What is the difference between thermodynamics and heat transfer?

Thermodynamics and Heat Transfer both are part of thermal engineering and each has its own
meaning and importance. Both deals with heat and energy.
"Thermodynamics" deals with the amount of energy in form of heat or work during a process and
only considers the end states in equilibrium. It will not give information about how long it will
take to reach to the final state in equilibrium. While,
"Heat Transfer" deals with the rate of energy transfer thus, it gives idea of how long a heat
transfer will occur? Heat transfer deals with time and non-equilibrium phenomena. Heat can only
transfer when there is a temperature gradient exists in a body and which is indication of non-
equilibrium phenomena.
In short, Thermodynamics gives "Why" a process will occur and Heat Transfer will tell, "How" a
process will occur when there is a concern about transfer of heat.
What is Heat Transfer?
Heat transfer is the science that seeks to predict the energy transfer that may take place between
material bodies as a result of a temperature difference.
What are the Modes of Heat Transfer? Define them.
Heat can be transferred in three different modes: conduction, convection, and radiation.
Conduction is the transfer of energy from the more energetic particles of a substance to the
adjacent less energetic ones as a result of interactions between the particles. Conduction can
take place in solids, liquids, or gases. In gases and liquids, conduction is due to the collisions and
diffusion of the molecules during their random motion. In solids, it is due to the combination of
vibrations of the molecules in a lattice and the energy transport by free electrons.

Convection is the mode of heat transfer between a solid surface and the adjacent liquid or gas
that is in motion, and it involves the combined effects of conduction and fluid motion. When
there is bulk flow in the fluid there is also molecular interaction hence in convection heat is
transfer for both the fluid motion and molecular interaction. Heat transfer due to fluid motion is
called Advection and heat transfer due to molecular interaction is conduction so
Convection = Conduction + Advection
Radiation is the energy emitted by matter in the form of electromagnetic waves (or photons) as
a result of the changes in the electronic configurations of the atoms or molecules.

State the Fourier’s Law of Conduction

The rate of heat conduction through a plane layer is proportional to the temperature difference
across the layer and the heat transfer area, but is inversely proportional to the thickness of the
layer. That is,

where the constant of proportionality k is the thermal conductivity of the material, which is a
measure of the ability of a material to conduct heat (Fig. 1–22). In the limiting case of x →0, the
equation above reduces to the differential form

which is called Fourier’s law of heat conduction after J. Fourier, who expressed it first in his heat
transfer text in 1822. Here dT/dx is the temperature gradient.
Problem:
Solution:

What is Thermal Conductivity?

The 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.
How does thermal conductivity vary with temperature?
The thermal conductivities of materials vary with temperature (Table 1–3). The variation of
thermal conductivity over certain temperature ranges is negligible for some materials, but
significant for others, as shown in Fig. 1–28.

What is Thermal diffusivity? State its physical significance.

The thermal diffusivity, which represents how fast heat diffuses through a material and is
defined as
Note that the thermal conductivity k represents how well a material conducts heat, and the heat
capacity Cp represents how much energy a material stores per unit volume. Therefore, the
thermal diffusivity of a material can be viewed as the ratio of the heat conducted through the
material to the heat stored per unit volume. A material that has a high thermal conductivity or a
low heat capacity will obviously have a large thermal diffusivity. The larger the thermal diffusivity,
the faster the propagation of heat into the medium. A small value of thermal diffusivity means
that heat is mostly absorbed by the material and a small amount of heat will be conducted
further.
State the newton’s cooling law of Convection
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

where h is the convection heat transfer coefficient in W/m2 · °C or Btu/h · ft2 · °F, As is the surface
area through which convection heat transfer takes place, Ts is the surface temperature, and T
is the temperature of the fluid sufficiently far from the surface.
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, and the bulk fluid
velocity.
Problem:

State the Stefan–Boltzmann law of Rdiation

The maximum rate of radiation that can be emitted from a surface at an absolute temperature
Ts (in K or R) is given by the Stefan–Boltzmann law as

The net radiant exchange between two surfaces will be proportional to the difference in absolute
temperatures to the fourth power; i.e.,

where  is the emissivity of the surface.

Problem:
Heat Transfer through plane wall

The Thermal Resistance Concept

Newton’s law of cooling for convection heat transfer rate Qconv = hAs (Ts -Tα) can be rearranged
as

Where
It is sometimes convenient to express heat transfer through a medium in an analogous manner
to Newton’s law of cooling as

where U is the overall heat transfer coefficient.

̇ ∆𝑇
And 𝑄 = 𝑅
𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙
 ONE-DIMENSIONAL HEAT CONDUCTION EQUATION
Heat Conduction Equation in a Large Plane Wall

Consider a thin element of thickness x in a large plane wall, as shown in Figure. Assume the
density of the wall is  , the specific heat is C, and the area of the wall normal to the direction of
heat transfer is A. An energy balance on this thin element during a small time interval t can be
expressed as
However, the thermal conductivity in most practical applications can be assumed to remain
constant at some average value. The equation above in that case reduces to
Integrating the differential equation twice with respect to x yields
which is the desired solution since it satisfies not only the differential equation but also the two
specified boundary conditions.
Substituting the given information, the value of the temperature at x = 0.1 m is determined to be
One Dimensional Heat Conduction Equation in a Long Cylinder

One Dimensional Heat Conduction Equation in a Sphere

THREE-DIMENSIONAL HEAT CONDUCTION EQUATION IN RECTANGULAR WALL
3-D Cylindrical Equation
3-D Spherical Spherical

Problem:
Solution:
 HEAT CONDUCTION IN CYLINDERS AND SPHERES

Q. Prove that (Answer upto Equation 3-39)

CRITICAL THICKNESS OF INSULATION
Derive the equation of critical thickness of insulation
Let us consider a layer of insulation which might be installed around a circular pipe,
as shown in Figure 2-7. The inner temperature of the insulation is fixed at Ti, and
the outer