ME 265

Thermal Engineering and Heat Transfer

Topic: Convection Heat Transfer

External Forced Convection

Aman Uddin, PhD

Assistant Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering, BUET
 Course Outline
• Basic Concepts and Definitions
• Sources of Energy: Conventional and Renewable
• Thermodynamics: fundamental concepts and laws, Non-flow and flow process; Thermodynamic cycles
• Introduction to: Steam Generating Units, Internal Combustion Engines, Steam Turbines, Gas Turbines

• Introduction to Heat Transfer

• Modes of Heat Transfer
• Steady and Unsteady State Heat Conduction
• Radiation Heat Transfer
• Convection Heat Transfer: Natural and Forced Convection
• Heat Exchangers
• Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Systems

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 Topics Covered

Topic: Steady State Heat Conduction

✓ Thermal Resistance
✓ Contact Resistance
✓ Critical Thickness of Insulation
✓ General Heat Conduction Equation
✓ HEAT TRANSFER FROM FINNED SURFACES

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9A-
ME 267
uUG0WR0w&list=RDCMUCXAS_Ekkq0iFJ9dSUIkcAkw&start_radio=1&ab_channel=TheEfficientEngineer 8/27/2022 4
 Convection
• Convection is the mode of energy transfer between a solid
surface and the adjacent liquid or gas that is in motion.

• It involves the combined effects of heat conduction within the

fluid (diffusion) and heat transfer by bulk fluid motion.
• The faster the fluid motion, the greater the convection heat
transfer.

❖ In the absence of any bulk fluid

motion, heat transfer between a
solid surface and the adjacent
fluid is by pure conduction

❖ Convection is the dominant form

of heat transfer in liquids and
gases.
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 Convection

• Convection is called forced convection if the fluid is forced to flow over the
surface by external means such as a fan, pump, or the wind.

• Convection is called natural (or free) convection if the fluid motion is

caused by buoyancy forces that are induced by density differences due to the
variation of temperature in the fluid.
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 Convection

Velocity boundary layer

Thermal boundary layer
• No-slip condition
When a fluid flows over a solid surface that is nonporous, the fluid in motion
comes to a complete stop at the surface and assumes a zero velocity relative
to the surface.

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Convection: Newton’s Law of Cooling
• Describes the process of Convective Cooling

• The rate of convection heat transfer is observed to be proportional to

the temperature difference, and is conveniently expressed by Newton’s
law of cooling as

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Convection: Newton’s Law of Cooling
• The convection heat transfer coefficient ‘h’ is not a property of the fluid.

• It is an experimentally determined parameter whose value depends

on all the variables influencing convection such as the surface
geometry, the nature of fluid motion, the properties of the fluid.

• Newton's law does not apply when convection is not linearly dependent
on temperature gradient

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 Problem 1
A 20 mm long, 0.5 mm-diameter electrical wire extends across a room at 25ºC.
Heat is generated in the wire as a result of resistance heating, and the surface
temperature of the wire is measured to be 75ºC in steady operation. Also, the
voltage drop and electric current through the wire are measured to be 5 V and
100 mA, respectively. Disregarding any heat transfer by radiation -

• Determine the convection heat transfer coefficient for heat transfer between
the outer surface of the wire and the air in the room.

SOLUTION:

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CONVECTION MECHANISM

Free Convection Forced Convection

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CONVECTION MECHANISM

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CONVECTION MECHANISM
Experimental data shows that convection heat transfer strongly
depends on the fluid properties

Dynamic viscosity, µ
Thermal conductivity, k
Density, ρ

Specific heat, Cp
Fluid velocity, V

It also depends on the geometry and roughness of the solid

surface, in addition to the type of fluid flow, such as being
streamlined or turbulent.

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CLASSIFICATION OF FLUID FLOWS
• Convection heat transfer is closely tied with fluid mechanics.
There are a wide variety of fluid flow problems encountered in
practice:

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CLASSIFICATION OF FLUID FLOWS

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Share Stress

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 Share Stress

Statement of Newton’s Law of Viscosity

According to Newton’s law of viscosity
The shear stress is directly proportional to the velocity gradient. The shear stress
between the two adjacent layers of the fluid is directly proportional to the negative
value of the velocity gradient between the same two adjacent layers of the fluid.
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 Velocity Boundary Layer

Velocity boundary layer

• No-slip condition
When a fluid flows over a solid surface that is nonporous, the fluid in motion
comes to a complete stop at the surface and assumes a zero velocity relative
to the surface.

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Velocity Boundary Layer

For an external flow, bodies are

immersed in an unbounded
fluid so that the flow boundary
layer can grow freely in one
direction.

Examples: Flows over airfoils,

ship hulls, turbine blades, etc.
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 Velocity Boundary Layer

Velocity boundary layer

Thermal boundary layer
• No-slip condition
When a fluid flows over a solid surface that is nonporous, the fluid in motion
comes to a complete stop at the surface and assumes a zero velocity relative
to the surface.

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 BOUNDARY LAYERS
An internal flow is surrounded by solid boundaries that can restrict
the development of its boundary layer

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HOW TO SOLVE CONVECTION PROBLEM

The convection heat transfer relations are more complex because

of the dependence on so many variables.
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NON-DIMENSIONAL NUMBERS
In convection studies, it is a common practice to non-dimensionalize
the governing equations and combine the variables together into
dimensionless numbers to reduce the number of total variables.

❖ Reynolds Number:
The flow regime depends mainly on the ratio of the inertia forces to
viscous forces in the fluid. This ratio is called the Reynolds number.

Ѵ is the upstream velocity;

Lc is the characteristic length of thegeometry,
ᶹ=µ/ρ is the kinematic viscosity of the fluid.

• The Reynolds number at which the flow becomes turbulent is called

the Critical Reynolds number. The value of the critical Reynolds
number is different for different geometries.

• For flow over a flat plate, the generally accepted value of the critical
Reynolds number is 5 x105.
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NON-DIMENSIONAL NUMBERS
❖ Nusselt Number:

Nusselt may be viewed as the ratio of the conduction resistance of

a material to the convection resistance of the same material.

Recalling the Biot number: Nux = h.x/kfluid Bix = h.x/ksolid

The Nusselt number represents the enhancement of heat

transfer through a fluid layer as a result of convection relative to
conduction across the same fluid layer.

The larger the Nusselt number, the more effective the convection
(hc). A Nusselt number of Nu =1 for a fluid layer represents heat
transfer across the layer by pure conduction.
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NON-DIMENSIONAL NUMBERS
❖ Prandtl Number:

The Prandtl number may be seen to be a ratio of the rate at which

viscous forces penetrate the material to the rate at which thermal
energy penetrates the material.

As a consequence the Prandtl

number is proportional to the rate
of growth of the two boundary
layers

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 Physical Significance of Pr number
▪ Prandtl number signifies the thickness of thermal boundary layer and thickness
of hydrodyanamic boundary layer, depending on whether it is equal to one, or
more than one or less than one.
▪ If it is equal to one, it signifies that thickness of thermal boundary layer is equal
to that of velocity boundary layer. Hence it the ratio of momentum diffusivity to
thermal diffusivity.
▪ Significance -
1. Tells us how fast the thermal diffusion takes place in comparison to momentum
diffusion.
2. Tells us the relative thickness of thermal boundary layer to momentum boundary
layer.
▪ If Prandtl number is small, it tells us that thermal diffusion is dominant in
comparison to momentum diffusion. That is for a given fluid flow problem, the
flow conditions remaining the same, if we want higher heat transfer rate we have
to use a fluid that has lower Prandtl number.

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NON-DIMENSIONAL NUMBERS

The Prandtl numbers of gases are about 1, which indicates that both
momentum and heat dissipate through the fluid at about the same rate.

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 Drag and Heat Transfer In External Flow
▪ Drag: The force a flowing fluid exerts on a body in the flow direction

▪ Lift: The components of the pressure and wall shear forces in the normal direction to
flow tend to move the body in that direction, and their sum is called lift.

▪ The drag force is the net force exerted by a fluid on a body in the direction of flow due to
the combined effects of wall shear and pressure forces.
▪ The part of drag that is due directly to wall shear stress tw is called the skin friction
drag (or just friction drag) since it is caused by frictional effects, and

▪ The part that is due directly to pressure P is called the pressure drag

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJwvpqtJGY0&t=186s&ab_channel=NiLTime
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 Drag and Heat Transfer In External Flow
▪ The drag force FD depends on the density r of the fluid, the upstream velocity V, and the
size, shape, and orientation of the body, among other things.
▪ The drag characteristics of a body is represented by the dimensionless drag coefficient
CD defined as

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Drag and Heat Transfer In External Flow

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 Parallel Flow Over Flat Plates (Const Temp)
▪ The transition from laminar to turbulent flow depends on the surface geometry, surface
roughness, upstream velocity, surface temperature, and the type of fluid, among other
things, and is best characterized by the Reynolds number.
▪ In engineering analysis, a generally accepted value for the critical Reynold number is

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 Parallel Flow Over Flat Plates (Const Temp)
▪ The average Nusselt number over the entire plate

▪ A flat plate is sufficiently long for the flow to become turbulent, but not long enough to
disregard the laminar flow region. In such cases,

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 Parallel Flow Over Flat Plates (Heat Flux)
▪ When a flat plate is subjected to uniform heat flux instead
of uniform temperature, the local Nusselt number is given
by

▪ These relations give values that are 36 percent higher for

laminar flow and 4 percent higher for turbulent flow
relative to the isothermal plate case.

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Drag and Heat Transfer In External Flow

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Drag and Heat Transfer In External Flow

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Internal Forced Convection

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 Laminar and Turbulent Flow in Tubes
▪ For flow in a circular tube, the Reynolds number is defined
as

▪ For flow through noncircular tubes, the Reynolds number

as well as the Nusselt number, and the friction factor are
based on the hydraulic diameter Dh defined as

▪ Under most practical conditions, the flow in a tube is

laminar for Re <2300, fully turbulent for Re >10,000, and
transitional in between.
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 THE ENTRANCE REGION

The development of the velocity boundary layer in a tube. (The developed average velocity profile is
parabolic in laminar flow, as shown, but somewhat flatter or fuller in turbulent flow.)

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 THE ENTRANCE REGION
▪ The region from the pipe inlet to the point at which the boundary layer merges at the
centerline is called the hydrodynamic entrance region, and
▪ The length of this region is called the hydrodynamic entry length Lh.

▪ Flow in the entrance region is called hydrodynamically developing flow since this is the
region where the velocity profile develops.
▪ The region beyond the entrance region in which the velocity profile is fully developed
and remains unchanged is called the hydrodynamically fully developed region.

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 THE ENTRANCE REGION

The development of the thermal boundary layer in a tube. (The

fluid in the tube is being cooled.)
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▪ For fluids with Pr =1, such as gases, the two boundary layers essentially coincide with
each other.
▪ For fluids with Pr >>1, such as oils, the velocity boundary layer outgrows the thermal
boundary layer. As a result, the hydrodynamic entry length is smaller than the thermal
entry length.
▪ The opposite is true for fluids with Pr <<1 such as liquid metals.

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 Entry Length

https://youtu.be/y0hvefFLWFM

https://youtu.be/vk4goyDnCE4

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 THE ENTRANCE REGION
▪ The region of flow over which the thermal boundary layer develops and reaches the tube
center is called the thermal entrance region.
▪ The length of this region is called the thermal entry length

▪ Flow in the thermal entrance region is called thermally developing flow since this is the
region where the temperature profile develops. The region beyond the thermal entrance
region in which the dimensionless temperature profile expressed as (Ts -T)/(Ts -Tm)
remains unchanged is called the thermally fully developed region.
▪ In the thermally fully developed region of a tube, the local
convection coefficient is constant (does not vary with x)

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 General Thermal Analysis

https://youtu.be/JpRfpTiIk1E
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 Laminar Flow in Tubes
The velocity profile for fully
developed flow in a circular tube

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 Laminar Flow in Tubes

f is the Darcy friction factor

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 Temperature Profile and the Nusselt Number
Fully developed laminar flow in a circular tube

The average Nusselt number for the thermal entrance region can be
determined from

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General Thermal Analysis

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Constant Surface Temperature

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Problem 1

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Problem 1

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 Problem 2

At 20 C from table A-19

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Problem 2

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Problem 2

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Problem 2

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Problem 2

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