6.2.

TEMPERATURE PROFILES AND BOUNDARY LAYERS OVER A SURFACE 97

place in most heat transfer applications involving a liquid or gas, in addition to con-
duction. In the previous chapters this convection was considered only as a boundary
condition at the surface of a conducting solid. The parameter h, the convective heat
transfer coefficient describing the convecting process was assumed to be known. In
this chapter we look at the details of the convection process with one of the goals being
to investigate ways to predict the convective heat transfer coefficient h.
The general equation (Eqn. 3.5) describing energy transfer is repeated here from
page 31 as:

T T k 2T Q
+ u = + (6.1)
 t x c p x c p
2
       
storage bulk flow conduction generation

In this chapter we will be applying the equation to fluids (as opposed to solids in the
previous chapters). Thus, for this chapter, all the properties in the above equation are
for the fluid. We will need to retain the convection term, i.e., cannot drop it as in
the previous chapters. If the convection term is kept, knowledge of fluid velocity u is
needed. Thus, the equations governing fluid flow are also needed in addition, to solve
the energy equation given by Eqn. 6.1. This makes the study of convection heat transfer
often more complex than that of simple conduction.
Although boundary layer approximations (described below) are made to simplify
the energy and flow equations for many practical situations, solution to convective heat
transfer problem (Equation 6.1 and the related flow equations) is often involved. We
will not pursue such detailed solution to the convection equations, but instead, discuss
the expected form of the solution and spend our effort in understanding the implications
of the solutions.

6.2 Temperature Profiles and Boundary Layers Over a

Surface
Figure 6.2 is a schematic of flow over a flat plate. When fluid of initial uniform velocity
flows over a surface, such as a flat plate, the velocity becomes zero at the surface
of the plate. The decrease in velocity, from the stream velocity to zero, takes place
in a relatively small layer of fluid known as the boundary layer. The fluid velocity
approaches the free stream velocity u as we move further away from the plate. It
may take a very large distance from the plate for the velocity to be exactly equal to u ,
but most of this change in velocity takes place over this small distance known as the
boundary layer. The thickness of the boundary layer velocit y is defined as the distance
where the velocity is 99% of the free stream velocity, i.e.,

velocit y = y|u=0.99u (6.2)

Thus, the fluid can be considered to have two separate regions: a boundary layer where
velocity gradients are large and outside the boundary layer where the velocity gradients
are small. In other words, the effect of the flat plate on the flow is essentially restricted
98 CHAPTER 6. CONVECTION HEAT TRANSFER

y,v

x,u
T u T u
Velocity
boundary
layer
Thermal
boundary
layer

Ts Velocity
Temperature Profile
Profile

Figure 6.2: Velocity and temperature variation in the boundary layer over a flat plate.

to the boundary layer. The concept of this boundary layer was first introduced by
Prandtl (1904).
Like the velocity boundary layer, a thermal boundary layer develops if the surface
temperature for the flat plate is different from the uniform initial fluid temperature T .
Since the fluid in contact with the surface will be at rest, it will come to the surface
temperature. The temperature will vary from the value Ts at the surface to T in
the free stream. Like the velocity variation, this temperature variation is asymptotic,
and a thickness of thermal boundary layer ther mal is defined as the distance at which
temperature T is given by:
Ts Tther mal
= 0.99 (6.3)
Ts T
Thus ther mal is the distance over which most of the temperature change takes place.
Like the velocity boundary layer, the fluid can be considered to have two distinct ther-
mal regions: a thermal boundary layer where thermal gradients are large and outside
the thermal boundary layer where the thermal gradients are small and temperatures are
uniform. In other words, the thermal effect of the flat plate on the flow is essentially
restricted to the thermal boundary layer. While a velocity boundary layer will always
exist in a flow situation, thermal boundary layer exists only if there is a difference in
temperature between the surface and the bulk fluid.
Thickness of the velocity boundary layer can be shown to relate to the flow param-
eter Reynolds number, Re, defined as
u x
Rex = (6.4)

where u is the free stream velocity, as shown in Figure 6.2, x is the distance along
the flow from the leading edge of the plate, is the density of the fluid and is the
6.3. LAMINAR AND TURBULENT FLOWS 99

viscosity of the fluid. The thermal boundary layer additionally depends (shown in
section 6.5) on a characteristic number called the Prandtl number, Pr , for the fluid:
c p / Momentum diffusivity
Pr = = = (6.5)
kf luid k f luid /c p Thermal diffusivity

where c p is the specific heat of the fluid and kf luid is the thermal conductivity of the
fluid. Thus, Prandtl number depends only on the fluid properties. As an example of
boundary layer thicknesses, for laminar flow over a flat plate, velocity boundary layer
thickness is given by:

5x
velocit y = 1
(6.6)
2
Rex
Thus, as the velocity (and therefore Rex ) increases, the boundary layer thickness
decreases. The thermal boundary layer thickness for laminar flow over a flat plate is
related to the velocity boundary layer thickness by:

velocit y
= Pr1/3 (6.7)
ther mal
or
velocit y
ther mal =
Pr1/3
which implies that thermal boundary layer thickness also decreases as velocity in-
creases. Since Pr 5 for water, the thermal boundary layer will be much thinner than
the velocity boundary layer on a flat plate. This is in contrast with gases, for which
Pr 1 and the thermal and velocity boundary layers on a flat plate are approximately
equal.

6.3 Laminar and Turbulent Flows

In the previous section, we discussed boundary layer over a flat plate. Although fluid
motion on such a flat plate starts out to be orderly (streamlined) at the leading edge,
as shown in Figure 6.2, as the fluid moves along the plate, the flow changes to a more
chaotic situation at some distance from the leading edge, as illustrated in Figure 6.3.
This change from a streamlined to a more chaotic condition changes the nature of the
flow quite drastically. In particular, the mixing process due to the more chaotic motion
or turbulence enhances the rate of heat transfer. The region of the plate over which
the fluid motion is orderly is called the laminar region, whereas the region with a more
chaotic fluid motion is called the turbulent region. The transition from laminar to tur-
bulent can occur over a region, which is called the transition region. In determining the
type of boundary layer (laminar or turbulent) that exists in a certain flow situation, it
is frequently assumed that the transition from laminar to turbulent occurs at a critical
Reynolds number. For example, for flow over a flat plate, the critical Reynolds number
100 CHAPTER 6. CONVECTION HEAT TRANSFER

Laminar Transition Turbulent

x Ts
L

Figure 6.3: Schematic showing laminar, transition, and turbulent flow over a flat plate.

based on distance x along the plate (Rex = u x/) has been found to vary experi-
mentally between 2 105 and 3 106 , i.e., the following conditions define the laminar,
turbulent and transition region over a flat plate:

laminar region Rex < 2 105

transition region 2 105 < Rex < 3 106
turbulent region 3 106 < Rex

As will be shown later, when calculating rates of convective heat transfer, it is critical
to consider whether the flow is in laminar or turbulent region, as characterized by the
corresponding Reynolds number.

6.4 Convective Heat Transfer Coefficient Defined

Consider fluid flowing over a surface, as shown in Figure 6.2. Since the layer of fluid
in contact with the surface is at rest, heat transfer in the fluid at the surface is by con-
duction only and the flux is given by

conductive heat T 
= k f luid
flux in the fluid y  y=0,in fluid

where k f luid is the thermal conductivity of the fluid and T is the fluid temperature at
a distance y from the surface. However, by definition of the convective heat transfer
coefficient, h, the same heat flux can be written as

convective
= h(Ty=0,in fluid T )
heat flux
= h(Ts T )
6.5. SIGNIFICANT PARAMETERS IN CONVECTIVE HEAT TRANSFER 101

Since the two expressions represent the same heat flux:


T 
k f luid = h (Ts T )
y  y=0, in fluid


T 
k f luid y  y=0, in fluid
h = (6.8)
Ts T
The temperature profile T (y) can be obtained by solving the energy equation for
the fluid (see next section). Knowing T (y), we can calculate the derivative T / y in
Eqn. 6.8 and therefore the heat transfer coefficient h. Since T (y) includes the effect of
conduction and flow, h would also include conduction and flow effects.

6.5 Significant Parameters in Convective Heat Transfer

To obtain the convective heat transfer coefficient h for many practical situations, one
would like to obtain the solution to the convection equation. In this section we will
discuss the expected form of the solution to the convection equation for the bound-
ary layer approximation. We will not solve the equations, as mentioned earlier, for
brevity. Such solutions can be found in most heat transfer texts such as Incropera and
Dewitt (1996). As an example, consider steady convection over a flat plate (Figure 6.2);
the flow is two-dimensional (along and perpendicular to the plate) and the governing
energy equation for the fluid without any heat generation and with constant property
values is (generalized from Eqn. 3.5 in one dimension):
 
T T 2T 2T
u +v = + (6.9)
x y x2 y2
     
bulk flow conduction

Note that the conduction term is included in the above equation, signifying convection
heat transfer solutions that will be developed includes the conduction effects. The
additional governing equation to be solved for fluid flow (refer to your fluid mechanics
book) is:
 
u u 1 p 2u 2u
u +v = + + 2 (6.10)
x y x x2 y

 
v v 1 p 2v 2v
u +v = + + (6.11)
x y y x2 y2

with the continuity equation:

u v
+ =0 (6.12)
x y