MSE 822 CONVECTIVE HEAT TRANSFER

Due: in one week

Take-Home Final Exam M. Bahrami
• I remind you that you must work alone. The honor system is strictly in effect.
• Show you work clearly. State all assumptions. Do not skip steps. Make your
sketches large.
• There are 5 questions to be answered on white clear un-lined paper, one side only.
• Do not photocopy this exam paper. It must be returned to me with your answers.

Question 1
A non-evaporating liquid film is flowing steadily under the action of gravity down one wall
of a long vertical cavity that has unequal wall temperatures of T1 and T2  T1 as shown
below. Assuming constant properties, determine and sketch the velocity and temperature
distributions in the gas and liquid layers. You may neglect buoyancy effects in the liquid
but not in the gas. Drag at the gas/liquid interface is not negligible.

liquid gas

liquid
gas

Question 2
Consider a constant-property, steady, laminar, wedge-flow past an isothermal wall:
a) For the case of a liquid metal, use an appropriate model to determine the local Nusselt
number Nux as a function of Rex, Pr and the wedge parameter m or β. Be sure to explain
the basis for your model.
b) Repeat part a for the case of a very viscous fluid.

1
 u∞
T∞
δ x
y

πβ Tw

Question 3
The thermal plum that naturally rises from a heated object into the fluid in which it is
immersed occurs in a variety of engineering applications such as fires, electronic
components, and cooling towers. The rate at which ambient fluid is entrained and the
variation of plume temperature with distance from the source is of interest here.
Consider a “line source” as shown in figure below, the rate at which thermal energy is
convected by the plume is equal to Q provided by the plume source at steady-state. Write
the governing equations that describe this laminar boundary layer problem and set the
boundary conditions. Seek a similarity solution for the line source plume problem. Present
your results in both tabular and graphical format for a range of Pr between 0.01 to 100.
Also investigate the use of integral method for solving the line source plume problem and
compare the results with the similarity solution if applicable.

2
 x, u

Two-dimensional
boundary layer
g Tc

T∞

y, v

Line heat source

Question 4

As shown below, in a continuous casting and rolling process, molten metal flows from a
crucible as a sheet of constant velocity V and thickness 2b into a cooling zone where heat
is transferred to the ambient at a constant temperature of T∞ with a constant heat transfer
coefficient of h. The metal solidifies at a temperature of Tm and has a latent heat of
solidification h sf. Ignoring effects due to gravity, we wish to find the required length L
of cooling zone to ensure complete solidification before the rollers. Assuming that
solidification starts at x = 0, the position of the solid-liquid interface δ has been sketched
below.

a) On an enlarged drawing of the sheet, neatly sketch the expected temperature profiles
across the sheet and in the ambient at several x-positions.

b) Perform mass and energy balances on CV1, and an energy balance on CV2. Show your
work clearly; use enlarged control volumes to show all fluxes, and discuss any
assumption you make.
Construct an approximate temperature profile containing the surface temperature Ts and δ
as unknowns, and use it in the mass and energy balances of part (b) to obtain two ordinary
differential equations that can be solved simultaneously to determine Ts and δ. You are not
expected to solve these equations, but indicate how you would determine L.

3
 molten
metal

crucible Tm y
y x
x liquid

h, T∞ solid
L cooling
zone
Ts(x) dx
CV2
CV1
δ(x)
rollers
V b
center
2b line

Question 5

Consider a liquid droplet uniformly at Ts evaporating over a hot surface at Tw.

Experiments show that when Tw is well above the saturation temperature Ts, the droplet is
levitated by a thin film of vapor of thickness δ. Since heat conduction through this
laminar film is poor, the droplet takes a long time to evaporate, which justifies a quasi-
steady analysis. We shall ignore all effects due to surface tension and assume that the
droplet remains hemispherical at all times as sketched below.

a) Develop the integral continuity, momentum, and energy equations for the vapor film
in cylindrical coordinates (r,z). Identify your control volumes (CVs). Use enlarged
CVs and identify all fluxes clearly.

b) Use simple approximate temperature and velocity profiles to show that:

14
  3B  3B 
= 1 + 
D  4Ra  20 Pr 

where D = 2 R , Pr = c p k , B = c p (Tw − Ts ) h fg , Ra = g ( −  )D ( ) .

3

4
c) Determine Nu = hD k as a function of Ra, Pr and B.
The heat transfer coefficient is defined using qs = h(Tw − Ts ) . Thermo-physical properties
without the subscript "  " are vapor properties. Use subscripts "s" and "w" for items
related to the bottom surface of the droplet and the wall, respectively.

z
liquid droplet
p∞
g uniformly at Ts

greatly
exaggerated
p(r) Ts
δ
u(r,z)
r

thin vapor Tw
film