M.

BahramiENSC388(F09)TransientConductionHeatTransfer1
TransientHeatConduction
Ingeneral,temperatureofabodyvarieswithtimeaswellasposition.
LumpedSystemAnalysis
Interiortemperaturesofsomebodiesremainessentiallyuniformatalltimesduringaheat
transferprocess.Thetemperatureofsuchbodiesareonlyafunctionoftime,T=T(t).The
heattransferanalysisbasedonthisidealizationiscalledlumpedsystemanalysis.
Consider a body of arbitrary shape of mass m, volume V, surface area A, density and
specificheatC
p
initiallyatauniformtemperatureT
i
.
Fig.1:Lumpedsystemanalysis.
At time t = 0, the body is placed into a medium at temperature T

(T

>T
i
) with a heat
transfer coefficient h. An energy balance of the solid for a time interval dt can be
expressedas:
heattransferintothebody
duringdt
= theincreaseintheenergyof
thebodyduringdt
hA(T

T)dt=mC
p
dT
Withm=VandchangeofvariabledT=d(TT

),wefind:
( )
dt
VC
hA
T T
T T d
p

Integratingfromt=0toT=T
i

( )
( ) s
VC
hA
b
e
T T
T t T
p
bt
i
/ 1

=
=

Solidbody
m(mass)
V(volume)
(density)
T
i
(initialtemp)
A(surfacearea)
h
T

Q=hA[T

T(t)]
T=T(t)
M.BahramiENSC388(F09)TransientConductionHeatTransfer2

Fig.2:Temperatureofalumpsystem.
Using above equation, we can determine the temperature T(t) of a body at time t, or
alternatively,thetimetrequiredforthetemperaturetoreachaspecifiedvalueT(t).
Note that the temperature of a body approaches the ambient temperature T

exponentially.
Alargevalueofbindicatesthatthebodywillapproachtheenvironmenttemperatureina
shorttime.
b is proportional to the surface area, but inversely proportional to the mass and the
specificheatofthebody.
The total amount of heat transfer between a body and its surroundings over a time
intervalis:
Q=mC
p
[T(t)T
i
]
ElectricalAnalogy
The behavior of lumped systems, shown in Fig. 2 can be interpreted as a thermal time
constant
b
C R VC
hA
t
t t p t
1
1
=
= |
.
|

\
|
=
t
t

where R
t
is the resistance to convection heat transfer and C
t
is the lumped thermal
capacitanceofthesolid.AnyincreaseinR
t
orC
t
willcauseasolidtorespondmoreslowly
T(t)
t
T

T
i

b
1

b
2

b
3

b
3
>b
2
>b
1

M.BahramiENSC388(F09)TransientConductionHeatTransfer3
to changes in its thermal environment and will increase the time respond required to
reachthermalequilibrium.

Fig.3:Thermaltimeconstant.
CriterionforLumpedSystemAnalysis
Lumpedsystemapproximationprovidesagreatconvenienceinheattransferanalysis.We
wanttoestablishacriterionfortheapplicabilityofthelumpedsystemanalysis.
Acharacteristiclengthscaleisdefinedas:
A
V
L
c
=
Anondimensionalparameter,theBiotnumber,isdefined:
body the of surface at the resistance convection
body e within th resistance conduction
/ 1
/
body e within th conduction
body the of surface at the convection
= =
=
A
A
=
=
h
k L
Bi
T
L
k
T h
Bi
k
hL
Bi
c
c
c

The Biot number is the ratio of the internal resistance (conduction) to the external
resistancetoheatconvection.
Lumped system analysis assumes a uniform temperature distribution throughout the
body,whichimpliesthattheconductionheatresistanceiszero.Thus,thelumpedsystem
analysisisexactwhenBi=0.
Itisgenerallyacceptedthatthelumpedsystemanalysisisapplicableif
1 . 0 s Bi
t t
p
t
C R
hA
VC
= =

t

M.BahramiENSC388(F09)TransientConductionHeatTransfer4
Therefore, small bodies with high thermal conductivity are good candidates for lumped
systemanalysis.
Notethatassuminghtobeconstantanduniformisanapproximation.
Example1
A thermocouple junction, which may be approximated by a sphere, is to be used for
temperature measurement in a gas stream. The convection heat transfer coefficient
between the junction surface and the gas is known to be h = 400 W/m
2
.K, and the
junctionthermophysicalpropertiesarek=20W/m.K,C
p
=400J/kg.K,and=8500kg/m
3
.
Determinethejunctiondiameterneededforthethermocoupletohaveatimeconstantof
1s.Ifthejunctionisat25Candisplacedinagasstreamthatisat200C,howlongwillit
takeforthejunctiontoreach199C?
Assumptions:
1. Temperatureofthejunctionisuniformatanyinstant.
2. Radiationisnegligible.
3. Lossesthroughtheleads,byconduction,arenegligible.
4. Constantproperties.

Solution:
Tofindthediameterofthejunction,wecanusethetimeconstant:
p p t
C
D
D h
VC
hA 6
1 1
3
2
t
t
t = =
Rearrangingandsubstitutingnumericalvalues,onefinds,D=0.706mm.
Now,wecancheckthevalidityofthelumpedsystemanalysis.WithL
c
=r
0
/3
leads
Thermocouplejunction
T
i
=25C
k=20W/m.K
C
p
=400J/kg.K
=8500kg/m
3

Gasstream
T

=25C
h=400W/m
2
.K
d
M.BahramiENSC388(F09)TransientConductionHeatTransfer5
OK. is analysis Lumped 1 . 0 10 35 . 2
4
s = =

k
hL
Bi
c

Bi<<0.1,therefore,thelumpedapproximationisanexcellentapproximation.
ThetimerequiredforthejunctiontoreachT=199Cis
( )
( )
s t
T t T
T T
b
t
VC
hA
b
e
T T
T t T
i
p
bt
i
2 . 5
ln
1
=

=
=
=

TransientConductioninLargePlaneWalls,LongCylinders,andSpheres
The lumped system approximation can be used for small bodies of highly conductive
materials.But,ingeneral,temperatureisafunctionofpositionaswellastime.
Consideraplanewallofthickness2L,alongcylinderofradiusr
0
,andasphereofradiusr
0

initiallyatauniformtemperatureT
i
.

Fig.4:Schematicforsimplegeometriesinwhichheattransferisonedimensional.

x
0
Initially at T
=T
i

L
Planewall
Longcylinder
Initially at
T=T
i

r
Sphere
r
Initially at
T=T
i

r
0
r
0

h
M.BahramiENSC388(F09)TransientConductionHeatTransfer6
We also assume a constant heat transfer coefficient h and neglect radiation. The
formulation of the onedimensional transient temperature distribution T(x,t) results in a
partial differential equation (PDE), which can be solved using advanced mathematical
methods.Forplanewall,thesolutioninvolvesseveralparameters:
T=T(x,L,k,,h,T
i
,T

)
where=k/C
p
.Byusingdimensionalgroups,wecanreducethenumberofparameters.
( ) t u u , ,Bi x =
Tofindthetemperaturesolutionforplanewall,i.e.Cartesiancoordinate,weshouldsolve
theLaplacesequationwithboundaryandinitialconditions:
t
T
x
T
c
c
=
c
c
o
1
2
2
(1)
Boundaryconditions:
( ) ( )
( ) | |

=
c
c
=
c
c
T t L T h
x
t L T
k
t
t T
,
,
, 0
, 0
(2a)
Initialcondition:T(x,0)=T
i
(2b)
So,onecanwrite:
t
u u
c
c
=
c
c
2
2
X

where,
( )
( )
number Fourier
number Biot
distance ess dimensionl
re temperatu ess dimensionl
,
,
2
L
t
k
hL
Bi
L
x
X
T T
T t x T
t x
i
o
t
u
=
=
=

The general solution, to the PDE in Eq. (1) with the boundary conditions and initial
conditionsstatedinEqs.(2),isintheformofaninfiniteseries:
( ) X e A
n
n
n
n
u
t
cos
2
1

=
Table111,Cenglesbook,listssolutionsforplanewall,cylinder,andsphere.
Therearetwoapproaches:
1. Use the first term of the infinite series solution. This method is only valid for Fourier
number>0.2
2.UsetheHeislerchartsforeachgeometryasshowninFigs.1115,1116and1117.
M.BahramiENSC388(F09)TransientConductionHeatTransfer7
UsingtheFirstTermSolution
Themaximumerrorassociatedwithmethodislessthan2%.Fordifferentgeometrieswe
have:
( )
( )
( ) ( )
( )
( )
( ) ( )
( )
( )
( )
( )
( )
2 . 0 where
/
/ sin
exp
,
,
/ exp
,
,
/ cos exp
,
,
0 1
0 1 2
1 1
0 1 0
2
1 1
1
2
1 1
>
=

=
=

=
=

t u
t u
t u
r r
r r
A
T T
T t r T
t x
r r J A
T T
T t r T
t x
L x A
T T
T t x T
t x
i
sphere
i
cylinder
i
wall

whereA
1
and
1
canbefoundfromTable112Cengelbook.
UsingHeislerCharts
Therearethreecharts,Figs.1115to1117,oneassociatedwitheachgeometry:
1. ThefirstchartistodeterminethetemperatureatthecenterT
0
atagiventime.
2. Thesecondchartistodeterminethetemperatureatotherlocationsatthesame
timeintermsofT
0
.
3. Thethirdchartistodeterminethetotalamountofheattransferuptothetimet.