HEAT

TRANSFER

LECTURE NOTES
(Cover 6-10 November 2023 lectures)

Seyfettin Bayraktar, PhD

THERMAL CONTACT RESISTANCE
In the analysis of heat conduction through multilayer solids, we have assumed “perfect contact” at
the interface of two or more layers and thus no temperature drops at the interface until now. This
would be the case only when the surfaces are perfectly smooth, and they produce a perfect contact
at each point at the interface.
However, real surfaces that appear smooth may be rough when examined under a microscope.
When two such surfaces are pressed against each other, peaks will form good material contact but
the valleys will form voids filled with air. As a result, the interface will contain several air gaps of
varying sizes that act as insulation because of low kair. Thus, an interface offers some resistance to
HT and this resistance per unit interface area is called thermal contact resistance, Rc
Ideal (perfect) thermal contact Actual (imperfect) thermal contact

Thermal contact resistance (Rc) can be determined by measuring T at the interface and dividing
it by the heat flux under steady conditions. Unfortunately, there is no satisfactory theory that will
predict Rc for all types of materials, nor have experimental studies yielded completely reliable
empirical correlations. It can also be expressed in an analogous manner to Newton’s law of cooling
as

where hc: Convection HT coefficient (thermal contact conductance)

(W/m2.C)

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It is related to thermal contact resistance (Rc) by
(m2.C/W)

Thermal contact resistance (Rc) depends on

 surface roughness
 material properties
 temperature at the interface
 pressure at the interface
 type of fluid trapped at the interface
 plate thickness
 Size of the contact zone
 Bolt radius (if 2-surfaces are bolted)
Rc can be minimized by applying a Thermal contact conductance (hc) for aluminum
thermally conducting liquid called a thermal plates with different fluids at the interface
grease such as silicon oil on the surfaces
before they are pressed against each other.
Fluid @ interface Contact conductance, hc
This is commonly done when attaching
Air 3640
electronic components such as power
transistors to heat sinks. Rc can be reduced Helium 9520
by 75% by the use of a “thermal grease”.
Hydrogen 13900
Rc can also be reduced by replacing air at the
interface by a better conducting gas such as Silicone oil 19000
helium/hydrogen as shown in table.
Glycerin 37700

Another way to minimize Rc is to insert a soft metallic foil such as tin, silver, copper, nickel,
aluminum between two-surfaces.

GENERALIZED THERMAL RESISTANCE NETWORKS

Thermal resistance concept or electrical analogy can also be used to solve steady HT problems
that involve parallel layers or combined series-parallel arrangements. Although such problems
are often 2D/3D, approximate solutions can be obtained by assuming 1D HT and using the thermal
resistance network. Consider a composite wall consists of two-parallel layers. Thermal resistance
network, which consists of two-parallel resistances, can be represented as:

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 Total HT is the sum of the HT through each layer: where

and

Utilizing electrical analogy as:

where

since the resistances are in parallel.

Now consider the combined series-parallel arrangement.

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 where

Once the individual thermal resistances are evaluated, Rtotal & 𝑸𝒕𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒍 can be determined from the
relations above. Result obtained will be somewhat approximate, since the surfaces of 3rd-layer will
probably not be isothermal and HT between the 1st two layers is likely to occur.

HEAT CONDUCTION IN CYLINDERS & SPHERES

Consider steady heat conduction through a hot water pipe. Heat is continuously lost to the outdoors
through the wall of pipe and we feel that HT through pipe is in normal-direction to pipe surface
and no significant HT takes place in other directions. Wall of the pipe separates two-fluids at
different temperatures and thus temperature gradient in the radial-direction will be relatively large.
Heat is lost from a hot water pipe to air outside in
the radial- direction. Thus, HT from a long pipe is
1D. Further, if the fluid temperature inside and
outside the pipe remains constant, then HT through
the pipe is steady. Thus, HT through the pipe can
be modeled as steady and 1D. temperature of the
pipe in this case will depend on 1-dir. only (radial-
direction) and can be expressed as T=T(r).
Temperature is independent of the azimuthal angle
or axial distance. This situation is approximated in
practice in long cylindrical pipes & spherical
containers.

For 3D heat conduction through a cylindrical

layer. Then, Fourier’s law of heat cond. for HT
through the cylindrical layer can be expressed
as

where

A=2rL : HT area at location r (thus, A

depends on r, it varies in the direction of HT)

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Separating the variables in the above equation and integrating from r=r1 to r=r2:

Substituting A=2rL and performing the integrations:

This equation can be rearranged as:

where

This is the thermal resistance of the cylindrical layer against heat conduction (conduction resistance
of the cylinder layer). If the analysis is repeated for a spherical layer by taking A=4r2, result can
be expressed as:

where

This one is the thermal resistance of the spherical layer against heat conduction (conduction
resistance of the spherical layer).
Now, consider steady & 1D HT through a
cylindrical/spherical layer that is exposed to convection
on both sides to fluids.

Thermal resistance network in this case consists of 1-

cond. & 2-conv. resistances in series, just like the one
for the plane wall & rate of HT under steady conditions.

Note that A=2rL for a cylindrical surface & A=4r2 for

a spherical surface of radius r.

where

for a cylindrical layer

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 for a spherical layer

Steady HT rate through

the 3-layered composite
cylinder of length L with
convection on both sides:

where
A1=2r1L A4=2r4L

Steady HT through multilayered cylindrical/spherical shells can be handled just like multilayered
plane walls by simply adding an additional resistance in series for each additional layer. Thermal
resistance network that the resistances are in series & thus, total thermal resistance is simply the
arithmetic sum of the individual thermal resistances in the path of heat flow.

CRITICAL RADIUS OF INSULATION

Adding more insulation to a plane wall always
decreases HT. For a plane wall, the thicker the
insulation, the lower HT rate, because A=const. and
adding insulation always increases Rwall without
increasing Rconv. Adding insulation to a cylindrical
pipe/spherical shell is a different matter. Additional
insulation increases Rcond of insulation layer but
decreases Rconv of surface because of the increase in
outer surface area (A) for conv. HT from a pipe may

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 increase/decrease depending on which effect
dominates.

Consider an electrical resistor

with radius ri which is carrying
the current (I).

To prevent heat loss from the

resistor, assume that it is
insulated with a material with
radius r.

Temp. of the resistor at ri is the

Ti while temp. of the
environment is To.

Heat dissipated in the wire is transferred (lost) to the ambient.

where

Differentiating Rtotal with respect to r and setting the derivative equal to zero (0):

When insulating hot water pipes/tanks should we always check & make sure that ro of insulation
exceeds rcr before any insulation? Probably not because value of rcr will be the largest when k is
large and h is small. Highest k of common insulating materials is about k=0.05 W/m·°C while
lowest value of h encountered in practice is about h=5 W/m2°.C for nat. conv. of gases.

kmax i nsulation 0.05W / mC

rcr max    0.01m  10mm
h min 5W / m 2 C

Value of r=rcr would be even smaller when rad. effects are considered. rcr would be much less in
forced conv., often less than 1 mm, because of much larger h values associated with forced conv.
Therefore, we can insulate hot water/steam pipes freely without worrying about the possibility of
increasing HT by insulating the pipes. Radius of electric wires may be smaller than rcr. Hence,

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plastic electrical insulation may actually enhance HT from electric wires & thus keep their steady
operating temp. at lower & thus safer levels.

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