The Heat Diffusion Equation

Wednesday, August 19, 2020 7:36 AM

A major objective in a conduction analysis is to determine the temperature field in a medium

resulting from conditions imposed on its boundaries.
Once this distribution is known, the conduction heat flux at any point in the medium or on its
surface may be computed from Fourier’s law.
Other important quantities of interest may also be determined.

----> Determination of thermal stresses, expansions, and deflections.

---->Optimization of the thickness of an insulating material or to determine the compatibility of

special coatings or adhesives used with the material.

Control Volume
Assumptions:
1. Material is homogenous
2. No bulk motion (advection)
3. Incompressible
4. Only thermal forms of energy are
being considered

𝑓 (𝑥 ) 𝑓 (𝑥 ) 𝑓 (𝑥 )
𝑓 (𝑛) = 𝑓 (𝑥) + ⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯(𝑛 − 𝑥) + ⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯ (𝑛 − 𝑥) + ⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯(𝑛 − 𝑥) … … …
1! 2! 3!

Say 𝑛 = 𝑥 + 𝑑𝑥

𝒇 (𝒙) 𝑓 (𝑥 ) 𝑓 (𝑥 )
𝑓 (𝑥 + 𝑑𝑥) = 𝒇(𝒙) + ⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯(𝒅𝒙) + ⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯ (𝑑𝑥) + ⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯(𝑑𝑥) … … …
𝟏! 2! 3!
If there are temperature gradients, conduction heat transfer will occur across each of the
control surfaces

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Within the medium there may also be an energy source term associated with
the rate of thermal energy generation.

As per thermodynamics, energy can neither be created not be destroyed.

However, it can be transformed from one form to another.
This generation term basically means either heat addition due to work
(electrical) or transformation from some other form (nuclear, chemical).

In addition, there may occur changes in the amount of the internal thermal
energy stored by the material in the control volume.
If the material is not experiencing a change in phase, latent energy effects are
not pertinent, and the energy storage term may be expressed as

First Law of Thermodynamics

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Heat Diffusion equation states that at any point in the medium the net rate
of energy transfer by conduction into a unit volume plus the volumetric
rate of thermal energy generation must equal the rate of change of
thermal energy stored within the volume.

If thermal conductivity of the medium is a constant,

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Steady State Conditions

The Heat Diffusion Equation in Cylindrical Coordinates

Assumptions:
𝑬̇𝒊𝒏 + 𝑬̇𝒊𝒏 − 𝑬̇𝒐𝒖𝒕 = 𝑬̇𝒔𝒕 1. Material is homogenous

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𝑬̇𝒊𝒏 + 𝑬̇𝒊𝒏 − 𝑬̇𝒐𝒖𝒕 = 𝑬̇𝒔𝒕
Assumptions:
1. Material is homogenous
2. No bulk motion (advection)
3. Incompressible
4. Only thermal forms of energy
are being considered

The Heat Diffusion Equation in Spherical Coordinates

Assumptions:
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𝑬̇𝒊𝒏 + 𝑬̇𝒊𝒏 − 𝑬̇𝒐𝒖𝒕 = 𝑬̇𝒔𝒕
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Assumptions:
1. Material is homogenous
2. No bulk motion (advection)
3. Incompressible
4. Only thermal forms of energy are
being considered
Sample Problem

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