Assignment 1

Principles of Convection

PTT 205 Heat and Mass Transfer

Answer the following questions: (Please make use of tables in Appendix A)

1. Solutions for convective heat-transfer coefficient usually involve the use of

dimensionless numbers. Define the Reynolds, Prandlt and Nusselt numbers and state
their importance.

2. Air at standard conditions of 1 atm and 27◦C flows over a flat plate at 30 m/s. The
plate is 60 cm square and is maintained at 95◦C. Calculate the heat transfer from the
plate.

3. Water at 15◦C and 1 atm flows over a flat plate at a velocity of 3 m/s. Calculate the
thickness of the boundary layer at a distance of 2.5 cm from the leading edge of the
plate. Determine also the mass flow through the boundary layer between 2.5 cm and
5 cm. The viscosity of water at 15◦C is 1.13 x 10-3 kg/m.s. Assume unit depth in the z-
direction.

4. Air at 20 kPa and 20 ◦C flows across a flat plate 60 cm long. The free stream velocity
is 30 m/s and the plate is heated over its entire length to a temperature of 55◦C. For x
= 30 cm, calculate the value of y for which u will equal to 22.5 m/s where the velocity
equation is given by
3𝑦 1 𝑦 3
𝑢 = 𝑢∞ [ − ( ) ]
2𝛿 2 𝛿

Determine also the value of the friction coefficient at a distance of 15 cm from the
leading edge.

5. A large flat plate 4.0 m long and 1.0 m wide is exposed to an atmospheric air at 27 ◦C
with a velocity of 30 mi/h in a direction parallel to the 4.9 m dimension. If the plate is
maintained at 77◦C, calculate the total heat loss. Also calculate the heat flux in watts
per square meter at x locations of 3 cm, 50 cm, 1.0 m and 4.0 m.

6. In a certain application the critical Reynolds number for flow over a flat plate is 106.
Air at 1 atm, 300 K and 10 m/s flows across an isothermal plate with this critical
Reynolds number and with a plate temperature of 400 K. The Reynolds number at the
end of the plate is 5 x 106. What will the average heat transfer coefficient be for this
system? How long is the plate? What is the heat lost from the plate?

7. Helium at atmospheric pressure and 40◦C flows across a square plate at a free-stream
velocity of 15 m/s. Calculate the boundary layer thickness at a position where Re x =
250,000.
Appendix A