection? How does it differ from internal forced
convection? Can a heat transfer system involve both internal and external convection
at the same time? Give an example.
3. In which mode of heat transfer is the convection heat transfer coefficient usually
higher, natural convection or forced convection? Why?
4. Consider a hot baked potato. Will the potato cool faster or slower when we blow the
warm air coming from our lungs on it instead of letting it cool naturally in the cooler
air in the room? Explain.
5. What is the physical significance of the Nusselt number? How is it defined?
6. When is heat transfer through a fluid conduction and when is it convection? For what
case is the rate of heat transfer higher? How does the convection heat transfer
coefficient differ from the thermal conductivity of a fluid?
7. What is the physical significance of the Prandtl number? Does the value of the
Prandtl number depend on the type of flow or the flow geometry? Does the Prandtl
number of air change with pressure? Does it change with temperature?
8. Will a thermal boundary layer develop in flow over surface even if both the fluid and
the surface are at the same temperature?

9. The forming section of a plastics plant puts out a continuous sheet of plastic that is
1.2 m wide and 2 mm thick at a rate of 15 m/min. The temperature of the plastic sheet
is 90C when it is exposed to the surrounding air, and the sheet is subjected to air
flow at 30C at a velocity of 3 m/s on both sides along its surfaces normal to the
direction of motion of the sheet. The width of the air cooling section is such that a
fixed point on the plastic sheet passes through that section in 2 s. Determine the rate of
heat transfer from the plastic sheet to the air.

10. A 15-cm X 15-cm circuit board dissipating 20 W of power uniformly is cooled by

air, which approaches the circuit board at 20C with a velocity of 6 m/s.
Disregarding any heat transfer from the back surface of the board, determine the
surface temperature of the electronic components
(a) at the leading edge, and
(b) at the end of the board. Assume the flow to be turbulent since the electronic
components are expected to act as turbulators.

11. In a geothermal power plant, the used geothermal water at 80C enters a 15-cmdiameter and 400-m-long uninsulated pipe at a rate of 8.5 kg/s and leaves at 70C
before being reinjected back to the ground. Windy air at 15C flows normal to the
pipe. Disregarding radiation, determine the average wind velocity in km/h.

12. A 6-mm-diameter electrical transmission line carries an electric current of 50 A

and has a resistance of 0.002 ohm per meter length. Determine the surface
temperature of the wire during a windy day when the air temperature is 10C and
the wind is blowing across the transmission line at 40 km/h.

13. The components of an electronic system are located in a 1.5-m-long horizontal duct
whose cross section is 20 cm X 20 cm. The components in the duct are not allowed
to come into direct contact with cooling air, and thus are cooled by air at 30C
flowing over the duct with a velocity of 200 m/min. If the surface temperature of the
duct is not to exceed 65C, determine the total power rating of the electronic devices
that can be mounted into the duct.

14. The components of an electronic system dissipating 180 W are located in a 1-mlong horizontal duct whose cross section is 16 cm X 16 cm. The components in
the duct are cooled by forced air, which enters at 27C at a rate of 0.65
m3/min. Assuming 85 percent of the heat generated inside is transferred to air flowing
through the duct and the remaining 15 percent is lost through the outer surfaces of the
duct, determine
(a) the exit temperature of air, and
(b) the highest component surface temperature in the duct.
Repeat Prob. 14 for a circular horizontal duct of 15-cm diameter.

15. What is natural convection? How does it differ from forced convection? What force
causes natural convection currents?
16. In which mode of heat transfer is the convection heat transfer coefficient usually
higher, natural convection or forced convection? Why?
17. Consider a hot boiled egg in a spacecraft that is filled with air at atmospheric
pressure and temperature at all times. Will the egg cool faster or slower when the
spacecraft is in space instead of on the ground? Explain.

18. A 10-m-long section of a 6-cm-diameter horizontal hot-water pipe passes through

a large room whose temperature is 27C. If the temperature and the emissivity of the
outer surface of the pipe are 73C and 0.8, respectively, determine the rate of heat
loss from the pipe by
(a) natural convection and
(b) radiation.

19. An incandescent lightbulb is an inexpensive but highly inefficient device that

converts electrical energy into light. It converts about 10 percent of the electrical
energy it consumes into light while converting the remaining 90 percent into heat.
The glass bulb of the lamp heats up very quickly as a result of absorbing all that heat
and dissipating it to the surroundings by convection and radiation. Consider an 8cm-diameter 60-W lightbulb in a room at 25C. The emissivity of the glass is 0.9.
Assuming that 10 percent of the energy passes through the glass bulb as light with
negligible absorption and the rest of the energy is absorbed and dissipated by the
bulb itself by natural c o n v e c t i o n a n d r a di a t i o n ,

determine the equilibrium

temperature of the glass bulb. Assume the interior surfaces of the room to be at room
temperature.