ME 228: Chapter 17 Steady Heat Conduction

CHAPTER
SEVENTEEN

STEADY HEAT
CONDUCTION
THROUGH PLANE
WALLS

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 ME 228: Chapter 17 Steady Heat Conduction
One-Dimensional Heat Conduction
Heat flows in the normal direction from the high temperature side to the
low temperature side
If the surface is isothermal, heat will not flow along it because there is
no difference in temperature
If heat flows in only one direction, it is called one-dimensional heat flow
Example: Plane Wall

Energy Balance for a Wall

Rate of Rate of Rate of change
dE
heat transfer heat transfer = of the energy Q& in Q& out = wall
into the wall out of the wall of the wall dt

Steady Heat Conduction

If the air temperatures inside and outside a house are constant, then heat transfer through the
wall can be considered steady
This means that all heat entering the wall leaves the wall at the
other end

no heat is stored

dEwall / dt = 0

Steady, One-Dimensional Heat Conduction in Plane Walls

When the heat conduction is steady and one dimensional:
dT
Q& in = Q& out = kA
dx
This means that Q& in and Q& out are equal and constant

dT / dx = constant

temperature distribution is linear
T T
This means that Q& cond,wall can be written as: Q& cond,wall = kA 1 2
L
where L is the thickness of the wall

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 ME 228: Chapter 17 Steady Heat Conduction
Thermal Resistance Concept

Conduction
The equation above can be rewritten as follows:
T T
Q& cond,wall = 1 2
Rwall
L
where Rwall = and it is called thermal resistance or
kA
conduction resistance
This equation is similar to the relation for electric current flow, I, expressed as:

V1 V2
I= , where Re is the electric resistance and V1 V2 is the voltage difference
Re

Rate of heat transfer through a layer ( Q& ) electric current (I)

Thermal resistance (R) electrical resistance (Re)
Temperature difference (T1 T2) Voltage Difference (V1 V2)

Convection
For convection heat transfer, we can write:
Q& conv = hAs (Ts T )

This equation can be rewritten as:

T T 1
Q& conv = 1 2 , where Rconv =
Rconv hAs

Thermal Resistance Network

When a plane wall of thickness L, area A, and thermal conductivity k is exposed to convection on
both sides to fluids at temperatures T1 and T2 with heat transfer coefficients h1 and h2,
respectively under steady one-dimensional heat flow conditions, we can write:

Rate of Rate of Rate of

heat convection = heat conduction = heat convection
into the wall through the wall from the wall

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 ME 228: Chapter 17 Steady Heat Conduction
T T
or: Q& = h1 A(T1 T1 ) = kA 1 2 = h2 A(T2 T 2 )
L
T T T T T T
which can be rearranged as: Q& = 1 1 = 1 2 = 2 2
1 h1 A L kA 1 h2 A
T T T T T T
= 1 1 = 1 2 = 2 2
Rconv,1 Rwall Rconv, 2

Adding the numerators and denominators yields:

T T 1 L 1
Q& = 1 2 , where: Rtotal = Rconv,1 + Rwall + Rconv, 2 = + +
Rtotal h1 A kA h2 A

Multilayer Plane Walls

T T
Q& = 1 2
Rtotal

where:
1 L L 1
Rtotal = Rconv ,1 + Rwall ,1 + Rwall , 2 + Rconv , 2 = + 1 + 2 +
h1 A k1 A k 2 A h2 A

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