CHE0301

HEAT TRANSFER
 Heat Transfer
•Heat transfer is a science, which deals with the flow of heat from
a higher temperature to lower temperature. Heat cannot be
stored and it is defined as the energy in transit due to the
difference in the temperatures of the hot and cold bodies.
∙The study of heat transfer not only explains how the heat energy
transports but also predicts about the rate of heat transfer.
•Study of heat transfer has a vital role in the chemical process
industries. Chemical engineers must have a thorough knowledge
of heat transfer principles and their applications.
 Modes of Heat transfer
Three different modes of heat transfer are

•Conduction

•Convention

•Radiation

•heat transfer takes place in combination of two or three modes in any of

the real engineering application
 Conduction
• Conduction is the transfer of heat from the more energetic particles in a
substance to the adjacent less energetic particles as a result of the
interaction between the particles. Thus, heat conduction is essentially the
transmission of energy by molecular motion.
 Illustration of heat conduction
Step 1: The metal rod is being heated

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The heat is transported from one end to the other end by the conduction
phenomenon. The molecules of the metallic rod get energy from the heating medium
and collide with the neighboring molecules. This process transfers the energy from
the more energetic molecules to the low energetic molecules. Thus, heat transfer
requires a temperature gradient, and the heat energy transfer by conduction occurs
in the direction of decreasing temperature.
 Illustration of heat conduction
Step 2: The energy is transferred to the atoms and the vibration starts

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 Illustration of heat conduction
Step 3: As more energy is input the vibration increases as well as
transferred to the other atoms.

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 Convection
Heat transfer occurs due to the bulk movement of molecules within fluids
such as liquids and gases. The initial heat transfer between the solid and fluid
will be by conduction, but the main heat transfer takes place due to the
motion of the fluid.
Natural convection: the movement of the fluid particles is due to the buoyancy
forces generated due to density difference of heated and colder region of the
fluid
Forced convection : movement of fluid particles is due to mechanical means
(eg., stirrer)
 Heat transfer through convection
(a) Natural convection, and (b) Forced convection

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 Radiation
•Thermal radiation is the term used to describe the electromagnetic
radiation, which is observed to be emitted by the surface of the thermally
excited body. The heat of the Sun is the most obvious example of
thermal radiation.
•Figure: Heat transfer through radiation

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 Fourier’s Law of conduction

• Heat flow per unit area per unit time, Heat flux is
proportional as

Rate of heat flow , q

where, proportionality constant k is the thermal conductivity of the

material, dT/dx is the temperature gradient in the direction of heat flow.
This is known as Fourier’s law of conduction.
 Thermal Conductivity
Thermal conductivity of a material can be defined as the rate of heat transfer
through a unit thickness of the material per unit area per unit temperature
difference. The thermal conductivity of a material is a measure of the ability of
the material to conduct heat. A high value for thermal conductivity indicates that
the material is a good heat conductor and a low value indicates that the material
is a poor heat conductor or insulator.
 Thermal Diffusivity
The product ρCp, which is frequently encountered in heat transfer analysis, is
called the heat capacity of a material. Both the specific heat Cp and the heat
capacity ρCp represent the heat storage capability of a material. But Cp
expresses it per unit mass whereas ρCp expresses it per unit volume

Thermal diffusivity, which represents how fast heat diffuses through a material
and is defined as

m2/s
 steady-state conduction through a flat
wall of constant Area
• when temperatures at fixed points do not change with time .
• A simple case of steady-state, one-dimensional heat conduction can
be considered through a flat wall as shown in the figure
•The flat wall of thickness dx is separated by two regions, the one region is
at high temperature (T1 ) and the other one is at temperature T2 .
•The wall is very large in comparison of the thickness so that the heat
losses from the edges are negligible.
•Consider there is no generation or accumulation of the heat in the wall of
thickness x2-x1=L and the external surfaces of the wall are at isothermal
temperatures T1 and T2 . The area of the surface through which the heat
transfer takes place is A. Then the heat conduction equation can be written
as,

• The negative sign shows that the heat flux is from the higher temperature
surface to the lower temperature surface and is the rate of heat transfer
 •Now if we consider a plane wall made up of three different
layers of materials having different thermal conductivities and
thicknesses of the layers, the analysis of the conduction can be
done as follows.
•Consider the area (A) of the heat conduction is constant and at
steady state the rate of heat transfer from layer-1 will be equal to
the rate of heat transfer from layer-2. Similarly, the rate of heat
transfer through layer-2 will be equal to the rate of heat transfer
through layer-3. If we know the surface temperatures of the wall
are maintained at T1 and T2 , the temperature of the interface of
layer1 and layer 2 is assumed to be at T' and the interface of
layer-2 and layer-3 as T".
 Fig. Heat conduction through three different layers

The rate of heat transfer through layer-1 to layer-2 will be,

• The rate of heat transfer through layer 2 to layer 3 will be

The rate of heat transfer through layer 3 to the other side of the wall,

On adding the above three equations,

R represents the thermal resistance of the layers. The above relation can be
written analogous to the electrical circuit as,

Equivalent electrical circuit

The wall is composed of 3-different layers in series and thus the total thermal
resistance was represented by R (= R1 + R2 + R3 ).
• The unit of the various parameters used above is summarized as
follows,
 Numericals

1.Consider a 3m high, 5 m wide, and 0.3 m thick wall whose thermal

conductivity is 0.9 W/m °C . On a certain day, the temperatures of the inner and
the outer surfaces of the wall are measured to be 16°C and 2°C respectively.
Determine the rate of heat loss through the wall on that day. Determine also by
using the thermal resistance concept.

2. One side of a 1 cm thick stainless steel wall (k1=19 W/m⁰C is maintained at

180⁰C and the other side is insulated with a layer of 4 cm fibre glass
(k2=0.04W/m ⁰C). The outside of the fiberglass is maintained at 60⁰C and the
heat transfer rate through the wall is 300 W. Determine the area of the wall.