ME315 2019-F HW-02

1. The window of an automobile is defogged by passing warm air over its inner surface. If the
warm air is at T∞,i = 40 °C and the corresponding convection coefficient is hi = 30 W/m2·K, what
are the inner and outer surface temperatures of 4-mm-thick window glass, if the outside ambient
air temperature is T∞,o = -10 °C and the associated convection coefficient is ho = 65 W/m2·K? (Heat
for phase change in the defogging process is assumed negligible.)

2. A composite wall is composed of an insulating material of thermal conductivity kins = 1.5 W/m·K
sandwiched between two 1-mm thick stainless-steel sheets of thermal conductivity kss = 15 W/m·K.
The composite wall separates two fluids of temperatures T∞,1 = 50 °C and T∞,2 = 25 °C, respectively.
Determine the thickness of insulation required to limit the heat flux through the composite wall to
60 W/m2 for the cases shown in the table. The convection heat transfer coefficients are h = 5
W/m2·K for gas free convection, h = 50 W/m2·K for gas forced convection, h = 500 W/m2·K for
liquid forced convection, and h = 5000 W/m2·K for either boiling or condensation.

Case h1 (W/m2·K) h2 (W/m2·K)

1 Gas free convection Gas free convection
2 Gas forced convection Gas free convection
3 Gas forced convection Liquid forced convection
4 Condensation Boiling

3. A composite wall separates combustion gases at 2600 °C from a liquid coolant at 100 °C, with
gas-side and liquid-side convection coefficients of 50 and 1000 W/m2·K, respectively. The wall is
composed of a 10-mm-thick layer of beryllium oxide on the gas side and a 20-mm-thick slab of
stainless steel (AISI 304) on the liquid side. The contact resistance between the oxide and the steel
is 0.05 m2·K/W. What is the heat loss per unit surface area of the composite wall? Sketch the
temperature distribution from the gas to the liquid and label the temperatures at each surface on
the plot.

4. Three concrete blocks with the same shape are arranged either in serial or parallel. The thermal
resistances of the three blocks are R1 = 1K/W, R2 = 2 K/W, and R3 = 4K/W. If you can replace one
of the blocks with half of its resistance value, which one you would replace in order to achieve the
minimum total resistance for (a) serial and (b) parallel arrangement.

5. A stainless steel (AISI 304) tube used to transport a cold fluid has an inner diameter of 36 mm
and a wall thickness of 2 mm. The fluid and ambient air are at temperatures of 6 °C and 23 °C,
respectively, while the corresponding inner and outer convection coefficients are 400 W/m2·K and
6 W/m2·K, respectively. What is the heat transfer to the cold fluid per unit tube length?

6. A 3-mm-diameter electrical wire is insulated by a 2-mm-thick rubberized sheath with k = 0.13

W/m·K, and the wire/sheath interface is characterized by a thermal contact resistance of
R’’t,c=3 × 10−4 m2·K/W. The convection heat transfer coefficient at the outer surface of the sheath
is 15 W/m2·K, and the ambient air temperature is 20°C. If the temperature of the sheath may not
exceed 50°C, what is the maximum allowable electrical power that may be dissipated per unit
length of the conductor? What is the critical radius of the insulating sheath?

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