Unit 1

Basic Concepts
Introduction
Sciences generally deal with four basic thermal transport modes: conduction, convection, phase
change, and radiation. The process by which heat diffuses through a solid or a stationary fluid is
termed heat conduction. Situations in which heat transfer from a wetted surface is assisted by the
motion of the fluid give rise to heat convection, and when the fluid undergoes a liquidsolid
or liquidvapor state transformation at or very near the wetted surface, attention is focused on this
phase-change heat transfer. The exchange of heat between surfaces, or between a surface and a
surrounding fluid, by long-wavelength electromagnetic radiation is termed thermal heat radiation.

Conduction Heat Transfer

One-Dimensional Conduction Thermal diffusion through solids is governed by Fouriers law,
which in one-dimensional form is expressible as

where q is the heat current, k the thermal conductivity of the medium, A the cross-sectional area
for heat flow, and dT /dx the temperature gradient, which, because it is negative, requires insertion
of the minus sign to assure a positive heat flow q. The temperature difference resulting from the
steady-state diffusion of heat is thus related to the thermal conductivity of the material, the crosssectional area A, and the path length L, according to

where k and A are presumed constant, suggests that in a way that is analogous to Ohms law
governing electrical current flow through a resistance, it is possible to define a conduction thermal
resistance as

Convective Heat Transfer

Heat Transfer Coefficient Convective thermal transport from a surface to a
fluid in motion can be related to the heat transfer coefficient h, the surface-to-fluid
temperature difference, and the wetted surface area S in the form

The differences between convection to a rapidly moving fluid, a slowly flowing

fluid, or a stagnant fluid, as well as variations in the convective heat transfer rate
among various fluids, are reflected in the values of h. For a particular geometry and
flow regime, h may be found from available empirical correlations and/or theoretical relations.
Which makes it possible to define the convective thermal resistance as

Natural Convection In natural convection, fluid motion is induced by density differences resulting
from temperature gradients in the fluid.

Forced Convection For forced flow in long or very narrow parallel-plate channels, the heat transfer
coefficient attains an asymptotic value (the fully developed limit), which for symmetrically heated
channel surfaces is equal approximately to

Where de is the hydraulic diameter defined in terms of the flow area A and the wetted
perimeter of the surfaces p:

Phase-Change Heat Transfer

Boiling heat transfer displays a complex dependence on the temperature difference
between the heated surface and the saturation temperature (boiling point) of the
liquid. Following Rohsenow (1952), the heat transfer rate in nucleate boiling, the
primary region of interest, can be approximated by a relation of the form

Radiative Heat Transfer

Unlike conduction and convection, radiative heat transfer between two surfaces or
between a surface and its surroundings is not linearly dependent on the temperature
difference and is expressed instead as

Where F includes the effects of surface properties and geometry and is the Stefan
Boltzmann constant, = 5.669 108 W/m2 K4. For modest temperature differences, this
equation can be linearized to the form

Where hr is the effective radiation heat transfer coefficient,

and for small T = T1 T2 is approximately equal to

It is of interest to note that for temperature differences on the order of 10 K, the radiative heat
transfer coefficient hr for an ideal (or black) surface in an absorbing environment is
approximately equal to the heat transfer coefficient in natural convection of air. the radiation
thermal resistance, analogous to the convective resistance, is seen to equal

References:
Heat transfer handbook / Adrian Bejan, Allan D. Kraus.Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.,
Hoboken, New Jersey.