Process Heat Transfer

Dr. Debayan Das

Assistant Professor
Chemical Engineering Department
NIT Durgapur
Heat Conduction Equation
If the rate of heat generation is uniform throughout the medium then the above equation
will become:
Similarly,
Special cases

(a) Steady state

(b) Uniform properties
If the material is homogeneous and isentropic, the thermal conductivity of the material would be constant.

{Comment: What do you mean by homogeneous and isentropic material? The term homogenous means, the
values of physical properties of a material do not vary with position within the body of the material. E.g., The
value of thermal conductivity at position (x1, y1, z1) will be same as that at some other position (x2, y2, z2).
The term isentropic means, the value of physical properties at a point in different directions will be same. That
is to say kx=ky=kz at a point. }
(c ) No heat generation
When there is no heat generation inside the element, the differential heat
conduction equation will become,

​Or,

​The above equation is also known as LAPLACE Equation.

(d) One dimensional form of equation
If heat conduction in any one direction is in dominance over heat conduction in other directions,
Heat Conduction Equation in a Long Cylinder

Assume the density of the cylinder is r, the specific heat is c,

and the length is L. The area of the cylinder normal to the
direction of heat transfer at any location is A 2πrL where r is
the value of the radius at that location. Note that the heat
transfer area A depends on r in this case, and thus it varies with
location.
 Heat Conduction Equation in a Sphere

The area of the sphere normal to the direction of heat transfer at any location is A=4πr2, where r is the value of the
radius at that location.
Example Problem