Part 1 - Suppose you have a length L of a thin circular pipe that is wrapped with an electrical heater.

Cold
water enters the tube at a uniform temperature of 20C and experiences uniform heat flux

at the
wall along the length of the pipe. The diameter of the pipe D is 5cm.








1a) If the mass flow rate of the fluid is 0.05 kg/s, how long does L need to be for the flow to be thermally
fully developed by the end of the pipe?
Since the development length is dictated by the flow regime (laminar or turbulent), we need to check if
the Reynolds number is larger than the critical Reynolds number for internal pipe flow, which is roughly
2300.

=
(

(

2
)
2

= 1592
Since this is well below the critical value, the flow is laminar.
The equation governing entry length for laminar flow is:
(

= 0.05

where
=

= 2.67
Solving for
,
produces

,
= 10.6m
therefore the flow will be thermally fully developed at the end of the pipe if L=10.6m.

Fluid Properties
= 0.6 W/m-K
= 1000 kg/m^3

= 2000 J/kg-K
= 810
4
Pa -s
x-dir
r- dir
1b) Assume a new length L that is ten times longer than your answer from part (a) with the same mass
flow rate as part (a). What is the average heat transfer coefficient between the fluid and the interior
walls of the pipe?
Since we found the length to become fully developed in part (a), a pipe that is 10 times longer than that
can be assumed thermally fully developed for the entire length of pipe. We can also show that we are
hydrodynamically fully developed by calculating
,,
= 0.05

.
To find the average heat transfer coefficient we need the correlation for laminar, fully developed flow in
a circular pipe with constant wall flux. This correlation is provided in the exam handouts and is:

= 4.36

Since the flow is fully developed, the Nusselt number doesnt change with position. The average heat
transfer coefficient is also the local heat transfer coefficient. Solving for the heat transfer coefficient:
=

results in
= 52.3

FOR ALL REMAINING QUESTIONS IN PART 1, ASSUME THE LENGTH OF THE PIPE IS 100m LONG
1c) If 80 percent of the electrical power is transferred to the fluid, how much electrical power is required
to achieve an average outlet temperature of 80C?
An overall energy balance on the pipe results in the equation
=

(
,

,
)
where
,
=20C,
,
= 80C.
If only 80% of the electrical power is conducted to the fluid then the electrical power must be

=

0.8
=

(
,

,
)
0.8
= 7.5


1d) What is

at this electrical power? Use L=100[m].

= 382

2


Part 2- Suppose that the same pipe as in part 1 is wrapped with a different electrical heater that causes
the heat flux to vary as a function of position according to

() = + where = 15

2
and
= 5

3
. In this configuration,

increases with increasing position along the pipe. The

dimensions of the pipe and mass flow are still the same as part 1 (continue to use L=100m).
2a) Starting with a differential energy balance, derive a relationship for the mean temperature of the
fluid

() as a function of position.

Energy balance:

Differential form:

=
( + )

Integrate:

=
( +)

() =

+

2

2
+

)
=

pply boundary condition to get C:

( = 0) =
,

0 +0 + =
,

Final solution:

() =

+

2

2
+
,

2b) If a thermocouple on the outside of this newly wrapped pipe reads 50C at x=50m, what is the local
heat transfer coefficient between the fluid and pipe wall at this position?
The heat flux at any point along the wall obeys:

() = ()[

()

()]
() =

()

()

()

At x=50m,

(50) = + (50) = 265

(50) =

(50) +

2

(50)
2
+
,
= 31C

(50) = 50C
Therefore
() =
265

2
50C 31C
= 13.8

2c) On the plot below, sketch the profile of

() for a case where A=0 and the constant B is positive

(i.e.

() = ). Label the inlet temp as

,
and the outlet temperature as
,
. This problem
requires no numbers.
2d) Also draw on the diagram

() for the case where A is constant, B is zero (i.e.

() = ) and the
total heat added along the length of the pipe equals the total heat added from case (2c). Assume the
fluid enters at the same temperature (
,
) as case (2c).
Solution for (2c) and (2d):

Plot characteristic Im looking for:
1) Slope of case (2c) increases with x because heat flux increases linearly with x, therefore the
mean temperature will increase as a quadratic. Or equally stated: more and more heat is added
per unit length, therefore the mean temperature of the fluid increases more and more per unit
length.
2) The slope of case (2c) at x=0 is zero because heat flux is zero (REMOVED AS A REQUIREDMENT
FOR POINTS)
3) The slope of case (2d) is linear because heat flux is constant
4) The end temperature of each case is the same value
,
because
,
is the same for both and
it was stated that the same total heat is added to each flow (shown using overall energy
balance).

() =

() =