Chapter 1: Introduction

1. Explain mechanisms associated with heat transfer by conduction in solids, liquids and gases.
2. Explain mechanisms associated with heat transfer by convection and radiation?
3. Explain – “Conduction and convection are not fundamentally different modes of heat transfer”
4. What is the difference between a heat flux and a heat rate? What are their units?
5. What is a temperature gradient? What are its units? What is the relationship of heat flow to a
temperature gradient?
6. What is the thermal conductivity? What are its units? What role does it play in heat transfer?
7. What is the difference between natural convection and forced convection?
8. What is Newton’s law of cooling? What role is played by the convection heat transfer
coefficient in Newton’s law of cooling? What are its units?
9. What is predicted by the Stefan–Boltzmann law? Write the equation and define the parameters.
10. What is the emissivity, and what role does it play in characterizing radiation transfer at a
surface?
11. What is irradiation, and what are its units? Write the equation used to express net radiation
exchange between a small isothermal surface and a large isothermal enclosure?
12. Consider the surface of a solid that is at an elevated temperature and exposed to cooler
surroundings. By what mode(s) is heat transferred from the surface if (1) it is in intimate
(perfect) contact with another solid, (2) it is exposed to the flow of a liquid, (3) it is exposed to
the flow of a gas, and (4) it is in an evacuated chamber?

Numerical Problems

1. A cold storage consists of a cubical chamber of dimension 2m x 2m x 2m, maintained at 10°C

inside temperature. The outside wall temperature is 35°C. The top and side walls are covered
by a low conducting insulation with thermal conductivity k = 0.06 W/m.K. There is no heat
loss from the bottom. If heat loss through the top and side walls is to be restricted to 500W,
what is the minimum thickness of insulation required? [Ans. L = 108 mm]

2. A square silicon chip is of width W=5mm on a side and of thickness t=1mm. The chip is
mounted in a substrate such that there is no heat loss from its side and back surfaces. The top
surface is exposed to a coolant. The thermal conductivity of the chip is 200W/m.K. If 5W are
being dissipated by the chip, what is the temperature difference between its back and front
surfaces? [Ans. T = 1.0°C]

3. Air flows over a rectangular plate having dimensions 0.5 m x 0.25 m. The free stream
temperature of the air is 300°C. At steady state, the plate temperature is 40C. If the convective
heat transfer coefficient is 250 W/m2.K, determine the heat transfer rate from the air to one
side of the plate. [Ans. q = 8125 W]
4. A sphere of diameter 10 mm and emissivity 0.9 is maintained at 80°C inside an oven with a
wall temperature of 400°C. What is the net transfer rate from the oven walls to the object?
[Ans. Qrad = 3.04 W]

5. A surface of area 0.5m2, emissivity 0.8 and temperature 150°C is placed in a large, evacuated
chamber whose walls are maintained at 25°C. Find the rate at which radiation is emitted by the
surface? What is the net rate of radiation exchange between the surface and the chamber walls?
[Ans. 726 W, 547 W]

6. A solid aluminum sphere of emissivity , initially at high temperature, is cooled by convection

and radiation in a chamber having walls at a lower temperature. Convective cooling is achieved
with a gas passing through the chamber. Write a differential equation to predict the variation
of sphere temperature with time during the cooling process.

7. An electronic package dissipating 1 kW has a surface area 1m2. The package is mounted on a
spacecraft, such that the heat generated is transferred from the exposed surface by radiation
into space. The surface emissivity of the package is 1.0. Calculate the steady state temperature
of the package surface for the following two conditions: (i) the surface is not exposed to the
sun, and (ii) The surface is exposed to a solar flux of 750W/m2 and its absorptivity to solar
radiation is 0.25? [Ans. 364 W, 380 W]

8. The concrete slab of a basement is 11 m long, 8 m wide, and 0.20 m thick. During the winter,
temperatures are nominally 17 C and 10°C at the top and bottom surfaces, respectively. If the
concrete has a thermal conductivity of 1.4 W/m.K, what is the rate of heat loss through the
slab? If the basement is heated by a gas furnace operating at an efficiency of f = 0.90 and
natural gas is priced at $0.01/MJ, what is the daily cost of the heat loss? [4312 W, $4.14 /d]

9. An inexpensive food and beverage container is fabricated from 25-mm-thick polystyrene (k =

0.023 W/m.K) and has interior dimensions of 0.8 m 0.6 m0.6 m. Under conditions for which
an inner surface temperature of approximately 2°C is maintained by an ice-water mixture and
an outer surface temperature of 20°C is maintained by the ambient, what is the heat flux
through the container wall? Assuming negligible heat gain through the 0.8 m  0.6 m base of
the cooler, what is the total heat load for the prescribed conditions? [16.6 W/m2, 35.9 W].

10. An electric resistance heater is embedded in a long cylinder of diameter 30 mm. When water
with a temperature of 25°C and velocity of 1 m/s flows crosswise over the cylinder, the power
per unit length required to maintain the surface at a uniform temperature of 90°C is 28 kW/m.
When air, also at 25°C, but with a velocity of 10 m/s is flowing, the power per unit length
 required to maintain the same surface temperature is 400 W/m. Calculate and compare the
convection coefficients for the flows of water and air. [4570 W/m2.K, 65 W/m2.K]

11. A cartridge electrical heater is shaped as a cylinder of length L = 200 mm and outer diameter
D = 20 mm. Under normal operating conditions the heater dissipates 2 kW while submerged
in a water flow that is at 20°C and provides a convection heat transfer coefficient of h = 5000
W/m2.K. Neglecting heat transfer from the ends of the heater, determine its surface temperature
Ts. If the water flow is inadvertently terminated while the heater continues to operate, the
heater surface is exposed to air that is also at 20°C but for which h = 50 W/m2.K. What is the
corresponding surface temperature? What are the consequences of such an event? 51.8°C,
3203°C]

12. Determine the heat loss by a person by radiation and convection during summer and winter.
Consider a room whose air temperature is maintained at 20°C throughout the year, while the
walls of the room are nominally at 27°C and 14°C in the summer and winter, respectively. The
exposed surface of a person (area of the person may be taken as 1.5 m2) in the room may be
assumed to be at a temperature of 32°C throughout the year and to have an emissivity of 0.90.
The coefficient associated with heat transfer by natural convection between the person and the
room air is approximately 2 W/m2.K. [36 W, 42.5 W, 143.1 W]

13. An overhead 25-m-long, uninsulated industrial steam pipe of 100 mm diameter is routed
through a building whose walls and air are at 25°C. Pressurized steam maintains a pipe surface
temperature of 150°C, and the coefficient associated with natural convection is h = 10W/m2.K.
The surface emissivity is  = 0.8. (a) What is the rate of heat loss from the steam line? (b) If
the steam is generated in a gas-fired boiler operating at an efficiency of f = 0.90 and natural
gas is priced at $0.01 per MJ, what is the annual cost of heat loss from the line? [18,405 W,
$6450]