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HEAT & MASS TRANSFER

UNIT 1: PRACTICE PROBLEMS

1. (a) Explain physical meaning of thermal diffusivity and its formula.

(b) Derive a general equation of radial heat conduction and temperature distribution for a
hollow sphere. What will happen if inner radius of sphere vanishes and sphere becomes
solid?
2. The interior of a refrigerator having inside dimensions of 0.5m x 0.5m base area and 1 m
height, is to be maintained at 6OC. The walls of the refrigerator are constructed of two mild
steel sheets of 3 mm thick (k = 46.5 W/m- OC) with 50 mm of glass wool insulation (k =
0.046 W/m OC) between them. If the average heat transfer coefficients at the outer and
inner surfaces are 11.6 W/m2 OC and 14.5 W/m2 OC, respectively, calculate:
(i) The rate at which heat must be removed from the interior to maintain the
specified temperature in the kitchen at 25 OC.
(ii) The temperature on the outer surface of the metal sheet.
(iii) Vacuum
3. The following data relate to furnace of a steam boiler:
Temperature of gases in the furnace…….1300 OC
Temperature of air in the boiler room……..30 OC
Thickness of the refractory material……….250 mm
The heat transfer coefficient from gases to refractory material………30 W/m2 OC
The heat transfer coefficient from outside surface to surrounding air………10 W/m2 OC
Thermal conductivity of refractory material…………k = 0.28 W/m OC
Thermal conductivity of diatomite layer……….k = 0.113 W/m OC
Estimate the thickness of the diatomite layer of setting so that the loss of heat to the
surrounding should not exceed 750 W/m2.
4. A copper wire 0.1 cm in diameter is insulated with plastic to an outer diameter of 0.3 cm
and is exposed to an environment at 40 OC. The heat transfer coefficient from the outer
surface of the plastic to surrounding is 8.75 W/m2K. What is the maximum steady current
in amperes that this wire can carry without heating any part of plastic above 95 OC. The
thermal conductivities of plastic and copper are 0.35 and 384 W/mK respectively. The
electric resistivity of copper is 0.196x10-5 ohm-cm.
5. Derive an expression for steady state temperature distribution in an infinite slab of thickness
‘L’ in which heat is being generated at Q per unit volume and one surface is insulated while
other one exposed to fluid at temperature Ta with convective heat transfer coefficient ‘h’.
6. A furnace has a composite wall constructed of a refractory material for the inside layer and
an insulating material on the outside. The total wall thickness is limited to 60 cm. The
mean temperature of the gases within the furnace is 850 OC, the external air temperature at
the interface of the two materials of the furnace wall is 500 OC. The thermal conductivities
of the refractory and insulting material are 2.32 W/m-K and 0.232 W/m-K respectively.
The combined equivalent coefficient of heat transfer due to convection and radiation
between gases and inside refractory surface is 320 W/m2-K and between outside surface
and atmosphere is 46 W/m2-K. Find:
(i) the required thickness of each material
(ii) the temperature of the surface exposed to gases and of the surface exposed to air
(iii) the rate of heat lost to atmosphere
7. A chemical reaction takes place in a packed bed between two co-axial cylinders with radii
1 cm and 3 cm. The inner is at 300 OC and is insulated. Assuming the reaction rate of heat
generation as 6x105 W/m3 in the reactor material, find the temperature and heat flow rate
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at the outer surface of the reactor. The k (packed material) = 0.5 W/m-K and length of co-
axial cylinder as 1 m. Solve the problem by applying differential equation of heat
conduction in cylindrical coordinates.
8. An electrical conductor of copper with a diameter of 1 mm is covered with a plastic
insulation of thickness 1 mm. The temperature of its surrounding is 20 OC. Find the
maximum current carried by the conductor so that no part of the plastic is above 80 OC:
Kcopper = 400 W/m-K, kplastic = 0.5 W/m-K. Surface heat transfer coefficient h = 8 W/m2-
K, ρ the specific electric resistance of copper = 3x10-8 ohm-m. Discuss the effect of
increase or decrease of insulation thickness on the current carrying capacity of conductor.
At what thickness of plastic insulation, the temperature of conductor will be minimum at
the center?
dT
9. Obtain for a single layered cylinder from the appropriate steady state heat conduction
dr
equation. Substitute this into the Fourier’s law to work out and expression for heat flow
through a cylindrical wall.
10. The composite wall of an oven consists of three materials, two of them are of known
thermal conductivity, kA=20 W/mK and kC=50 W/mK and known thickness LA=0.3 m and
LC=0.15 m. The third material B, which is sandwiched between A and C is uniform
thickness, LB=0.15 m. but unknown thermal conductivity kB. Under steady state operating
conditions, the measurement reveals an outer surface temperature of C as 20 OC and inner
surface of A is 600 OC and oven air temperature is 800 OC. The inside convective
coefficient is 25 W/m2-K. What is the value of kB?
11. Nichrome having a resistivity of 110 μΩ-cm is to be used as heating element. The wire
diameter is 2 mm and other features are:
Current I = 25 A
Ambient temperature, T∞ = 20 OC
KNichrome = 17.5 W/mK
Convective coefficient, h = 46.5 W/m2K
Calculate the heat loss from one meter long heater and also the temperature at the
surface and center line of Nichrome wire.
12. State Fourier law of heat conduction and the assumptions on which it is based.
13. A furnace wall consists of 200 mm layer of refractory bricks, 6 mm layer of steel plate and
100 mm layer of insulation bricks. The maximum temperature of the wall is 1150 OC on
the furnace side and the minimum temperature is 40 OC on the outermost side of the wall.
An accurate energy balance over the furnace shows that the heat loss from the wall is 400
W/m2. It is known that there is a thin layer of air between the layers of the refractory bricks
and steel plate. Thermal conductivities for the three layers are 1.52, 45 and 0.138 W/m OC,
respectively. Find:
(i) to how many millimeters of insulation bricks is the air layer equivalent?
(ii) what is the temperature of the outer surface of the steel plate?
14. The rate of heat generation in a slab of thickness 160 mm (k=180 W/m OC) is 1.2 x 106
W/m3. If the temperature of each of the surface of solid is 120 OC, determine:
(i) the temperature at the mid-plane and quarter plane
(ii) the heat flow rates and temperature gradients at the mid and quarter planes
15. A steam pipe which is 150 mm external diameter carries wet steam at temperature 244OC.
It is covered with two layers of lagging each 40 mm thick. The coefficient of thermal
conductivity for two layers are 0.07 W/m-K for the inner layer and 0.1 W/m-K for the outer
layer. The surface heat transfer coefficient for the outer surface is 3 W/m2-K. Estimate the
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heat lost per hour for a 50 m length of the lagged pipe. The ambient temperature is 27OC.
Neglect thickness of steam pipe wall and the internal surface resistance.
16. A furnace wall comprises three layers : 13.5 cm thick inside layer of brick, 7.5 cm thick
middle layer of insulating brick, and 11.5 cm thick outside layer of red brick. The furnace
operates at 870OC and it is anticipated that the outside of this composite wall can be
maintained at 40OC by the circulation of air. Assuming close bonding of layers at their
interfaces, find the rate of heat loss from the furnace and the wall interface temperature.
The wall measures 5 m x 2 m and the data on thermal conductivities is :
Fire brick, k1 = 1.2 W/m-K
Insulating brick, k2 = 0.14 W/m-K
Red brick, k3 = 0.85 W/m-K
17. A 240 mm steam main, 210 meters long is covered with 50 mm of high temperature
insulation (k = 0.092 W/m-K) and 40 mm of low temperature insulation (k = 0.062 W/m-
K). The inner and outer surface temperatures as measured are 390OC and 40OC
respectively. Calculate:
(i) The total heat loss per hour
(ii) The heat loss per m2 of ppipe surface
(iii) The total heat loss per m2 of outer surface
(iv) The temperature between two layers of insulation.
Neglect the conduction through pipe material.
18. A 66 kV transmission line carrying a current of 850 amperes is 20 mm in diameter and
electrical resistance of the copper conductor is 0.075 ohm/km. Assuming that the
surroundings are at 38OC and that the combined convection and radiation coefficient for
heat transfer from the wire surface to the surroundings is 14.2 W/m2-K, make calculations
for:
(i) surface temperature of the transmission line
(ii) rate of heat generation per unit volume of the wire
(iii) maximum temperature in the line.
Assume thermal conductivity of copper is 380 W/m-K.
19. An electrical conductor of 10 mm diameter and having 2 mm thick insulation (k=0.18
W/mK) covering is located in air at 25OC having convective heat transfer coefficient of 8
W/m2K. If the base conductor has resistivity of 72μΩ-cm and its surface temperature is
80OC, determine:
(i) Current capacity of conductor
(ii) critical thickness of insulation, and
(iii)maximum current carrying capacity
20. A long hollow cylinder (K=0.5 W/m-deg) of 5 cm inner radius and 15 cm outer radius has
a heat generation rate of 1000 W/m3. The outer surface is maintained at a temperature of
50OC and thermal conductivity of the cylinder material is 0.5 W/m-deg. If the maximum
temperature occurs at a radius of 10 cm, determine the temperature at the inner surface, and
the value of maximum temperature in the cylinder. Proceed from the basic heat conduction
equation.