FUNDAMENTALS OF

CONVECTION
Convection mechanism
velocity and thermal boundary layers,
Reynolds, Prandtl, and Nusselt numbers,
VELOCITY BOUNDARY LAYER
 Surface Shear Stress
The fluid layer in contact with the surface will try to drag the
plate along via friction, exerting a friction force on it. Friction
force per unit area is called shear stress,

The fluids that obey the linear

relationship above are called
Newtonian fluids,
 kinematic viscosity is the measure of a fluid's inherent resistance to flow when no
external force, except gravity, is acting on it. ... This is because Kinematic results are
dependent on the density of the fluid. Density is not a factor with Dynamic Viscosity

Dynamic and kinematic

viscosity difference
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
pDYdYw4iCyE&t=409s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
bf1vIUIQD6Q
 Thermal boundary layer.
The flow region over the surface in which the
temperature variation in the direction normal to the
surface is significant is the thermal boundary layer.

The thickness of the thermal boundary layer

increases in the flow direction, since the effects of
heat transfer are felt at greater distances from the
surface further down stream
 The relative thickness of the velocity and the
thermal boundary layers is best described by the
dimensionless parameter Prandtl number, defined
as
a dimensionless parameter used in calculations of
heat transfer between a moving fluid and a solid
body,

where
Noting that the fluid velocity will have a strong
Pr = Prandtl's number
influence on the temperature profile, the v = momentum diffusivity (m2/s)
development of the velocity boundary layer α = thermal diffusivity (m2/s)
relative to the thermal boundary layer will have
a strong effect on the convection heat transfer.
The Prandtl numbers of gases are about 1,
which indicates that both momentum
and heat dissipate through the fluid at about
the same rate.
Heat diffuses very quickly in liquid metals (Pr
˂˂ 1) and very slowly in oils (Pr ˃˃ 1) relative
to momentum.
Consequently the thermal boundary layer is
much thicker for liquid metals and much
thinner for oils relative to the velocity
boundary layer.
 Task
• 6–3C page 383
• 6–4C
• 6–5C
• 6–8
• 6–9
• 6–13C
• 6–14C