Department of Mechanical Engineering

Indian Institute of Technology Delhi

2. Sodium potassium alloy (25% + 75%) at 300°C flows over a 20 cm long plate element at 500°C with a free
stream velocity of 0.6 m/s. The width of plate element is 0.1 m. Determine the hydrodynamic and thermal
boundary layer thicknesses and also the displacement and momentum thicknesses. Determine also the local
and average value of coefficient of friction and convection coefficient. Also find the heat transfer rate.
3. The weight of a thin flat plate 50 cmx50 cm in size is balanced by a counterweight that has a mass of 2 kg,
as shown in the figure. Now a fan is turned on, and air at 1 atm and 25°C flows downward over both
surfaces of the plate with a freestream velocity of 10 m/s. Determine the mass of the counterweight that
needs to be added in order to balance the plate in this case.

4. To augment heat transfer between two flowing fluids, it is proposed to insert a 100-mm-long, 5-mm-diameter
2024 aluminum pin fin through the wall separating the two fluids. The pin is inserted to a depth of d into
fluid 1.Fluid 1 is air with a mean temperature of 10 oC and velocity of 10 m/s. Fluid 2 is air with a mean
temperature of 40oC and velocity of 3 m/s.
(a) Determine the rate of heat transfer from the warm air to the cool air through the pin fin for d =50 mm.
(b) Plot the variation of the heat transfer rate with the insertion distance, d. Does an optimal insertion
distance exist?
5. Water at 10°C enters at the rate of 0.01 kg/s into a tube of 20 mm inner diameter. It is to be heated to 40°C.
There is a uniform heat flux of 15 kW/m2 over the surface. Determine the (i) Reynolds number (ii) length
of pipe needed (iii) heat transfer coefficient (iv) Tube temperature at outlet (v) Friction factor and (vi)
Pressure drop over the length. (Assume fully developed flow.)
6. Air at 20°C flows through an 8 cm dia pipe with a velocity of 9 m/s, The pipe wall is at 80°C. The length of
the pipe is 1 m. Determine the exit temperature of air.
7. The components of an electronic system are located in a 1.5-m-long horizontal duct whose cross section is
20 cm x 20 cm. The components in the duct are not allowed to come into direct contact with cooling air,
and thus are cooled by air at 30°C flowing over the duct with a velocity of 200 m/min. If the surface
temperature of the duct is not to exceed 65°C, determine the total power rating of the electronic devices that
can be mounted into the duct.

8. A channel of triangular cross section, which is 25 m long and 1 m deep, is used for the storage of water. The
water and the surrounding air are each at a temperature of 25 C, and the relative humidity of the air is 50%.
(a) If the air moves at a velocity of 5 m/s along the length of the channel, what is the rate of water loss due
to evaporation from the surface? (b) Obtain an expression for the rate at which the water depth would decrease
with time due to evaporation. For the above conditions, how long would it take for all the water to evaporate?

9. A computer cooled by a fan contains eight PCBs, each dissipating 10 W of power. The height of the PCBs is
12 cm and the length is 18 cm. The clearance between the tips of the components on the PCB and the back
surface of the adjacent PCB is 0.3 cm. The cooling air is supplied by a 10-W fan mounted at the inlet. If the
temperature rise of air as it flows through the case of the computer is not to exceed 10°C, determine (a) the
flow rate of the air that the fan needs to deliver, (b) the fraction of the temperature rise of air that is due to
the heat generated by the fan and its motor, and (c) the highest allowable inlet air temperature if the surface
temperature of the components is not to exceed 70°C anywhere in the system. Use air properties at 25°C.
10. Dry air is inhaled at a rate of 10 liter/min through a trachea with a diameter of 20 mm and a length of 125
mm. The inner surface of the trachea is at a normal body temperature of 37 C and may be assumed to be
saturated with water. (a) Assuming steady, fully developed flow in the trachea, estimate the mass transfer
convection coefficient. (b) Estimate the daily water loss (liter/day) associated with evaporation in the trachea.

11. A concentric tube arrangement, for which the inner and outer diameters are 80 mm and 100 mm, respectively,
is used to remove heat from a biochemical reaction occurring in a 1-m-long settling tank. Heat is generated
uniformly within the tank at a rate of 105 W/m3, and water is supplied to the annular region at a rate of 0.2
kg/s. (a) Determine the inlet temperature of the supply water that will maintain an average tank surface
temperature of 37 C. Assume fully developed flow and thermal conditions. Is this assumption reasonable?
(b) It is desired to have a slight, axial temperature gradient on the tank surface, since the rate of the
biochemical reaction is highly temperature dependent. Sketch the axial variation of the water and surface
temperatures along the flow direction for the following two cases: (i) the fully developed conditions of part
(a), and (ii) conditions for which entrance effects are important. Comment on features of the temperature
distributions. What change to the system or operating conditions would you make to reduce the surface
temperature gradient?
 Department of Mechanical Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology Delhi
MCL 242: HEAT AND MASS TRANSFER
Assignment 8: Free Convection
1. In flow across tube banks,
a) Why is the Reynolds number based on the maximum velocity instead of the uniform
approach velocity?
b) How does the heat transfer coefficient vary with the row number in the flow direction?
c) How does it vary with in the transverse direction for a given row number?
2. Consider a wall-mounted power transistor that dissipates 0.18 W of power in an environment at
35°C. The transistor is 0.45 cm long and has a diameter of 0.4 cm. The emissivity of the outer
surface of the transistor is 0.1, and the average temperature of the surrounding surfaces is 25°C.
Disregarding any heat transfer from the base surface, determine the surface temperature of the
transistor. Use air properties at 100°C.

3. A glass-door fire screen, used to reduce loss of room air through a chimney, has a height of 0.71 m
and a width of 1.02 m and reaches a temperature of 232oC. If the room temperature is 23oC, estimate
the convection heat rate from the fireplace to the room.

4. Water is boiling in a 12-cm-deep pan with an outer diameter of 25 cm that is placed on top of a
stove. The ambient air and the surrounding surfaces are at a temperature of 25°C, and the emissivity
of the outer surface of the pan is 0.95. Assuming the entire pan to be at an average temperature of
98°C, determine the rate of heat loss from the cylindrical side surface of the pan to the surroundings
by (a) natural convection and (b) radiation. (c) If water is boiling at a rate of 2 kg/h at 100°C,
determine the ratio of the heat lost from the side surfaces of the pan to that by the evaporation of
water. The heat of vaporization of water at 100°C is 2257 kJ/kg.
5. During a winter day, the window of a patio door with a height of 1.8 m and width of 1.0 m shows
a frost line near its base. The room wall and air temperatures are 15oC.

(a) Explain why the window would show a frost layer at the base rather than at the top.

(b) Estimate the heat loss through the window due to free convection and radiation.

Assume the window has a uniform temperature of 0⁰C and the emissivity of the glass surface is
0.94. If the room has electric baseboard heating, estimate the corresponding daily cost of the
window heat loss for a utility rate of 0.18 $/kW.h.

6. Explain:
a. The upper and lower compartments of a well-insulated container are separated by two parallel
sheets of glass with an air space between them. One of the compartments is to be filled with a
hot fluid and the other with a cold fluid. If it is desired that heat transfer between the two
compartments be minimal, would you recommend putting the hot fluid into the upper or the
lower compartment of the container? Why?
b. Someone claims that the air space in a double-pane window enhances the heat transfer from a
house because of the natural convection currents that occur in the air space and recommends
that the double-pane window be replaced by a single sheet of glass whose thickness is equal to
the sum of the thicknesses of the two glasses of the double-pane window to save energy. Do
you agree with this claim?
c. What does the effective conductivity of an enclosure represent? How is the ratio of the effective
conductivity to thermal conductivity related to the Nusselt number?

7. A circular air-conditioning duct carries cool air at 5◦C and is constructed of 1 percent carbon steel
with a thickness of 0.2 mm and an outside diameter of 18 cm. The duct is in a horizontal position
and gains heat from room air at 20◦C. If the average air velocity in the duct is 7.5 m/s, estimate the
air temperature rise in a duct run of 30 m. Be sure to state your assumptions in arriving at an answer.
8. Circuit boards are mounted to interior vertical surfaces of a rectangular duct of height H= 400 mm
and length L= 800 mm. Although the boards are cooled by forced convection heat transfer to air
flowing through the duct, not all of the heat dissipated by the electronic components is transferred
to the flow. Some of the heat is instead transferred by conduction to the vertical walls of the duct
and then by natural convection and radiation to the ambient (atmospheric) air and surroundings,
which are at equivalent temperatures of Tꝏ=Tsur=20⁰C. The walls are metallic and, to a first
approximation, may be assumed to be isothermal at a temperature Ts.

(a) Consider conditions for which the electronic components dissipate 200 W and air enters the
duct at a flow rate of m=0.015 kg/s and a temperature of Tm,I =20⁰C. If the emissivity of the side
walls is εs= 0.15 and the outlet temperature of the air is Tm,o =30⁰C, what is the surface temperature
Ts?

(b) To reduce the temperature of the electronic components, it is desirable to enhance heat transfer
from the side walls. Assuming no change in the airflow conditions, what is the effect on Ts of
applying a high emissivity coating (εs= 0.90) to the side walls?

(c) If there is a loss of airflow while power continues to be dissipated, what are the resulting values
of Ts for εs= 0.15 and εs= 0.90?

9. A solar collector design consists of an inner tube enclosed concentrically in an outer tube that is
transparent to solar radiation. The tubes are thin walled with inner and outer diameters of 0.10 and
0.15 m, respectively. The annular space between the tubes is completely enclosed and filled with
air at atmospheric pressure. Under operating conditions for which the inner and outer tube surface
temperatures are 70 and 30⁰C, respectively, what is the convective heat loss per meter of tube length
across the air space?
10. An incandescent lightbulb is an inexpensive but highly inefficient device that converts electrical
energy into light. It converts about 10 percent of the electrical energy it consumes into light while
converting the remaining 90 percent into heat. The glass bulb of the lamp heats up very quickly as
a result of absorbing all that heat and dissipating it to the surroundings by convection and radiation.
Consider an 8-cm-diameter 60-W light bulb in a room at 25°C. The emissivity of the glass is 0.9.
Assuming that 10 percent of the energy passes through the glass bulb as light with negligible
absorption and the rest of the energy is absorbed and dissipated by the bulb itself by natural
convection and radiation, determine the equilibrium temperature of the glass bulb. Assume the
interior surfaces of the room to be at room temperature.