Convection Experiment

Leader: Tom Salerno

Partners:
Greg Rothsching
Stephen Johnson
Jen DiRocco
What will you hear today?
Introduction
Theory
Equipment and Procedure
Results and Discussion
Conclusions
Questions
Introduction

What is convection?
Heat transfer from fluid flowing over solid surface

Why study convection?
Occurs in almost every process plant
Example: Heat Exchangers, Tray Dryers, etc.
Theory Newtons Law of Cooling
Flat Plate:

Finned Plate
(Resistances in
Parallel):

( )
K W/m of Units t Coefficien Transfer Heat

Equation Rate Newton
2
= =
A = =
h
T hA T T hA q
b s
( )( )
( )

tanh
Ak
P h
T
T
L
L
T T A h A h q
f
s
m
f
b s f f f o o
=
A
A
= =
+ =

q
q
dx
P

L
z
t
dqconvection = hf *P dx * (Tfin @ x - T8 )
Theory Forced Convection
Physical Situation:



Solving Boundary Layer Equations
Continuity Equation -
Momentum Balance -
Thermal Balance
Rigorous analytical solution
2
2
u u u
u
x y y
u v
( c c c
+ =
(
c c c

2
2
T T T
u
x y y
u o
( c c c
+ =
(
c c c

0
u
x y
u
( | | c c
+ =
( |
c c
\ .
T8
T
A A
dx
w
w
dT
dq kdx
dy
=
H
u8
Theory Forced Convection
Forced Convection analytically developed
Dimensionless Parameters
Reynolds:


Prandtl:


Nusselt:

Flat Plate:
1/ 3 1/ 2 10
.664Pr Re Re 5 10
x
hL
Nu for
k
= = <
Re
x
ux

=
Pr
P
C
k
v
o
= =
1/ 3
3/ 4
1/ 3 1/ 2 0
Nu .332Pr Re 1
x
x x
h x x
k x

(
| |
= =
(
|
\ .
(

Theory - Natural Convection
Physical Situation:




New Momentum Equation:

Must now solve all three boundary layer equations
simultaneously


T
s
T
8

8
U = func(y)
= fucn(y)
2
2
( )
u u u
u g T T
x y y
u | v

c c c
+ = +
c c c
Theory - Natural Convection
Experimental Correlation:
Churchill and Chu
Dimensionless Parameters
Grashoff:

Rayleigh:

Correlation:
2
3
2 2
0
( ) ( )
s o s
L
g T T L u L g T T L
Gr
u
| |
v v

| |
= =
|
\ .
3
( )
Pr
s
L L
g T T L
Ra Gr
|
vo

= =
1/ 4
4/ 9
9/16
.670
Nu .68
.492
1
Pr
L
L
Ra
= +
(
| |
+
(
|
\ .
(

9
10
L
Ra s
Equipment and Procedure
Chimney
Viewing Window
Anemometer
20 watts
Temperature Probe
Pump and Slide
Cover
Inlet Air Measurement
Boundary Layer Profile Measurement
Heated Surface
Power Supply
Figure 9: Front view of convection duct. Figure 10: Side view of convection duct.
Results and Discussions
Flat Plate: Laminar Flow
Heat transfer coefficients versus velocity for laminar flow over flat plate
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5
(Velocity (meters per second))^.5
h

(
W
a
t
t
s

p
e
r

m
e
t
e
r

s
q
u
a
r
e
d

d
e
g
r
e
e
s

C
e
l
s
i
u
s
)
Predicted
Experimental
Linear (Predicted)
Results and Discussions
Turbulent Mix






New Correlation -
T
8
A
8
u
8

u
8

Duct Wall
u
8

Turbulence begins because the
boundary layer formed over the
duct wall hits the edge of the
flat plate which is slightly
raised, thus disturbing the mole-
cules in the boundary layer to
form a turbulent mix
1/ 3 1/ 2
1.169Pr Re
x
hL
Nu
k
= =
Results and Discussions
Flat Plate: Turbulent Mix

Heat transfer coefficients versus velocity for laminar flow over flat plate
-10
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5
(Velocity (meters per second))^.5
h

(
W
a
t
t
s

p
e
r

m
e
t
e
r

s
q
u
a
r
e
d

d
e
g
r
e
e
s

C
e
l
s
i
u
s
)
Turbulent Mix Predicted
Experimental
Linear (Turbulent Mix Predicted)
Results and Discussions
Finned Plate: Laminar

Heat Transfer Coefficients for flow over Finned Plate
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5
(Velocity (meters per second))^.5
h

(
w
a
t
t
s

p
e
r

m
e
t
e
r

s
q
u
a
r
e
d

d
e
g
r
e
e

c
e
l
c
i
u
s
)
Predicted
Experimental
Linear (Predicted)
Results and Discussions
Turbulent Mix






New Correlation -
T
8
A
8
u
8

u
8

Turbulence begins because the
incoming air will hit the blunt
side of the fin, causing the
molecules to be disturbed in
many different directions. This
causes the boundary layer to
have a slight turbulent mix.
1/ 3 1/ 2
.90Pr Re
x
hL
Nu
k
= =
Results and Discussions
Finned Plate: Turbulent Mix

Results and Discussions
Effectiveness of Fin Addition

Overal Heat Transfet Comparison (a)
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
Velocity (meters per second)
D
e
l
t
a

T

(
d
e
g
r
e
e
s

C
e
l
s
i
u
s
)
Flat Plate
Finned Plate
34 deg
18 deg
29 deg
40 deg
Conclusions What we learned
The convective heat transfer coefficient increases
linearly with the square root of air velocity
Predictive Equations are useful for predicting trend in
data, but not the absolute numbers
Natural Convection is the limit to forced convection,
though it is difficult to predict
The addition of fins will increase the heat transfer
rate substantially at low air velocities, but not as
much at higher air velocities
Conclusions Significance?
Aid in design of heat exchangers
How to increase heat transfer coefficient
How to increase heat transfer rate
Realize presence of natural convection for cheap
ways to cool electronic equipment
Confidence of Predictive Equations
Use for other experiments, such as tray dryer
Only if can perfectly match geometry, or can run a
short scale experiment to obtain correction factor
Questions?