CHAPTER 4

Transient Heat Conduction

The temperature of a body, in general, varies with time
as well as position. In rectangular coordinates, this
variation is expressed as T(x, y, z, t), where (x, y, z)
indicates variation in the x, y, and z directions,
respectively, and t indicates variation with time.

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4.1 Lumped system analysis

Lumped system analysis

In heat transfer analysis, some bodies are
observed to behave like a lump whose
interior temperature remains essentially
uniform at all times during a heat transfer
process.

The temperature of such bodies can be taken to
be a function of time only, T(t). Heat transfer
analysis that utilizes this idealization is known
as lumped system analysis, which provides
great simplification in certain classes of heat
transfer problems without much sacrifice from
accuracy.

Consider a small hot copper ball coming out of
an oven. Measurements indicate that the
temperature of the copper ball changes with
time, but it does not change much with
position at any given time.

Thus the temperature of the ball remains
uniform at all times, and we can talk about the
temperature of the ball with no reference to a
specific location.
Kyoung Hoon Kim

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4.1 Lumped system analysis

Limit of lumped system analysis
Now let us go to the other extreme and consider
a large roast in an oven. If you have done any
roasting, you must have noticed that the
temperature distribution within the roast is not
even close to being uniform. You can easily
verify this by taking the roast out before it is
completely done and cutting it in half. You will
see that the outer parts of the roast are well done
while the center part is barely warm. Thus,
lumped system analysis is not applicable in this
case. Before presenting a criterion about
applicability of lumped system analysis, we
develop the formulation associated with it.

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Thermal resistance concept

Formulation of analysis

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Thermal resistance concept

Criteria for limped system analysis

characteristic length

Biot number

criteria
The first step in the application of lumped
system analysis is the calculation of the Biot
number, and the assessment of the applicability
of this approach. One may still wish to use
lumped system analysis even when the criterion
Bi 0.1 is not satisfied, if high accuracy is not a
major concern.
Kyoung Hoon Kim

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Thermal resistance concept

Some remarks on heat transfer in lumped system

To understand the heat transfer mechanism during
the heating or cooling of a solid by the fluid
surrounding it, and the criterion for lumped system
analysis, consider this analogy (Fig. 47).

People from the mainland are to go by boat to an
island whose entire shore is a harbor, and from the
harbor to their destinations on the island by bus.

The overcrowding of people at the harbor depends
on the boat traffic to the island and the ground
transportation system on the island. If there is an
excellent ground transportation system with plenty
of buses, there will be no overcrowding at the
harbor, especially when the boat traffic is light.

But when the opposite is true, there will be a huge
overcrowding at the harbor, creating a large
difference between the populations at the harbor
and inland. The chance of overcrowding is much
lower in a small island with plenty of fast buses.
Kyoung Hoon Kim

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<Ex 4-1> temperature measurment by thermocouples

The temperature of a gas is to be measured by a
thermocouple whose junction can be approximated as
a D-mm-diameter sphere. The properties of the
junction are k, , Cp and the convection heat transfer
Tinf
coefficient between the junction and the gas is h.
Determine how long it will take for thermocouple to
read e % of the initial temperature difference.

thermocouple
junction
temperature
Ti
T(t)
D, , Cp, k

Solution

Input Data
sphere diameter
thermal conductivity
density

V :=

volume

D := 1 mm
W
k := 35
m K
:= 8500

kg
3

specific heat

Cp := 320

heat transfer coefficient

h := 210

kg K
W
2

m K

V = 0.5236mm

A = 3.1416mm

surface area

A := D

characteristic length

Lc :=
Bi :=

Biot number

b :=

time constant

V
A
h Lc
k
h

Cp Lc
ln( err)
expected time for given error Terr( err) :=
b
err

T( t ) Tinf
Ti Tinf

b t

3
2

Lc = 0.1667mm
3

Bi = 1.0000 10
b = 0.4632s

Terr( 10 %) = 4.9707s
Terr( 1 %) = 9.9413s
Terr( 0.1 %) = 14.9120s
Terr( 0.01 %) = 19.8826s

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<Ex 4-2> predicting the time of death

A person is found dead in a room whose temperature
is Ta . The temperature of the body is measured to be
T when found, and the heat transfer coefficient is
estimated to be h. Modeling the body as a
D-cm-diameter, L-m-long cylinder, estimate the time of Solution
death of that person.
initial temperature
reference temperature

cylinder
D, L, , Cp, k

modelling

Ti

T + Ti
2

+ Tk0

Tr = 304.1500K
1

thermal conductivity of water

k := k_water( Tr)

k = 0.6145W m

density

:= _water ( Tr)

= 995.2050kg m

specific heat

Cp := Cpf ( Tr)

Cp = 4.2244kJ kg

volume

V :=

surface area

diameter

D := 0.3 m

length

L := 1.7 m

temperature when found

T := 25 C

room temperature

Ta := 20 C
h := 8

characteristic length
Biot number

2
A := D L + 2 D
4
V
Lc :=
A
Bi :=

h Lc
k
h

b :=

elapsed time

t := ln

D L

time constant

W
m K

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Tr :=

T(t)

Input Data

heat transfer coefficient

Ti := 37 C

Cp Lc
Ti Ta 1

T Ta b

V = 120.1659L
2

A = 1.7436m

Lc = 0.0689 m
Bi = 0.8972
5 1

b = 2.7611 10

t = 12.3118hr

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