Code Number :..............

HEAT TRANSFER QUALIFYING EXAM

August 2014
One book allowed
Answer all questions
All questions have equal weight

TIME: 3.0 hrs

Prepared by : Profs. A. Bnard and N. Wright

Question #1)
Scientists have recently found that hairs on elephants actually help these large mammals loose heat instead of
providing insulation. You are asked to assess the rate of additional heat loss through the hairs by answering the
questions below. The density of elephant hairs on the skin is about 1500 hairs/m2 and their skin total surface
area is roughly 85 m2. The diameter of elephant hair is 0.5 mm and their conductivity is about 0.5 W/mK.
Assume that the hairs are very long, cylindrical and that a light breeze provides a heat transfer coefficient of 50
W/m2K for one hair. The elephant skin temperature is at 35 C and the environment is at 27 C.

a) What is the rate of heat transfer through one elephant hair?

b) How much heat is lost through the hairs for one elephant? What is the fin effectiveness of one elephant
hair? If the heat transfer coefficient on the elephant skin is 10 W/m2K (not the hairs), what is the
percentage increase in the rate of heat loss?

Question #2)
Wood composite posts or lumber are produced by mixing wood, PVC, and talc powder and extruding the
lumber through a die. The extrudate is cooled by convection by passing the cylindrical post through a water
bath attached to the die. Neglecting longitudinal conduction (in the long direction of the lumber), find the time
it will take for the lumber to have a core temperature that drops from 200 C to 60 C (temperature at which the
lumber has sufficient rigidity to be handled). Use the diagram below to obtain the relevant dimensions for the
cross section. The properties of the composite mixture are: k = 10 W/mK , = 800 kg/m3 , c p = 900 J/kgK .
The heat transfer coefficient needs to be estimated if the water is at 10oC. If the post is extruded at 1 m/s, how
long should the water bath be? Assume that water flows perpendicular to the composite post.

15 cm

Composite
post

Water

Question #3)
Water enters a pipe at 5 C. The volumetric flow rate of the water is 2 gpm (gallons per minute). The inside
diameter of the pipe is 2 cm and outside diameter is 2.5 cm, with = 2 W m-1 K-1. The outside surface of
the pipe is exposed to air at = 15 C with a convective heat transfer coefficient of 5 W m-2 K-1. The
distant surrounding walls are also at -15 C. Assume an emissivity for the pipe surface of = 0.2. The
density of water is 62.4 lb ft-3 and 1 g = 0.13368 ft3. Calculate the temperature of the water after it has
flowed 10 m in the pipe.

Question #4)
1. Consider two concentric spheres. The inner sphere has diameter = 10 cm and the outer one has
diameter = 20 cm.
a. Find all of the view factors for the outer surface of the inner sphere and the inner surface of the
outer sphere.
b. If the surfaces are at = 400 K and = 300 K and the surfaces have emissivities of = 0.3,
calculate the net radiation heat transfer.
c. If a radiation shield, with = 0.05 on each surface, is placed between the two spheres ( = 15
cm), calculate the net radiation heat transfer if the conditions are otherwise the same as in part
(b).
d. For the conditions given in part (c), calculate the temperature of the radiation shield.