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MECH4406: Assignment 2

Due date: Tuesday, October 4, 2016


1. Consider a medium in which the heat diffusion equation is given in its simplest form as
1 2
1
2 1
(
)
+
=
2

2 sin2 2
a.
b.
c.
d.

Is heat transfer steady or transient?


Is transfer one-, two-, or three-dimensional?
Is there heat generation in the medium?
Is the thermal conductivity of the medium constant or variable?

2. A spherical metal ball of radius is heated in an oven to a temperature throughout before being
removed from the oven and allowed to cool in ambient air at by convection and radiation. The
emissivity of the outer surface is , and the temperature of the surrounding surface is . The
average convection heat transfer coefficient is estimated to be h. Assuming variable thermal
conductivity and transient one-dimensional heat transfer, express the mathematical formulation
(the differential equation and the boundary conditions) of this heat conduction problem. Do not
solve.
3. Consider the base plate of an 800 W household iron with a thickness of L=0.6 cm, base area
A=160 cm3, and thermal conductivity k= 60 W/mK. The inner surface of the iron is subjected to a
uniform heat flux generated by the resistance heaters inside. When steady operating conditions are
reached, the outer surface of the plate is measured to be 120C. Disregarding any heat loss through
the upper part of the iron.
a. Write the differential equation and the boundary conditions for steady state onedimensional heat conduction through the plate.
b. Obtain a relation for the variation of temperature in the base plate by solving the
differential equation.
c. Calculate the inner surface temperature.
4. In sub sea oil and natural gas production, hydrocarbon fluids may leave the reservoir with a
temperature of 70C and flow into a subsea pipe with surrounding temperature of 5C. Control of
the heat transfer is critical to prevent gas hydrate and wax deposition blockages. Consider a subsea
pipeline with inner diameter of 0.5 m and wall thickness of 8 mm used for transporting hydrocarbon
at an average temperature of 70C, with an average convection heat transfer coefficient on the
inner pipe surface of ~250 W/m2K. The average convection coefficient on the outer surface of the
pipe is ~150 W/m2K. If the pipeline material has a thermal conductivity of 60 W/mK:
a. Using the heat conduction equation determine the temperature variation in the pipeline
wall
b. Determine the inner surface temperature of the pipeline
c. Calculate the heat flux from the liquid hydrocarbon in the pipeline
5. A 1 m 1.5 m double pane glass window consists of two 4 mm thick layers of glass (kg=0.78 W/mK)
separated by a 5 mm air gap (ka=0.025 W/mK). The heat flow through the air gap is assumed to be

by conduction. The inside and outside air temperatures are 20C and 20C respectively, and the
inside and outside heat transfer coefficient are 40 and 20 W/m2K. Determine
a. The daily rate of heat loss through the window in steady operation
b. The largest temperature difference across the largest thermal resistance.
c. The R-value for the double pane window
6. A 2-mm-diameter and 10-m-long electric wire is tightly wrapped in a 1-mm-thick plastic jacket with
thermal conductivity, kwire=0.15 W/mK. The wire carries a current of 10 A and the voltage drop
along the wire is 8 V. If the jacket is exposed to a medium with T = 30C and h=18 W/m2K, what is
the temperature at the interface of the wire and jacket material? Will doubling the thickness of the
plastic jacket increase or decrease this interface temperature?

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