Heat Transfer Mechanisms

• Heat: is the form of energy that can be

transferred from one system to another as
a result of temperature difference.
• Heat Transfer: The science that deals
with the determination of the rates of such
energy transfers.
 Types of Heat Transfer
• Conduction
• Convection
• Radiation
 Conduction
• Conduction is the transfer of energy from the more
energetic particles of a substance to the adjacent less
energetic ones as a result of interactions between the
particles.
• Conduction can take place in solids, liquids, or gases.
• In gases and liquids, conduction is due to the
collisions and diffusion of the molecules during their
random motion.
• In solids, it is due to the combination of vibrations of
the molecules and the energy transport by free
electrons.
 Rate of Heat Conduction

where the constant of proportionality k represents the

thermal conductivity of the material, which is a measure of
the ability of a material to conduct heat.

Here, A represents area NORMAL to the direction of heat

trasnfer
 Thermal Conductivity
• The thermal conductivity of a material
can be defined as the rate of heat transfer
through a unit thickness of the material per
unit area per unit temperature difference.
 Thermal Diffusivity
• The thermal diffusivity represents how fast
heat diffuses through a material and is
defined as

The product represents heat capacity

 Convection
• Convection is the mode of energy transfer between a solid
surface and the adjacent liquid or gas that is in motion, and it
involves the combined effects of conduction and fluid motion.

• The faster the fluid motion, the greater the convection heat
transfer.

• In the absence of any bulk fluid motion, heat transfer between

a solid surface and the adjacent fluid is by pure conduction.

• The presence of bulk motion of the fluid enhances the heat

transfer between the solid surface and the fluid.
• Forced convection if the fluid is forced to flow
over the surface by external means such as a
fan, pump, or the wind.
• Natural (or free) convection if the fluid motion
is caused by buoyancy forces that are induced
by density differences due to the variation of
temperature in the fluid (Fig. 1–32).
• Despite the complexity of convection, the rate of
convection heat transfer is observed to be
proportional to the temperature difference, and is
conveniently expressed by Newton’s law of
cooling as
 Radiation
• Radiation is the energy emitted by matter in the form
of electromagnetic waves (or photons) as a result of
the changes in the electronic configurations of the
atoms or molecules.
• Unlike conduction and convection, the transfer of
energy by radiation does not require the presence of
an intervening medium.
• In fact, energy transfer by radiation is fastest (at the
speed of light) and it suffers no attenuation in a
vacuum. This is how the energy of the sun reaches
the earth.
• In heat transfer studies we are interested in
thermal radiation, which is the form of radiation
emitted by bodies because of their temperature.
• It differs from other forms of electromagnetic
radiation such as x-rays, gamma rays,
microwaves, radio waves, and television waves
that are not related to temperature.
• All bodies at a temperature above absolute
zero emit thermal radiation.
 Heat Conduction Equation
• Heat transfer has direction as well as magnitude. The
rate of heat conduction in a specified direction is
proportional to the temperature gradient, which is the
change in temperature per unit length in that direction.
• Heat transfer is a vector quantity.
• The specification of the temperature at a point in a
medium first requires the specification of the location of
that point.
• This can be done by choosing a suitable coordinate
system such as the rectangular, cylindrical, or spherical
coordinates, depending on the geometry involved, and a
convenient reference point (the origin).
• The location of a point is specified as (x, y, z) in
rectangular coordinates, as (r, φ , z) in cylindrical
coordinates, and as (r, φ,θ ) in spherical coordinates,
where the distances x, y, z, and r and the angles are as
shown in Figure2–3.
 Steady V/s Transient
• The term steady implies no change with time at any point
within the medium, while transient implies variation with
time or time dependence.
• In the special case of variation with time but
not with position, the temperature of the
medium changes uniformly with time and such
heat transfer systems are called lumped
systems.
• A small metal object such as a thermocouple
junction or a thin copper wire, for example,
can be analyzed as a lumped system during a
heating or cooling process.
 Multidimensional Heat Transfer
• Heat transfer problems are also classified as being one-
dimensional, two-dimensional, or three-dimensional,
depending on the relative magnitudes of heat transfer
rates in different directions and the level of accuracy
desired.
• Mostly heat transfer is three-dimensional.
• Fourier’s law of heat conduction for one-
dimensional heat conduction is defined as
• General formulation for Fourier’s law can be
obtained as shown below
 Heat Generation
• Heat generation is a volumetric phenomenon.
• It occurs throughout the body of a medium.
• The rate of heat generation in a medium is
usually specified per unit volume and is
denoted by , whose unit is W/m3
Heat Conduction in Large Plane Wall
Heat Conduction in a Long Cylinder
Heat Conduction in a Sphere
 Combine One-Dimensional Equation

• All three cases of one- dimensional can be

combined in to one equation which is
General Heat Conduction Equations
(Rectangular)
Cylindrical
Spherical