0360-5442/!32$5.00+ 0.

M)
Copyright@ 1992PergamonPressplc

.&wrg_vVol. 17, No. 4, pp. 413-417, 1992

Printed in Great Britain.All rightsreserved

NOTE
A TRANSIENT, CONJUGATED, CONDUCTIONCONTROLLED, SENSIBLE-HEAT STORAGE
A. PRASAD~,~ and J. NANDI
t Regional Institute of Technology, Jamshedpur-831 014 and $ Design Cell, 3rd Floor, General Office,

The Tata Iron and Steel Co. Ltd, Jamshedpur-831001, India

(Received 20 March 19%; received for publication 25 June 1991)

Abstrad-Analytical
results are presented for the design parameters of a sensible-heat
storage system, controlled by one-dimensional, transient, conjugate heat conduction. The
governing equations are solved using an integral method and closed-form solutions are
obtained, which depend only on a non-dimensional parameter B. For large B, sensibleheat storage is large; during the period of conjugation, the temperature at the conjugated
surface for a given B remains unaltered. The validity of our approximate solution is
verified.

INTRODUCTION

In the high-grade steel and also the automotive, locomotive, forge, foundry, and machinebuilding industries, large amounts of energy must be dissipated during manufacturing. This
waste energy may be stored as sensible heat in a storage system, the design of which requires
knowledge of the temperature
history, thermal penetration
depth, and thermophysical
properties of the storage material. The governing equations for a sensible-heat storage system
with heat conduction have been solved exactly but provided inadequate design information
because of implicit expressions for the heat penetration and cooling depths. Biots variationalS5
and the integra16* methods have been used to obtain closed-form solutions for some cases.
We have applied the integral method to the specified storage system and obtained a
closed-form solution.

SOLUTION

The inset of Fig. 1 shows a schematic of a sensible-heat storage system consisting of two
semi-infinite plates of different materials. Their thermophysical properties are uniform but
different. At time t = 0, the hot plate at T, is brought in contact with the storage plate initially
at temperature K < T,. The contact interface comes instantly to an equilibrium temperature T,
with T, > T, > T. Also, T, is below the melting temperature of the storage plate. Next, heat
flows from the hot plate and is stored as sensible heat in the storage plate. This heat transfer is
described by a one-dimensional, conjugated, transient, heat-conduction problem. The goveming equations are
d

O,,dl;,/dz

= (a&,/%,),,=,
&=l,

- (~&,lX&=,
E=O,

debt a<, = 0,

+ (G/d@,

Ch~O,

eh=i,

*To whom all correspondence should be addressed.

413

gh20,

5,, 2 0,

t = 0,

~30.

t > 0,

(I)
(2)
(3)

Note

414

0.30

0.20

Modet of a senrible-heat

stomge

system

0.10

a025

lo-

10-2

10-3

102

10

Fig.

1. The interface

The heat penetration

temperature

sensibleheat absorbed Q. vs B.

tic and the total

depth is given by

z>o,
8,=1,
ae,m

q=o,

&SO,

e,=o,

= o,

t=o,

fs2 -9,

(4)

r = 0.

(5)
(6)

t = 0.

(7)
(8)

The interface conditions are

eh = 8, = e,,
dehidrh = (I/B)
We prescribe parabolic temperature

CIh= 0,

aem,,

t > 0,

5h= 0,

distributions

eh = i - (1 - e,)(i

- 8,/E)*

(9)

and
0, = e,(l + 5,/~)*,

(10)

which satisfy the boundary conditions. This profile has been shown2*8 to give realistic results.
After substitution of Eqs. (3) and (6), Eqs. (9) and (10) are employed in Eqs. (l), (4) and (8)
to obtain
d/dr[(l - 6X] = 6(1- 6,)/C,
(11)
dldt(8,n)

= 68,/B~,

~(1 - e,)tj = e,g

Combining Eqs. (ll),

(12)
(13)

(12) and (13), we find

(1 - 6x

= e,n,

(14)

which satisfies Eqs. (2) and (5). Substituting Eq. (13), Eq (14) yields
g=V&.

(15)

Note

415

After substituting Eq. (15) into Eq. (11) and adding Eq. (12), we find
rl=VGW?R

(16)

which satisfies Eq. (5). Using Eq. (16), Eqs. (14) and (15) become, respectively,
0, = Vz/<1+

I@),

(17)

Zj=m.

(18)

For a semi-infinite storage plate, q d 1. Equation (16) then yields t d B/12; the use of Eq. (18)
leads to E 6 G for the semi-infinite hot plate. The sensible-heat storage is

Qn = j- 8sdl;,.

(19)

Qn = (l/3)6,11.

(20)

-I

Using Eqs. (10) and (17) in Eq. (19),

Substituting Eqs. (16) and (17), Eq. (20) becomes

Q, = [ti/3(1+

I@]v

= m/3(1

+ fi).

(21)

Table1. Values of the parameter B for different hot-plate and storage plate materials; K, and
and a,

K, are in W/m-K,

q,,,

in m*/sec, a,,,,, = L-Y,,

x 106 and q,,, = (Y,x 106.
Hot plate
Steel (1% C)

Steel (0.5% C)
Storage
plate
at 20C

; =2042
n,s,=ss.i)
cu
(KS = 386
cr,, = 113.1)
Fe
(K, = 72.70
a;, = 2.037)
CI (4% C)
(KS = 52
cu, = 17.44)
Steel (0.5% C)
(K,=53.6
a, = 14.72)
Steel (1% C)
(KS = 43.30
cr,, = 11.73)
CrNi steel
(18% Cr, 8% Ni)
(KS = 16.3
a, = 45.23)
Earth (wet)
(KS = 0.6571
tr, = 0.1923)
Fire clay brick
(KS = 1.04
a,, = 0.54)
Water
(KS = 0.5978
u& = 0.1431)

at 600C
(K,, =34.65
a,,,,, = 9.513)

at 800C
(K,, = 31.45
IX,,,,= 8.635)

at loooC
(K,, = 29.40
q,,, = 8.071)

at 600C
(K, = 32.90
a,,,,, = 8.916)

at 800C
(K,, = 29.40
q,,,, = 7.968)

at 1oooC
(K,, = 27.65
(Y,h= 7.493)

0.255

0.231

0.216

0.245

0.219

0.206

0.0958

0.0870

0.0813

0.0922

0.0823

0.0775

0.486

0.441

0.413

0.468

0.418

0.393

0.814

0.739

0.691

0.783

0.700

0.658

0.647

0.587

0.549

0.622

0.556

0.523

0.790

0.717

0.670

0.760

0.679

0.638

2.149

1.950

1.823

2.067

1.847

1.737

56.21

51.01

47.6%

54.068

48.313

45.441

63.011

57.188

53.468

60.611

54.159

50.940

50.538

45.868

42.884

48.613

43.438

40.857

Note

416
1.0

..

.. -

-..

.. -

_.

0.6

0.06

0.6

a06

---..

0'
.a
c

d
0.04

0.4

. -_.
0.W

a2

-..

.-

.-

. . -..

0.00

-..

-..

. . -

..-

_.-

IO+

10-4

16'

10-3

to-'

I-

Fig. 2. Variations of the interface temperature 19.. heat-penetration depth q and total sensible heat
Q, with time t for different values of the parameter B.

The approximate

validity of the present analysis may be verified by notingzV6that

lim Q, = Cfi,

(22)

c = 1.155.

B-+-

The exact analysis of Ref. 6 yielded

c= 1.12.

C = 1.128 whereas Biots variational

method

yielded

DISCUSSION

The closed-form solutions indicate dependence of the results on B. The results are given in
Table 1 for some heat storage and hot-plate materials for 0.0775 s B s 63.
Figure 2 shows plots of the heat-penetration
depth n, conjugated interface surface
temperature 8,, and total sensible-heat storage Q. as functions of time for different B. For
each value of B, n exhibits similar behaviour and 8, remains constant during the period of
conjugation. Both 8, and time for 9 = 1 increase as B increases. When B+ ~0, 8,-+ 1; this
result is obtained from Eq. (17). Here, the hot plate acts as a constant temperature heat
reservoir, which was investigated earlier.2T6 The variation of the cooling depth 5 in the hot plate
with time can be readily obtained from Eq. (18).
In Fig. 1, the variations with B of 8, and of Qn for different values of n are plotted. For any r],
Q,, increases rapidly as B increases for B 6 10-l; for 10-l < B < 10, it increases almost linearly;
for B z= 10, it increases slowly. The behaviour of 8, is similar to that of Q,. Equation (21)
indicates that Q, is a linear function of rl for any B, whereas its gradient dQ,/dg exhibits small
changes for large changes in B.

REFERENCES

1. H. S. Carslaw and J. C. Jaeger, Conduction of Heat in Solids, Oxford Univ. Press, New York, NY
(1959).
2. M. A. Biot, J. Aero. Sci. 24, 857 (1957).
3. T. J. Lardner, AZAA Jf 1, 196 (1963).
4. A. Prasad, J. Spacecraft 16, 445 (1979).

Note

417

5. A. Prasad, J. Spacecraft 17, 474 (1980).

6. E. R. G. Eckert and R. M. Drake, Analysis of Heat and Mass Transfer, Intl. Student edn,
McGraw-Hill Kogakusha, Tokyo (1972).
7. T. R. Goodman, Advances in Heat Transfer, Vol. 1, Academic Press, New York, NY (1964).
8. L. T. Yeh and B. T. F. Chung, Transient Heat Conduction in a Finite Medium with Phase Change,
ASME Paper 76 WA/HT-3 (1976).
NOMENCLATURE

b = Thickness of the storage plate (m)

parameter =
(&lKs)a;loh
C,, = Heat capacity of the hot plate (J/m3-K)
C, = Heat capacity of the storage plate
(J/m3-K)
h = Thickness of the hot plate (m)
K,, = Thermal conductivity of the hot plate
(W/m-K)
K, = Thermal conductivity of the storage plate
(W/m-K)
q,, = Heat-penetration
depth of the hot plate
B = Non-dimensional

(m)

q. = Heat-penetration

depth of the storage

plate (m)
Q = Total heat absorbed by the storage plate
during the contact period (J/m)
Q,, = Non-dimensional total heat absorbed by
the storage plate = Q/C.< T, - Z)
r = Initial temperature of the storage plate
(K)

T, = Initial temperature of the hot plate (K)

Th = Temperature of the hot plate at any

instant of time (K)

T, = Temperature of the storage plate at any

instant of time (K)

T. = Interface surface equilibrium

(K)
t = Time of contact (set)
y = Distance perpendicular

temperature

to the interface

(m)
LY,,
= Thermal diffusivity of the hot plate
(m/sec)
ag = Thermal diffusivity of the storage plate
(m*/sec)
fS = Non-dimensional distance of the storage
plate = y/b
&, = Non-dimensional distance of the hot
plate = C&y/C.6
r] = Non-dimensional penetration depth of the
storage plate = qs/b
Oh= Non-dimensional hot plate temperature =
(Ts - I,)l(X - T)
0, = Non-dimensional storage plate
temperature = (T, - z)/( T, - z)
0, = Non-dimensional interface surface
temperature = (T, - q/( T, - x)
5 = Non-dimensional cooling depth of the hot
plate = C,q,lC,b
t = Non-dimensional time = K,,C,t/C~/b*