THE COPPERBELT UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT

EM 541 – HEAT & MASS TRANSFER

ASSIGNMENT 1

Due Date: Friday, 24th April, 2020

Instructions

Use appropriate diagrams and sketches.

Indicate all applicable formulae.

State all assumptions made.

Discuss your results.

Question One [10 Marks]

a. Define thermal conductivity and explain its significance in heat transfer. [2.5]
b. What are the mechanisms of heat transfer? How are they distinguished from each other?
[2.5]
c. What is critical radius of insulation? Write down the equation for the critical radius for either
a cylinder or sphere and sketch on a graph the variation of heat transfer rate with radius of
insulation. [2.5]
d. Write down the equation for conduction of heat through a slab or plane wall and also through
a hollow cylinder. [2.5]

Question Two [10 Marks]

Consider the base plate of a 1200 W household iron that has a thickness of L = 0.7 cm, base
area of A = 300 cm2, and the thermal conductivity of k = 20 W/m oC. The inner surface of the
base plate is subjected to uniform heat flux generated by the resistance heaters inside, and
the outer surface loses heat to the surroundings at T∞=20 oC by convection, as shown in
figure 1. Taking the convection heat transfer coefficient to be h= 60 W/m2 oC and
disregarding heat loss by radiation, obtain an expression for the variation of temperature in
the base plate, and evaluate the temperatures at the inner and outer surfaces.

Figure 1

Question Three [10 Marks]

The hot combustion gases of a furnace are separated from the ambient air and its surroundings which
are at 25oC by a brick wall 0.15m thick. The brick has a thermal conductivity of 1.2 W/m.K and a
surface emissivity of 0.8. Under steady state conditions an outer surface temperature of 100oC is
measured. Free convection heat transfer in the air adjoining this surface is characterized by a
convection of h=20 W/m2.K .What is the brick inner surface temperature.

Question Four [10 Marks]

An exterior wall of a house may be approximated by a 0.1016 m layer of common brick
[k = 0.7 W/m.oC] followed by a 0.0381 m layer of gypsum plaster [k =0.48 W/m.oC]. What thickness
of loosely packed rock-wool insulation [k =0.065 W/m.oC] should be added to reduce the heat loss (or
gain) through the wall by 80 percent?