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Unsteady State Heat Transfer

This document discusses transient heat conduction in lumped systems. It defines lumped systems as bodies that maintain uniform interior temperatures during heat transfer. An energy balance equation is provided for calculating the temperature change of a lumped system over time. The behavior of lumped systems can be characterized by a thermal time constant. The document also establishes a criterion for applying lumped system analysis based on the Biot number. An example problem calculates the diameter and time to reach a temperature for a thermocouple junction treated as a lumped system.

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Hassan Ahmed
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82 views14 pages

Unsteady State Heat Transfer

This document discusses transient heat conduction in lumped systems. It defines lumped systems as bodies that maintain uniform interior temperatures during heat transfer. An energy balance equation is provided for calculating the temperature change of a lumped system over time. The behavior of lumped systems can be characterized by a thermal time constant. The document also establishes a criterion for applying lumped system analysis based on the Biot number. An example problem calculates the diameter and time to reach a temperature for a thermocouple junction treated as a lumped system.

Uploaded by

Hassan Ahmed
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Transient Heat Conduction

In general, temperature of a body varies with time as well as position

Lumped System Analysis


Interior temperatures of some bodies remain essentially
uniform at all times during a heat transfer process.
The temperature of such bodies are only a function of time, T
= T(t).
The heat transfer analysis based on this idealization is called
lumped system analysis.
Consider a body of arbitrary shape of mass m, volume V,
surface area A, density ρ and specific heat Cp initially at a
uniform temperature Ti.
At time t = 0, the body is placed into a medium at temperature T∞
(T∞ >Ti) with a heat transfer coefficient h. An energy balance of the
solid for a time interval dt can be expressed as:

heat transfer into the body =


the increase in the energy of
during dt the body during dt
The behavior of lumped systems, shown in Fig. 2 can be
interpreted as a thermal time constant

where Rt is the resistance to convection heat transfer and Ct is


the lumped thermal capacitance of the solid.
Any increase in Rt or Ct will cause a solid to respond more
slowly to changes in its thermal environment and will increase
the time respond required to reach thermal equilibrium.
Criterion for Lumped System Analysis
Lumped system approximation provides a great convenience in
heat transfer analysis.
We want to establish a criterion for the applicability of the
lumped system analysis. A characteristic length scale is defined
as:

A non‐dimensional parameter, the Biot number, is defined:


 The Biot number is the ratio of the internal resistance
(conduction) to the external resistance to heat convection.
 Lumped system analysis assumes a uniform temperature
distribution throughout the body, which implies that the
conduction heat resistance is zero.
 Thus, the lumped system analysis is exact when Bi = 0.
 It is generally accepted that the lumped system analysis is
applicable if

Therefore, small bodies with high thermal conductivity are good


candidates for lumped system analysis.
Example 1
A thermocouple junction, which may be approximated by a sphere,
is to be used for temperature measurement in a gas stream. The
convection heat transfer coefficient between the junction surface and
the gas is known to be h = 400 W/m2.K, and the junction
thermophysical properties are k = 20 W/m.K, Cp = 400 J/kg.K, and
ρ = 8500 kg/m3.
Determine the junction diameter needed for the thermocouple to
have a time constant of 1 s. If the junction is at 25°C and is placed in
a gas stream that is at 200°C, how long will it take for the junction to
reach 199°C?
Assumptions:
1. Temperature of the junction is uniform at any instant.
2. Radiation is negligible.
3. Losses through the leads, by conduction, are negligible.
4. Constant properties.
200 oC
Solution:
To find the diameter of the junction, we can use the time constant:

Rearranging and substituting numerical values, one finds,


D = 0.706 mm.

Now, we can check the validity of the lumped system analysis.


With Lc = r0 / 3
Bi << 0.1, therefore, the lumped approximation is an
excellent approximation.
The time required for the junction to reach T = 199°C is

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