March 17, 2004

• Course Evaluations Monday

• Fuel Cell Centre in Kingston (1.7 Million Funding
so Far)

Convection in internal Flows contd.

Continuing on from last day, we can easily solve the

energy equation in cylindrical coordinates, using the
parabolic velocity profile shown last day for laminar
flow in a pipe, to determine

For constant flux boundary conditions and laminar

fully developed flow, and

for constant surface temperature conditions and

laminar fully developed flow.
It is not at all surprising that the heat transfer is lower
in the case of constant surface temperature since in
this case the difference between the surface
temperature and the mean temperature decreases
with distance along the pipe, and hence the heat
transfer decreases.

Entry Region
Heat transfer rates are higher initially due to the
higher gradients in the flow, as anticipated from the
boundary layer solutions in the previous chapter. The
heat transfer rates will decrease with distance along
the pipe, and approach asymptotically the fully
developed values above.

Fully Developed Turbulent Flow

It is far more difficult to develop an analytic solution

for turbulent flow, do we rely on empirical correlations.
One example of an empirical correlation is

Be careful of the details and range of applicability

when using this equation, as with all correlations. Be
especially careful about the effect of property
variations with temperature.

This correlation is valid for both constant flux

conditions, and for constant temperature conditions.

Non-Circular

Replace D, the pipe diameter, with a new length

scale, the hydraulic diameter
 • For turbulent flow, use Dh, and proceed as
normal
• For Laminar flow, use table 8.1 in text

Example Problem

Consider a thin walled metallic tube of length L=1m

and Diameter, D=3mm.
Water enters the tube at a mass flow rate mdot =
0.015 kg/s and Tm,i =97oC
a) What is the outlet T of the water if the tube
surface is maintained at 27oC?
b) If a 0.5mm thick layer of insulations of k=0.05
W/mK is applied to the tube and its outer surface
is maintained at 27oC, what is the outlet T of the
water?
c) If the outer surface of the insulation insulation is
exposed to air at 27oC with a free convection
coefficient of 5 W/m2K, what is the outlet T of the
water?

Solution
Assumptions
• Steady state conditions
• Fully developed conditions (hydraulic and
thermal)
• Negligible conduction resistance from the metal
pipe wall.
• Uniform convection at the outer surface
a)
Material Properties
We must assume an outlet temperature for the
purpose of determining fluid properties at the
average of the inlet and outlet temperatures. We
shall assume an oulet T of 27oC. The average T is
then (97 + 27)/2 = 62oC = 335K
Table A-6 for water,
Cp = 4186 J/KgK, mu = 453e-6 Ns/m2, k= 0.656
W/mK and Pr = 2.88

First lets calculate the Reynolds number to determine

if we have laminar or turbulent flow

Therefor the flow is turbulent

Now that we know the convection coefficient we can

use the energy balances from last day.
 We assumed this was 27oC Æ this is close enough
for a lecture, or for an exam.

b)
When there is insulation, we need to replace h with
an overall heat transfer coefficient, U which includes
conduction and convection

Because of the insulation however, there will be less

heat transfer to the water, and we can expect a
higher outlet temperature. This means that the
material properties will change.
Assume negligible heat transfer Æ Tm,o = 97oC.
Evaluate properties at 97oC = 370K
Table A-6 cp = 4214 J/kgK mu = 289e-6 NS/m2, k =
0.679 W/mK and Pr = 1.8
Therefor the flow is still turbulent. Note that the
Reynolds number has changed significantly due to
the property variation with T.

Now proceed exactly as before, using conservation of

energy

Our assumption of the outlet temperature for the

property calculation was well justified.

c)
In this case we are simply adding one resistor to our
network to account for convection from the outer
surface of the insulation. We can again assume
negligible heat transfer (there is more resistance now)
and thus evaluate the properties at 370K as in b). Re
is this exactly as it was in b) as well.

Our new overall heat transfer coefficient including the

third resistor is

And we can proceed exactly as before.