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gffgHEAT TRANSFER

HHHHModule 2 : Conduction:

The fundamentals of heat conduction were established over one and a

half century and its contribution goes to a French mathematician and

physicist, Jean Baptiste Joseph Fourier. You may be aware that any flow

whether it is electricity flow, fluid flow, or heat flow needs a driving force.

The flow is proportional to the driving force and for various kinds of flows

the driving force is shown in the table 2.1.

Table 2.1. Various flows and their driving forces

Thus the heat flow per unit area per unit time (heat flux, ) can be

represented by the following relation,

where, proportionality constant k is the thermal conductivity of the

material, T is the temperature and x is the distance in the direction of heat

flow. This is known as Fouriers law of conduction.

The term steady-state conduction is defined as the condition which

prevails in a heat conducting body when temperatures at fixed points do

not change with time. The term one-dimensional is applied to a heat

conduction problem when only one coordinate is required to describe the

distribution of temperature within the body. Such a situation hardly exists

in real engineering problems. However, by considering one-dimensional

assumption the real problem is solved fairly upto the accuracy of practical

engineering interest.

2.1 Steady-state conduction through constant area

A simple case of steady-state, one-dimensional heat conduction can be

considered through a flat wall as shown in the fig.2.1.

 Fig.2.1: Steady-state conduction through a slab (constant area)

The flat wall of thickness dx is separated by two regions, the one

region is at high temperature (T1 ) and the other one is at

temperature T2 . The wall is very large in comparison of the thickness

so that the heat losses from the edges are negligible. Consider there

is no generation or accumulation of the heat in the wall and the

external surfaces of the wall are at isothermal

temperatures T1 and T2 . The area of the surface through which the

heat transfer takes place is A. Then the eq.2.2 can be written as,

 The negative sign shows that the heat flux is from the higher

temperature surface to the lower temperature surface and is the

rate of heat transfer through the wall.

Now if we consider a plane wall made up of three different layers of

materials having different thermal conductivities and thicknesses of

the layers, the analysis of the conduction can be done as follows.

Consider the area (A) of the heat conduction (fig.2.2) is constant

and at steady state the rate of heat transfer from layer-1 will be

equal to the rate of heat transfer from layer-2. Similarly, the rate of

heat transfer through layer-2 will be equal to the rate of heat

transfer through layer-3. If we know the surface temperatures of

the wall are maintained at T1 and T2 as shown in the fig.2.2, the

temperature of the interface of layer1 and layer 2 is assumed to be

at T' and the interface of layer-2 and layer-3 as T".

 Fig.2.2: Heat conduction through three different layers

The rate of heat transfer through layer-1 to layer-2 will be,

and,

The rate of heat transfer through layer 2 to layer 3 will be,

and,

The rate of heat transfer through layer 3 to the other side of the

wall,

On adding the above three equations,

Where, R represents the thermal resistance of the layers. The above

relation can be written analogous to the electrical circuit as,



Fig 2.3: Equivalent electrical circuit of the fig.2.2

The wall is composed of 3-different layers in series and thus the

total thermal resistance was represented by R (= R 1 + R2 + R3 ). The

discussed concept can be understood by the illustrations shown

below.

The unit of the various parameters used above is summarized as

follows,

Module 2 : Conduction: One Dimensional

Illustration 2.1

The two sides of a wall (2 mm thick, with a cross-sectional area of 0.2 m2) are maintained

at 30oC and 90oC. The thermal conductivity of the wall material is 1.28 W/(m oC). Find out

the rate of heat transfer through the wall?

Solution 2.1

Assumptions

1. Steady-state one-dimensional conduction

2. Thermal conductivity is constant for the temperature range of interest

3. The heat loss through the edge side surface is insignificant

4. The layers are in perfect thermal contact

Given,

Fig. 2.4: Illustration 2.1

 Illustration 2.2

Solution 2.2

Assumptions:

1. Steady-state one-dimensional conduction.

2. Thermal conductivity is constant for the temperature range of interest.

3. The heat loss through the edge side surface is insignificant.

4. The layers are in perfect thermal contact.

1
 2

On putting all the known values,

Fig. 2.5: Illustration 2.2

Thus,

The previous discussion showed the resistances of different layers.

Now to understand the concept of equivalent resistance, we will

consider the geometry of a composite as shown in fig.2.6a.

The wall is composed of seven different layers indicated by 1 to 7.

The interface temperatures of the composite are T1 to T5 as shown in

the fig.2.6a. The equivalent electrical circuit of the above composite

is shown in the fig 2.6b below,



Fig.2.6. (a) Composite wall, and (b) equivalent electrical

circuit

The equivalent resistance of the wall will be,

where,

 Therefore, at steady state the rate of heat transfer through the

composite can be represented by,

where, R is the equivalent resistance.

Module 2 :

Illustration 2.3

Consider a composite wall containing 5-different materials as shown in the fig. 2.7. Calculate

the rate of heat flow through the composite from the following data?

Solution 2.3

Assumptions:

1. Steady-state one-dimensional conduction.

2. Thermal conductivity is constant for the temperature range of interest.

3. The heat loss through the edge side surface is insignificant.

4. The layers are in perfect thermal contact.

5. Area in the direction of heat flow is 1 m2.

The height of the first layer is 4 m (h1 = h2 + h3 ).

The equivalent circuit diagram of the above composite is,

On calculating equivalent resistance with the given data (Note: thickness

of layer 2 = thickness of layer 3 and thickness of layer 4 = thickness of

layer 5, in the heat flow direction),

Fig. 2.7: Composite of illustration 2.3; (a) composite, (b)

corresponding electrical circuit

Thus the heat flow rate through the composite,

2.2 Thermal contact resistance

In the previous discussion, it was assumed that the different layers of the

composite have perfect contact between any two layers. Therefore, the

temperatures of the layers were taken same at the plane of contact.

However, in reality it rarely happens, and the contacting surfaces are not

in perfect contact or touch as shown in the fig.2.8(a). It is because as we

know that due to the roughness of the surface, the solid surfaces are not

perfectly smooth. Thus when the solid surfaces are contacted the discrete

points of the surfaces are in contact and the voids are generally filled with

the air. Therefore, the heat transfer across the composite is due to the

parallel effect of conduction at solid contact points and by convection or

probably by radiation (for high temperature) through the entrapped air.

Thus an apparent temperature drop may be assumed to occur between

the two solid surfaces as shown in the fig.2.8b. If TI and TII are the

theoretical temperature of the plane interface, then the thermal contact

resistance may be defined as,

where Rcrepresents the thermal contact resistance.

The utility of the thermal contact resistance (Rc ) is dependent upon the

availability of the reliable data. The value of Rc depends upon the solids
involved, the roughness factor, contact pressure, material occupying the

void spaces, and temperature. The surface roughness of a properly

smooth metallic surface is in the order of micrometer. The values

of Rc generally obtained by the experiments. However, there are certain

theories which predict the effect of the various parameters on the Rc.

It can be seen in the fig.2.8, that the two main contributors to the heat

transfer are (i) the conduction through entrapped gases in the void spaces

and, (ii) the solid-solid conduction at the contact points. It may be noted

that due to main contribution to the resistance will be through first factor

because of low thermal conductivity of the gas.

Fig.2.8 (a) Contacting surfaces of two solids are not in perfect

contact, (b) temperature drop due to imperfect contact

 1

If we denote the void area in the joint by Av and contact area at the

joint by Ac, then we may write heat flow across the joint as,

where, thickness of the void space and thermal conductivity of the

fluid (or gas) is represented by lgand kf, respectively. It was assumed

that lg/2 is the thickness of solid-I and solid-II for evenly rough

surfaces.

2.3 Steady-state heat conduction through a variable area

It was observed in the previous discussion that for the given plane wall

the area for heat transfer was constant along the heat flow direction. The

plane solid wall was one of the geometries but if we take some other

geometry (tapered plane, cylindrical body, spherical body etc.) in which

the area changes in the direction of heat flow. Now we will consider

geometrical configuration which will be mathematically simple and also of

great engineering importance like hollow cylinder and hollow sphere. In

these cases the heat transfer area varies in the radial direction of heat

conduction. We will take up both the cases one by one in the following

sections.

2.3.1 Cylinder

Consider a hollow cylinder as shown in the fig.2.9a. The inner and outer

radius is represented by riand ro , whereas Ti and To (Ti > To ) represent the

uniform temperature of the inner and outer wall, respectively.

Fig. 2.9. (a) Hollow cylinder, (b) equivalent electrical circuit

Consider a very thin hollow cylinder of thicknessdr in the main geometry

(fig.2.9a) at a radial distance r. If dr is small enough with respect to r, then

the area of the inner and outer surface of the thin cylinder may be

considered to be of same area. In other words, for very small dr with

respect to r, the lines of heat flow may be considered parallel through the

differential element in radial outward direction.

We may ignore the heat flow through the ends if the cylinder is sufficiently

large. We may thus eliminate any dependence of the temperature on the

axial coordinate and for one dimensional steady state heat conduction,

the rate of heat transfer for the thin cylinder,

Where dT is the temperature difference between the inner and outer

surface of the thin cylinder considered above and k is the thermal

conductivity of the cylinder.

On rearranging,

To get the heat flow through the thick wall cylinder, the above equation

can be integrated between the limits,

On solving,

Where , and the careful analysis of the above equation

shows that the expression is same as for heat flow through the plane wall

of thickness (rori ) except the expression for the area. The ALM is known as

log mean area of the cylinder, whose length is L and radius

is rLM (= ). The fig.2.9b shows the equivalent electrical circuit of

the fig.2.9b.

Now we have learnt that how to represent the analogous electrical circuit

for the cylindrical case. It will provide the building block for the composite

cylinders similar to the plane composite we have learnt earlier. The

following fig.2.10a shows a composite cylinder with 4-layers of solid

material of different inner and outer diameter as well as thermal

conductivity. The equivalent electrical circuit is shown below in fig.2.10b.

 (a)

(b)

Fig.2.10.(a) Four layer composite hollow cylinder, (a) equivalent

electrical circuit

The total heat transfer at steady-state will be,

where R1 , R2 , R3 , and R4 are represented in the fig.2.10b.

 2.3.2 Sphere

The rate of heat transfer through a hollow sphere can be determined

in a similar manner as for cylinder. The students are advised to

derive the following expression shown below.

The final expression for the rate of heat flow is,

The total heat transfer at steady-state will be,

where R1 , R2 , R3 , and R4 are represented in the fig.2.10b.

2.3.2 Sphere

The rate of heat transfer through a hollow sphere can be determined

in a similar manner as for cylinder. The students are advised to

derive the following expression shown below.

The final expression for the rate of heat flow is,

Module 2 : Conduction: One Dimensional

2.4 Heat conduction in bodies with heat sources

The cases considered so far have been those in which the heat conducting

solid is free of internal heat generation. However, the situations where the

internal heat is generated are very common cases in chemical industries

for example, the exothermic reaction in the solid pallet of a catalyst.

We have learnt that how the Fourier equation is used for the steady-state

heat conduction through the composites of three different geometries that

were not having any heat source in it. However, the heat generation term

would come into the picture for these geometries. It would not be always

easier to remember and develop heat conduction relations for different

standard and non-standard geometries. Therefore, at this point we should

learn how to develop a general relation for the heat conduction that

should be applicable to the entire situation such as steady-state, unsteady

state, heat source, different geometry, heat conduction in different

direction, etc. Again here we will consider that the solid is isotropic in

nature, which means the thermal conductivity of the material is same in

all the direction of heat flow.

To get such a general equation the differential form of the heat conduction

equation is most important. For simplicity, we would consider an

infinitesimal volume element in a Cartesian coordinate system. The

dimensions of the infinitesimal volume element are dx , dy , and dz in the

respective direction as shown in the fig.2.11.

 Fig.2.11. Volume element for deriving general equation of heat

conduction in cartesian coordinate

The fig.2.11 shows that the heat is entering into the volume element from

three different faces of the volume element and leaving from the opposite

face of the control element. The heat source within the volume element

generates the volumetric energy at the rate of

According to Fouriers law of heat conduction, the heat flowing into the

volume element from the left (in the x-direction) can be written as,

The heat flow out from the right surface (in the x-direction) of the volume

element can be obtained by Taylor series expansion of the above

equation. As the volume element is of infinitesimal volume, we may retain

only first two element of the Taylor series expansion with a reasonable

approximation (truncating the higher order terms). Thus,

The left side of the above equation represent the net heat flow in the x-

direction. If we put the value of in the right side of the above equation,

In a similar way we can get the net heat flow in the y and z-directions,
As we know some heat is entering, some heat is leaving and some heat in

generating in the volume element and as we have not considered any

steady state assumption till now, thus because of all these phenomena

some of the heat will be absorbed by the element. Thus the rate of

change of heat energy within the volume element can be written as,

where, cp is the specific heat capacity at constant pressure (J/(kgK)), is

the density (kg/m3) of the material, and t is the time (s).

We know all the energy term related to the above problem, and with the

help of energy conservation,

On putting all the values in the above equation,

Or
As we have considered that the thermal conductivity of the solid is

isotropic in nature, the above relation reduces to,

or,
where is the thermal diffusivity of the material and its unit m 2/s

signifies the rate at which heat diffuses in to the medium during change in

temperature with time. Thus, the higher value of the thermal diffusivity

gives the idea of how fast the heat is conducting into the medium,

whereas the low value of the thermal diffusivity shown that the heat is

mostly absorbed by the material and comparatively less amount is

transferred for the conduction. The called the Laplacian operator, and

in Cartesian coordinate it is defined as

Equation 2.19 is known as general heat conduction relation. When there is

no heat generation term the eq.2.19 will become,

and the equation is known as Fourier Field Equation.

As we have considered that the thermal conductivity of the solid is

isotropic in nature, the above relation reduces to,

or,
where is the thermal diffusivity of the material and its unit m 2/s

signifies the rate at which heat diffuses in to the medium during change in

temperature with time. Thus, the higher value of the thermal diffusivity

gives the idea of how fast the heat is conducting into the medium,

whereas the low value of the thermal diffusivity shown that the heat is

mostly absorbed by the material and comparatively less amount is

transferred for the conduction. The called the Laplacian operator, and

in Cartesian coordinate it is defined as

Equation 2.19 is known as general heat conduction relation. When there is

no heat generation term the eq.2.19 will become,

and the equation is known as Fourier Field Equation.

General heat conduction relation in cylindrical coordinate system (fig.

2.12) is derived (briefly) below.

Fig.2.12. Cylindrical coordinate system (a) and an element of the

cylinder

The energy conservation for the system is written as,

+ = + V (2.21)

where,

I : Rate of heat energy conducted in

II : Rate of heat energy generated within the volume element

III : Rate of heat energy conducted out

IV : Rate of energy accumulated (V)

and the above terms are defines as,

Thus,

Module 2 : Conduction: One Dimensional

 Problems

Frequently Asked Questions and Problems for Practice (Module 2)

Q.1 Write the driving force for electricity, fluid, and heat flow and discuss

the similarity among them.

Q.2
What is the ratio of heat flux through area A1 and area A2 of an

irregular pipeline shown in the figure below? The area A1 and A2 are

same and the curved surface is well insulated for any kind of heat

loss at steady state.

Q.3 What is the unit of thermal conductivity?

Q.4 What is the significance of log mean area?
Q.5 A hollow cylinder has two different layers of insulation of same

thickness but different thermal conductivity. The outer diameter of

the insulated cylinder is double that of the inner diameter of the

cylinder. What will be the change in heat flow if the insulation layers

are interchanged considering the same temperature driving force?

The thermal conductivity of the inner layer is considered to be the

four times that of the other layer for previous case.

Q.6 A thick wall of 30 cm thick and 20 W/(moC) of thermal conductivity

has one surface (maintained at 250oC) and the opposite surface is

completely insulated. The heat is generated in the wall at a uniform

 volumetric rate of 180 kW/m3. Determine the following,

a. the temperature distribution in the wall at steady state,

b. the maximum wall temperature and its location, and

c. the average wall temperature.

Q.7
A hollow aluminium sphere having inner diameter of 5 cm and outer

diameter of 10 cm is maintained at 100 oC and 50 oC at inside and

outside of the sphere. Calculate the heat flux at the outer surface.

Q.8 A hot steam pipe (k = 50 W/m oC) having an inner diameter of 8 cm is

at 250 oC. The thickness of the wall is 5.5 mm. The pipe is covered

with a 90 mm layer of insulation (k = 0.2 W/m oC) followed by a 40

mm layer of insulation (k = 0.3 W/m oC) . The outside temperature of

the insulation is 20 oC. Calculate the heat loss per unit of the pipe

length.
Q.9 Consider a plane wall having uniformly distributed heat sources and

one face maintained at a temperature T1 while the other face is

maintained at a temperature T2. The thickness of the wall may be

taken as 2t. Derive an expression for the temperature distribution in

the plane wall.

Q.1 Derive an expression for the temperature distribution in a sphere of

0 radius R with uniform heat generation and constant surface

temperature.
CONVECTIVE HEAT TRANSFER :ONE DIMENSSIONAL

The rate of heat transfer in a solid body or medium can be calculated by

Fouriers law. Moreover, the Fourier law is applicable to the stagnant fluid

also. However, there are hardly a few physical situations in which the heat

transfer in the fluid occurs and the fluid remains stagnant. The heat

transfer in a fluid causes convection (transport of fluid elements) and thus

the heat transfer in a fluid mainly occurs by convection.

3.1 Principle of heat flow in fluids and concept of heat transfer

coefficient

It is learnt by day-to-day experience that a hot plate of metal will cool

faster when it is placed in front of a fan than exposed to air, which is

stagnant. In the process, the heat is convected away, and we call the

process convective heat transfer. The term convective refers to transport

of heat (or mass) in a fluid medium due to the motion of the fluid.

Convective heat transfer, thus, associated with the motion of the fluid.

The term convection provides an intuitive concept of the heat transfer

process. However, this intuitive concept must be elaborated to enable one

to arrive at anything like an adequate analytical treatment of the problem.

It is well known that the velocity at which the air blows over the hot plate

influences the heat transfer rate. A lot of questions come into the way to

understand the process thoroughly. Like, does the air velocity influence

the cooling in a linear way, i.e., if the velocity is doubled, will the heat

transfer rate double. We should also suspect that the heat-transfer rate
might be different if we cool the plate with some other fluid (say water)

instead of air, but again how much difference would there be? These

questiones may be answered with the help of some basic analysis in the

later part of this module.

The physical mechanism of convective heat transfer for the problem is

shown in fig.3.1.

Fig. 3.1: Convective heat transfer from a heated wall to a fluid

Consider a heated wall shown in fig.3.1. The temperature of the wall and

bulk fluid is denoted by respectively. The velocity of the fluid

layer at the wall will be zero. Thus the heat will be transferred through the

stagnant film of the fluid by conduction only. Thus we can compute the

heat transfer using Fouriers law if the thermal conductivity of the fluid

and the fluid temperature gradient at the wall is known. Why, then, if the

heat flows by conduction in this layer, do we speak of convective heat

 transfer and need to consider the velocity of the fluid? The answer is that

the temperature gradient is dependent on the rate at which the fluid

carries the heat away; a high velocity produces a large temperature

gradient, and so on. However, it must be remembered that the physical

mechanism of heat transfer at the wall is a conduction process.

It is apparent from the above discussion that the prediction of the

rates at which heat is convected away from the solid surface by an

ambient fluid involves thorough understanding of the principles of

heat conduction, fluid dynamics, and boundary layer theory. All the

complexities involved in such an analytical approach may be

lumped together in terms of a single parameter by introduction of

Newtons law of cooling,

where, h is known as the heat transfer coefficient or film coefficient.

It is a complex function of the fluid composition and properties, the

geometry of the solid surface, and the hydrodynamics of the fluid

motion.

If k is the thermal conductivity of the fluid, the rate of heat transfer

can be written directly by following the Fouriers law. Therefore, we

have,


where, is the temperature gradient in the thin film where

the temperature gradient is linear.

On comparing eq.3.1 and 3.2, we have,

It is clear from the above expression that the heat transfer

coefficient can be calculated if k and are known. Though

the k values are easily available but the is not easy to determine.

Therefore, the above equation looks simple but not really easy for

the calculation of real problems due to non-linearity of k and

difficulty in determining . The heat transfer coefficient is important

to visualize the convection heat transfer phenomenon as discussed

before. In fact, is the thickness of a heat transfer resistance as

that really exists in the fluid under the given hydrodynamic

conditions. Thus, we have to assume a film of thickness on the

surface and the heat transfer coefficient is determined by the

properties of the fluid film such as density, viscosity, specific heat,

thermal conductivity etc. The effects of all these parameters are

lumped or clubbed together to define the film thickness. Henceforth,

the heat transfer coefficient (h) can be found out with a large
 number of correlations developed over the time by the researchers.

These correlations will be discussed in due course of time as we will

proceed through the modules. Table 3.1 shows the typical values of

the convective heat transfer coefficient under different situations.

Table-3.1: Typical values of h under different situations

3.2 Individual and overall heat transfer coefficient

If two fluids are separated by a thermally conductive wall, the heat

transfer from one fluid to another fluid is of great importance in chemical

engineering process plant. For such a case the rate of heat transfer is

done by considering an overall heat transfer coefficient. However, the

overall heat transfer coefficient depends upon so many variables that it is

necessary to divide it into individual heat transfer coefficients. The reason

for this becomes apparent if the above situation can be elaborated as

discussed in the following sub-sections.

3.2.1 Heat transfer between fluids separated by a flat solid wall

As shown in fig.3.2, a hot fluid is separated by solid wall from a cold fluid.

The thickness of the solid wall is l, the temperature of the bulk of the

fluids on hot and cold sides are Th and Tc, respectively. The average

temperature of the bulk fluid is T1 and T4, for hot and cold fluid,

respectively. The thicknesses of the fictitious thin films on the hot and cold

sides of the flat solid are shown by 1 and 2. It may be assumed that the

Reynolds numbers of both the fluids are sufficiently large to ensure

turbulent flow and the surfaces of the solid wall are clean.
 Fig.3.2. Real temperature profile

It can be seen that the temperature gradient is large near the wall

(through the viscous sublayer), small in the turbulent core, and changes

rapidly in the buffer zone (area near the interface of sublayer and bulk

fluid). The reason was discussed earlier that the heat must flow through

the viscous sublayer by conduction, thus a steep temperature gradient

exists because of the low temperature gradient of most of the fluids.

Rate of heat transfer from the wall to cold fluid,

At steady state, the rate of heat transfers are same and can

be represented by . Therefore,

On adding equations (3.7 to 3.9)

where,

Thus,
The quantity is called the overall heat transfer coefficient (can be

calculated if the are known). Thus from the system described

is established that the overall heat transfer coefficient is the function of

individual heat transfer coefficient of the fluids on the two sides of the

wall, as well as the thermal conductivity of the flat wall. The overall heat

transfer coefficient can be used to introduce the controlling term concept.

The controlling resistance is a term which possesses much larger thermal

resistance compared to the sum of the other resistances. At this point it

may be noted that in general the resistance offered by the solid wall is

much lower. Similarly, if a liquid and a gas are separated by a solid wall

the resistance offered by the gas film may generally be high.

Illustration 3.1.

The steady state temperature distribution in a wall is , where x

(in meter) is the position in the wall and T is the temperature

(in oC). The thickness of the wall is 0.2 m and the thermal

conductivity of the wall is 1.2 (W/moC). The wall dissipates the

heat to the ambient at 30 oC. Calculate the heat transfer

coefficient at the surface of the wall at 0.2 m.

Solution 3.1

The rate of heat transfer through the wall by conduction will be equal to the rate of heat

transfer from the surface to the ambient by convention at steady state,

Rate of heat transfer by conduction at x=0.2 is given by,

where Ta is the ambient temperature.

On putting the values and solving,

3.2.2 Heat transfer between fluids separated by a cylindrical wall

In the above section we have seen that how the rate of heat transfer is

calculated when the two fluids are separated by a flat wall. Another

commonly encountered shape in the chemical engineering plant is the

heat transfer between fluids separated by a cylindrical wall. Therefore, we

will see them to understand the overall heat transfer coefficient in such a

system. Consider a double pipe heat exchanger which consists of two

concentric pipes arrange as per the fig. 3.4.

Fig. 3.5: Schematic of a co-current double pipe heat exchanger

The purpose of a heat exchanger is to increase the temperature of a cold

fluid and decrease that of the hot fluid which is in thermal contact, in

order to achieve heat transfer.

The fig. 3.5 shows that the hot fluid passes through the inner tube and the

cold fluid passes through the outer tube of the double pipe heat

exchanger. The inner and the outer radii of the inner pipe are ,

respectively, whereas the inner radius of the outer tube is . The heat

transfer coefficient of the fluid in the inner pipe is and the heat transfer

coefficient of the fluid over the inner pipe is are the inner
and outer wall temperatures of the inner pipe. The bulk fluid temperatures

of the hot and cold fluids are , respectively, at steady state

condition and assumed to be fairly constant over the length of the pipe

(say L). The construction in fig. 3.6 provides a better understanding.

Fig. 3.6: Cross-section of the double pipe heat exchanger shown

in fig. 3.5

The rate of heat transfer from the hot fluid to the inner surface which is at

temperature

(3.12

The rate of heat transfer through the pipe wall is,

(3.13
 )

(Refer to the section, heat conduction through varying area.)

The rate of heat transfer from the outer surface of the inner pipe to the

cold fluid is,

The rate of heat transfers will be same, thus

Thus on rearranging above equations,

where,

If we compare the overall heat transfer coefficient shown above with the

overall heat transfer coefficient discussed in eq.3.11 (for flat plate). It can

be seen that due to the different inside and outside radii of the pipe, the

overall heat transfer coefficient will be different. Therefore, the overall

heat transfer coefficient can be defined either by Ui (overall heat transfer

coefficient based on inside surface area) or Uo (overall heat transfer

coefficient based on outside surface area). But it should be noted that the

rate of heat transfer and the driving force remain the same. Therefore, we

have

(3.19

where,

or,
Similarly,

In terms of thermal resistance, we can use eq. 3.19

Illustration 3.2.

Warm methanol flowing in the inner pipe of a double pipe heat

exchanger is being cooled by the flowing water in the outer tube

of the heat exchanger. The thermal conductivity of the exchanger,

inner and outer diameter of the inner pipe are 45 W/(m oC), 26
mm, and 33 mm, respectively. The individual heat transfer

coefficients are:

Coefficient (W/(m2oC))
Methanol, hi 1000
Water, ho 1750

Calculate the overall heat transfer coefficient based on the

outside area of the inner tube.

Solution 3.2

Using following equation,

It is apparent that all the values are known. Thus, on putting the values

theUo is 519 W/(m2oC).

3.3 Enhanced heat transfer: concept of fins

In the previous discussion, we have seen that the heat transfer from one

fluid to another fluid needs a solid boundary. The rate of heat transfer

depends on many factors including the individual heat transfer

coefficients of the fluids. The higher the heat transfer coefficients the

higher will be the rate of heat transfer. There are many situations where

the fluid does not have a high heat transfer coefficient. For example, the

heat lost by conduction through a furnace wall must be dissipated to the

surrounding by convection through air. The air (or the gas phase in

general) has very low heat transfer coefficient, since the thermal

conductivities of gases are very low, as compared to the liquid phase.

Thus if we make heat transfer device for gas and a liquid (of course

separated by a heat conducting wall), the gas side film will offer most of

the thermal resistance as compared to the liquid side film. Therefore, to

make the heat transfer most effective we need to expose higher area of

the conductive wall to the gas side. This can be done by making or

attaching fins to the wall of the surface. A fin (in general) is a rectangular

metal strip or annular rings to the surface of heat transfer. Thus, a fin is a

surface that extends from an object to increase the rate of heat transfer to

or from the environment by increasing convections. Fins are sometimes

known as extended surface. Figure 3.7 shows photographs of an electric

motor with the fins on the motor body and a computer processor with the

fins to dissipate the generated heat into the environment. Figure 3.8

shows the different types of finned surfaces.

Fig. 3.7. Cooling fins of (a) electric motor, (b) computer processor
 Figure 3.9 shows a simple straight rectangular fin on plane wall. The

fin is protruded a distance lfrom the wall. The temperature of the

plane wall (in fact the base of the fin) is Tw and that of the ambient

is T. The distances of the fin are: length l; thickness t; and the

breadth b. The heat is conducted through the body by conduction

and dissipates to the surrounding by convection. The heat

dissipation to the surrounding occurs from both top, bottom, and

side surfaces of the fin. Here, it is assumed that the thickness of the

fin is small and thus the temperature does not vary in the Y-

direction. However, the fin temperature varies in the X-direction

only.


Fig. 3.9. 1-D heat conduction and convection through a rectangular

fin

Consider a thin element of thickness dx of the fin at a

distance x from the fin base. The energy balance on the fin element

at steady state is discussed below.

where, P is the perimeter [2(b+t)] of the element, T is the local

temperature of the fin, h is the film heat transfer coefficient,

and bt is the fin area (A) perpendicular to the direction of heat

transfer.


Thus, at steady state,

Rate of heat input Rate of heat output Rate of heat loss = 0

Module 3 : Convective Heat transfer: One dimensional

However, the other boundary conditions depend on the physical situation

of the problem. A few of the typical cases are,

Case I: The fin is very long and thus the temperature at the end of the fin

is same as that of the ambient fluid.

Case II: The fin is of finite length and looses heat from its end by

convection.

Case III: The end of the fin is insulated so that at

3.3.1 Analytical solution of the above cases

Case I:

The boundary conditions will be

Using boundary conditions, the solution of the equation 3.23 becomes,

All of the heat lost by the fin must have conducted from the base at x=0.

Thus, we can compute the heat loss by the fin using the equation for

temperature distribution,

Similarly, for Case II, the boundary conditions are:

The second boundary condition is a convective boundary condition which

implies that the rate at which heat is conducted from inside the solid to

the boundary is equal to the rate at which it is transported to the ambient

fluid by convection.

The temperature profile is,

or we can write,
Therefore, the boundary conditions led to the following solution to the

eq.3.23.

Thus, the heat loss by the fin, using the equation for temperature

distribution can be easily found out by the following equation,

 1

In a similar fashion we can solve the case III also.

The boundary conditions are,

Thus, on solving eq.3.23,

Thus the heat loss by the fins, using the equation for temperature

distribution,

 It is to be noted that the general expression for the temperature

gradient (eq.3.23) was developed by assuming the temperature

gradient in the x-direction. It is really applicable with very less error,

if the fin is sufficiently thin. However, for the practical fins the error

introduced by this assumption is less than 1% only. Moreover, the

practical fin calculation accuracy is limited by the uncertainties in

the value of h. It is because the h value of the surrounding fluid is

hardly uniform over the entire surface of the fin.

3.3.2 Fin efficiency

It was seen that the temperature of the fin decreases with distance

x from the base of the body. Therefore, the driving force

(temperature difference) also decreases with the length and hence

the heat flux from the fin also decreases. It may also be visualized

that if the thermal conductivity of the fin material is extremely high.

Its thermal resistance will be negligibly small and the temperature

will remain almost constant (T w) throughout fin. In this condition the

maximum heat transfer can be achieved and of-course it is an ideal

condition. It is therefore, interesting and useful to calculate the

efficiency of the fins.

The fin efficiency may be define as,

 Thus depending upon the condition, the actual heat transfer can be

calculated as shown previously. As an example, for case III (end of

the fin is insulated), the rate of heat transfer was

The maximum heat would be transferred from the fin in an ideal

condition in which the entire fin area was at Tw. In this ideal

condition the heat transferred to the surrounding will be,

Therefore, under such conditions, the efficiency of the fin will be;

If the fin is quite deep as compared to the thickness, the term

2b will be very large as compared to 2t, and



The equation shows that the efficiency (from eq.3.30) of a fin which

is insulated at the end can be easily calculated, which is the case-III

discussed earlier. The efficiency for the other cases may also be

evaluated in a similar fashion.

The above derivation is approximately same as of practical

purposes, where the amount of heat loss from the exposed end is

negligible.

It can be noted that the fin efficiency is maximum for the zero

length of the fin (l = 0) or if there is no fin. Therefore, we should not

expect to be able to maximize fin efficiency with respect to the fin

length. However, the efficiency maximization should be done with

respect to the quantity of the fin material keeping economic

consideration in mind.

Sometimes the performance of the fin is compared on the basis of

the rate of heat transfer with the fin and without the fin as shown,

Illustration 3.3.

A steel pipe having inner diameter as 78 mm and outer diameter

as 89 mm has 10 external longitudinal rectangular fins of 1.5 mm

thickness. Each of the fins extends 30 mm from the pipe. The

thermal conductivity of the fin material is 50 W/m oC. The

temperature of the pipe wall and the ambient are 160 oC, and

30 oC, respectively, whereas the surface heat transfer coefficient

is 75 W/m2 oC. What is the percentage increase in the rate of heat

transfer after the fin arrangement on the plane tube?

Solution 3.3

As the fins are rectangular, the perimeter of the fin, P = 2(b + t). The

thickness (t) of the fin is quite small as compared to the width (b) of the

fin. Thus, P = 2b as well as we may assume that there is no heat transfer

from the tip of the fin. Under such condition we can treat it as case-III,

where there was no heat transfer to the atmosphere due to insulated fin

tip.

Using eq. 3.30,

As the pipe length is not given, we will work-out considering the length of

the pipe as 1 m and henceforth the breadth of the fins should also be
considered as 1 m. We have to consider the area of the fins in order to

consider the heat dissipation from the fins. However, we may neglect the

fin area at the y-z plane and x-y plane (refer fig. 3.8) as compared to the

area of x-z plane.

The area of all the fins = (number of fins) (2 faces) (1) (0.03) = 0.6 m2

The maximum rate of heat transfer from the fins

Actual rate of heat transfer =

The total rate of heat transfer from the finned tube will be the sum of actual rate of heat

transfer from the fins and the rate of heat transfer from the bare pipe, the pipe portion which

is not covered by the fins. Therefore, the remaining area will be calculated as follows,

The remaining area = Total pipe area - base area covered by the 10 fins

Pipe are =

Attached area of 10 fins = (10) (1) (0.0015) = 0.015 m2

The remaining area comes out to be (0.28 0.015) = 0.265 m 2

The corresponding heat transfer = (75) (0.265) (160-30) = 2583.75 W

The total heat transfer from the finned tube = 3802.5 + 2583.75 =

6386.25 W

Rate of heat transfer from the tube if it does not have any fins = (75)
(0.28) (160-30) = 2730 W

The percentage increase in the heat transfer =

3.4 Thermal insulation

We have seen how heat transfer is important in various situations.

Previous discussion indicates that we are all the time interested in the flow

of the heat from one point to another point. However, there are many

systems; in fact it is a part of the system, in which we are interested to

minimize the losses through heat transfer. For example, in a furnace we

want to have high heat transfer inside the furnace; however we do not

want any heat loss through the furnace wall. Thus to prevent the heat

transfer from the furnace to the atmosphere a bad heat conductor or a

very good heat insulator is required. In case of furnace the wall is

prepared by multiple layers of refractory materials to minimize the heat

losses. Therefore, wall insulation is required in various process equipment,

reactors, pipelines etc. to minimize the heat loss from the system to the

environment or heat gain from the environment to the system (like

cryogenic systems). However, there are situations in which we want to

maximize the losses for example, insulation to electric wires.

The petroleum conservation research association (PCRA) provides a good

database on the properties and applications of industrial thermal

insulations (http://www.pcra.org/English/education/literature.htm). The

table 3.2 shows some common insulations used in chemical process

industries for various process equipment and pipelines.

Table-3.2: Thermal properties of a few of the insulations being

used in the chemical process industries

Material Temperature Approximate thermal Density

(C) conductivity(W/ (kg/m3)

(mC))

Asbestos -200 to 0 0.074 469

Glass wool
7 to 38 0.031 64

38 to 93 0.041 64
Fibre insulating 21 0.049 237

board
Hard rubber 0 0.151 2000
Polyurethane 170 to 110 0.018 32

foam

An interesting application of the heat loss from a surface of some practical

significance is found in the case of insulation of cylindrical surfaces like

small pipes or electrical wires. In many a cases we desire to examine the

variation in heat loss from the pipe with the change in insulation

thickness, assuming that the length of the pipe is fixed. As insulation is

added to the pipe, the outer exposed surface temperature will decrease,

but at the same time the surface area available to the convective heat

dissipation will increase. Therefore, it would be interesting to study these

opposing effects.
 Fig. 3.10: Heat dissipation from an insulated pipe

Let us consider a thick insulation layer which is installed around a

cylindrical pipe as shown in fig. 3.10 (equivalent electrical circuit is

shownin figure 3.11). Let the pipe radius be R and the insulation radius

is r. This (r-R) will represent the thickness of the insulation. If the fluid

carried by the pipe is at a temperature T and the ambient temperature

is Ta. The insulation of the pipe will alter pipe surface temperature T in the

radial direction. That is the temperature of the inner surface of the pipe

and the outer surface (below insulation) of the pipe will be different.

However, if the thermal resistance offered by the pipe is negligible, it can

be considered that the temperature (T) is same across the pipe wall

thickness and it is a common insulation case (please refer previous

discussion). It can also be assumed that the heat transfer coefficient

inside the pipe is very high as compared to the heat transfer coefficient at
the outside of the insulated pipe. Therefore, only two major resistances in

series will be available (insulation layer and gas film of the ambient).

Fig.3.11: Resistance offered by the insulation and ambient gas

film

Therefore,

where, k is the thermal conductivity of the material.

On differentiating above equation with respect to r will show that the heat

dissipation reaches a maximum,

So it is maxima, where the insulation radius is equal to

where, rc denotes the critical radius of the insulation. The heat dissipation

is maximum at rc which is the result of the previously mentioned opposing

effects.
 Fig. 3.12: The critical insulation thickness of the pipe insulator

Therefore, the heat dissipation from a pipe increases by the addition of

the insulation. However, above rc the heat dissipation reduces. The same

is shown in fig. 3.12.

The careful analysis of the rc reveals that it is a fixed quantity determined

by the thermal properties of the insulator. If R <rc , then the initial addition

of insulation will increase the heat loss until r =rcand after which it begins

to decrease. The same heat dissipation which was at bare pipe radius is

again attained at r*. The critical insulation thickness may not always exist

for an insulated pipe, if the values of k and h are such that the

ratio k/h turns out to be less than R.

It is clear from the above discussion that the insulation above rc reduces

the heat dissipation from the cylindrical surface. However, if we keep on

increasing the insulation the cost of insulation also increases. Thus again

there are two opposing factors that must be considered to obtain the

optimum thickness. It should be calculated that what is the pay-back

period, that is in how many years the cost of insulation is recovered by the

cost of energy saving.

Fig. 3.13: Optimum insulation thickness

The optimum insulation thickness (fig. 3.13) can be determined at which

the sum of the insulation cost and the cost of the heat loss is minimum.

Frequently Asked Questions and Problems for Practice (Module 3)

Q. What is convection and how is it different than conduction?

1
Q.
What is heat transfer coefficient? Explain its physical significance.
2
Q. What is film thickness? What is its relevance in the heat transfer

3 operations?
Q. Out of Ui and Uo, which one is larger in magnitude and why?

4
Q. What is the concept of controlling resistance?

5
Q. What is critical insulation thickness? Comment on the critical

6 insulation thickness of a plane wall.

Q.
The temperature profile of a solid sphere is at steady state condition,
7
the temperature Tis in oC and r is in meter. The thermal conductivity of

the sphere is 15 W/m oC. The solid sphere is put in the atmosphere

condition at 30 oC. Calculate the rate of heat transfer and evaluate the

maximum temperature in the sphere?

Q.
Steam at 170 oC is flowing in a 10 cm diameter pipe. In order to reduce
8
the heat loss to the environment (at 30 oC) the pipe is planned to be

insulated with 10 cm thick insulator. The various data is given under

kinsulator
(T in oC)
h for outside air (over insulator) 6 W/m2 oC
h for outside air (on bare pipe at 25 W/m2 oC

160 oC , if no insulator)
Cost of insulation Rs. 16000/m3
Steam cost Rs. 750/ton
Latent heat of steam 1820 kJ/kg

Estimate the pay-back period assuming a rate of interest of 0.18/yr.

FORCED CONVECTION

4.1 Principle of convection

Till now we have understood and solved the problem where heat transfer

coefficient was known. Now, we would emphasize on finding the

convective heat transfer coefficient h. Finding out the heat transfer

coefficient is not so easy in a given situation as it is a very complex term

and depends in many physical properties of the fluid like, thermal

conductivity, viscosity, density etc. Moreover, the flow field has a great

impact on the convective heat transfer. The convective heat transfer

requires a good knowledge of fluid dynamics, and we expect that the

reader has adequate knowledge of that.

We have seen that it is easy to form a differential heat balance equations.

However, for practical cases, it becomes tedious or impossible to solve the

differential equations. Therefore, for practical situations, the heat transfer

coefficient is calculated using the empirical correlations, which are

 developed over the years. Though these correlations have a good amount

of error in most of the situations but these are indispensible for the

estimation of heat transfer coefficients.

The convective heat transfer may be

forced convection: in which the motion in the fluid medium is

generated by the application of an external force, e.g. by a pump, blower,

agitator etc.

natural convection: in which the motion in the fluid is generated due

to a result of density difference caused by the temperature difference.

Moreover, in many applications, heat is transferred between fluid streams

without any phase change in the fluid. However, in some situations, the

heat transfer is accompanied by phase change.

In this chapter we will consider the forced convection. Before we analyse

the forced convection we need to know its physical mechanism.

4.2 Forced convection mechanism: flow over a flat horizontal

plate

Consider the flow of a fluid over an immersed flat horizontal plate of very

large width, as shown in fig. 4.1. The fig. shows that the flow is fully

developed with no entrance losses. The bulk flow or free stream velocity is

represented by v. Velocity of the fluid at the surface of the flat plate is

zero at no-slip condition. The velocity of the fluid in the y-direction from

the plate increases from zero to free stream velocity. The region above the

plate surface within which this change of velocity from zero to the free
stream value occurs is called the boundary layer. The thickness of this

region is called the boundary layer thickness and is generally denoted

by . It can be seen in the fig.4.1 that the boundary layer thickness

increased with the distance x from the body edge. The boundary layer

thickness, , usually is defined as the distance from the surface to the

point where the velocity is within 1% of the free shear velocity. It should

be noted that the y-axis of the fig. 4.1 is exaggerated greatly to have a

clear picture.

Fig.4.1. Boundary layer flow past a flat plate

The velocity profile merges smoothly and asymptotically in the free shear

and the boundary layer thickness is difficult to measure. However, the

theoretical laminar boundary layer thickness can be calculated using the

eq.4.1.
where, Rex is the local Reynold number at a distance x. The derivative

of can be found in any stated boundary.

The turbulent boundary layer thickness can be calculated using eq.4.2.

Figure 4.2 shows the velocity boundary layer for the turbulent and laminar

zone.

Fig.4.2: Boundary layer flow past a flat surface (a) turbulent, and

(b) laminar

In continuation to the above discussion and understanding, if the solid

surface is maintained at a temperature, Ts , which is different from the fluid

temperature, Tf , measured at a point far away from the surface, a

variation of the temperature of the fluid is observed, which is similar to

the velocity variation described. That is, the fluid temperature varies
from Ts at the wall toTf far away from the wall, with most of the variation

occurring close to the surface.

IfTs >Tf , the fluid temperature approaches asymptotically and the

temperature profile at a distance x is shown in fig.4.3. However, a thermal

boundary may be defined (similar to velocity boundary) as the distance

from the surface to the point where the temperature is within 1% of the

free stream fluid temperature (Tf ). Outside the thermal boundary layer the

fluid is assumed to be a heat sink at a uniform temperature ofTf . The

thermal boundary layer is generally not coincident with the velocity

boundary layer, although it is certainly dependant on it. That is, the

velocity, boundary layer thickness, the variation of velocity, whether the

flow is laminar or turbulent etc are all the factors which determine the

temperature variation in the thermal boundary layer. The thermal

boundary layer and velocity boundary layer are related by the Prandtl

number, is called the momentum diffusivity

and is called the thermal diffusivity; is less than unity, the

momentum boundary layer (or velocity boundary layer) remains within

the thermal boundary layer. If Pr >1, the boundary layers will be reversed

as shown in the fig.4.4. The thermal boundary layer and velocity boundary

layer coincides at Pr =1.

Fig.4.4: The relation of two boundary layers at different Pr

numbers

The above boundary layer theory will be helpful to understand the heat

transfer in the process. Through the boundary layers heat transfer is

covered in a separate chapter, but the detailed derivation and

development of all the relationships having engineering importance for

the prediction of forced convection heat transfer coefficient is beyond the

scope of the course. The reader may consult any standard fluid mechanics

and heat transfer books for detailed knowledge.

The purpose of this chapter is to present a collection of the most useful of

the existing relations for the most frequently encountered cases of forced

convection. Some of these relations will be having theoretical bases, and

some will be empirical dimensionless correlations of experimental data. In

some situations, more than one relation will be given.

The discussion on heat transfer correlations consists of many

dimensionless groups. Therefore, before we discuss the importance of

heat transfer coefficients, it is important to understand the physical

significance of these dimensionless groups, which are frequently used in

forced convection heat transfer. The table 4.1 shows some of the

dimensionless numbers used in the forced convection heat transfer.

Table-4.1: Some important dimensionless numbers used in forced

heat transfer convection

4.3 Flow through a pipe or tube

4.3.1 Turbulent flow

A classical expression for calculating heat transfer in fully developed

turbulent flow in smooth tubes/pipes of diameter (d) and length (L) is

given by Dittus and Boelter

 (4.3)

where,

n = 0.4, for heating of the fluid

n = 0.3, for cooling of the fluid

The properties in this equation are evaluated at the average fluid bulk

temperature. Therefore, the temperature difference between bulk fluid

and the wall should not be significantly high.

Application of eq. 4.3 lies in the following limits

Gnielinski suggested that better results for turbulent flow in smooth pipe

may be obtained from the following relations

When the temperature difference between bulk fluid and wall is very high,

the viscosity of the fluid and thus the fluid properties changes

substantially. Therefore, the viscosity correction must be accounted using

Sieder Tate equation given below

However, the fluid properties have to be evaluated at the mean bulk

temperature of the fluid except w which should be evaluated at the wall

temperature.

The earlier relations were applicable for fully developed flow when

entrance length was negligible. Nusselt recommended the following

relation for the entrance region when the flow is not fully developed.

(4.7)

where, L is the tube length and d is the tube diameter.

The fluid properties in eq. 4.7 should be evaluated at mean bulk

temperature of the fluid.

Applicability conditions, .

As different temperature terms will appear in the course therefore to

understand these terms see the following details.

Bulk temperature/mixing cup temperature: Average temperature in a

cross-section.

Average bulk temperature: Arithmetic average temperature of inlet

and outlet bulk temperatures.

Wall temperature: Temperature of the wall.

Film temperature: Arithmetic average temperature of the wall and free

stream temperature.

Free stream temperature: Temperature free from the effect of wall.

Log mean temperature difference: It will be discussed in due course of

time

Illustration 4.1

Pressurized air is to be heated by flowing into a pipe of 2.54 cm diameter. The air at 200 oC

and 2 atm pressure enters in the pipe at 10 m/s. The temperature of the entire pipe is

maintained at 220oC. Evaluate the heat transfer coefficient for a unit length of a tube

considering the constant heat flux conditions are maintained at the pipe wall. What will be

the bulk temperature of the air at the end of 3 m length of the tube?

The following data for the entering air (at 200oC) has been given,
Solution 4.1

Reynolds number can be calculated from the above data,

The value of Reynolds number shows that the flow is in turbulent zone.

Thus the Dittus-Boelter equation (eq.4.3) should be used,

Thus h can be calculated for the known values of k, and d, which comes

out to be
Energy balance is required to evaluate the increase in bulk temperature in

a 3 m length of the tube,

Therefore the temperature of the air leaving the pipe will be at 210.81oC.

4.3.2 Laminar flow

Hausen presents the following empirical relations for fully developed

laminar flow in tubes at constant wall temperature.

The heat transfer coefficient calculated from eq. 4.8 is the average value

over the entire length (including entrance length) of tube .

Sieder and Tate suggested a simple relation for laminar heat transfer in

tubes.

The condition for applicability of eq. 4.9:

where, is the viscosity of the fluid at the bulk temperature and w is that

at the wall temperature Tw . The other fluid properties are at mean bulk

temperature of the fluid. Here also the heat transfer coefficient calculated

from eq. 4.9 is the average value over the entire length (including

entrance length) of tube .

The empirical relations shown in eq. 4.2-4.9 are for smooth pipe. However,

it case of rough pipes, it is sometimes appropriate that the Reynolds

analogy between fluid friction and heat transfer be used to effect a

solution under these conditions and can be expressed in terms of Stanton

number.
In order to account the variation of the thermal properties of different

fluids the following equations may be used (i.e. Stanton number multiplied

by ),

where, is the mean free velocity. The friction factor can be evaluated

from Moodys chart.

4.3.3 Flow through non-circular ducts

The same co-relations as discussed in section 4.4.1 can be used for the

non-circular ducts. However, the diameter of the tube has to be replaced

by the hydraulic diameter or equivalent diameter for the non-circular

ducts. The hydraulic diameter is defined as

Where rh is hydraulic radius.

4.3.4. Flow over a flat plate

Heat transfer in flow over a plate occurs through the boundary layer

formed on the plane. Therefore at any location the heat transfer

coefficient will depend on the local Reynolds and Prandtl number. For local

heat transfer coefficient in laminar boundary layer flow, the following

correlation can be used to find the local Nusselt number. It depends upon

the distance from the leading edge (x) of the plate.

(4.13)

where, and are the local Nusselt and Reynold

numbers, respectively.

An average value of the heat transfer coefficient over a distance l may be

obtained by,

4.3.5 Flow across cylinders and spheres

4.3.5.1 Flow across a cylinder

The heat transfer coefficient can be found out by the correlations given by

many researchers

Applicability of eq. 4.19: 102 < Re < 107, and Re Pr >0.2 .

However, the following equation (eq. 4.20) is more accurate for the

condition where 20,000 < Re< 4,00,000 and Re Pr > 0.2.

 1

4.3.5.2. Flow across a sphere



The above correlation is applicable to both gases and liquids.

4.3.5.3 Flow over a bank of tubes

Flow over bank of tubes is one of the very important phenomena in

chemical process industries. Heat exchanger, air conditioning for

cooling and heating etc. involve a bank or bundle of tube over which

a fluid flows. The two most common geometric arrangements of a

tube bank are shown in fig. 4.5.



Fig.4.5: Tube banks: (a) aligned; (b) staggered

In any of the arrangements, D is the diameter of tube, S L is the

longitudinal spacing, and ST is the transverse tube spacing.

The flow over a tube is quite different than the flow over bank of

tubes. In case of bank of tube, the flow is influenced by the effects

such as the shading of one tube by another etc. Moreover, the

heat transfer for any particular tube thus not only determined by the

incident fluid conditions, v and T, but also by D, SL , and ST and the

tube positions in the bank. It is now clear that the heat transfer

coefficient for the first row of tubes is much like that for a single

cylinder in cross flow. However, the heat transfer coefficient for the

tubes in the inner rows is generally larger because of the wake

generation by the previous tubes.

For the heat transfer correlations, in tube banks, the Reynolds

number is defined by

 where vm is the maximum fluid velocity occurring at the minimum

vacant area of the tube bank.

For the aligned tube arrangement,

In case of bank of tubes, generally we are interested for a single

tube but interested to know the average heat transfer coefficient for

the entire bank of tubes.

Zukauskas has summarized his extensive for the heat transfer

coefficients for fluid past a bank of tubes,

(4.27)

The applicability of eq. 4.27: , and

number of tubes are atleast 20.

The constants C and m of co-relation 5.26 can be found out from

any standard book on heat transfer. It may be noted that the above

relation is for the inner rows of bank, or for banks of many rows.
4.4 Momentum and heat transfer analogies

Consider a fluid flows in a circular pipe in a laminar low (fig.6.6). The wall

of the pipe is maintained at T w temperature, which is higher than the

flowing fluid temperature. The fluid being in relatively lower temperature

than the wall temperature will get heated as it flows through the pipe.

Moreover, the radial transport of the momentum in the pipe occurs as per

the Newtons law of viscosity. For a circular pipe momentum transport

and heat transport may be written in a similar way as shown in the eq.

4.28,

Momentum flux = momentum diffusivity gradient of concentration of

momentum

4.28(a)

It may be noted that the fluid velocity is a function of radius of the

pipe.

Heat flux= thermal diffusivity gradient of concentration of heat energy

Now, the question comes, why are we discussion about the similarities?

The answer is straight forward that it is comparatively easy to

experimentally/theoretically evaluate the momentum transport under

various conditions. However, the heat transport is not so easy to find out.

Therefore, we will learn different analogies to find the heat transport

relations.

Equation 4.28 is for the laminar flow but if the flow is turbulent, eddies are

generated. Eddy is a lump/chunk of fluid elements that move together.

Thus it may be assumed that the eddies are the molecules of the fluid and

are responsible for the transport of momentum and heat energy in the

turbulent flow. Therefore, in turbulent situation the momentum and heat

transport is not only by the molecular diffusion but also by the eddy

diffusivities.

Thus, turbulent transport of momentum and turbulent transport of heat

may be represented by eq. 4.29a and 4.29b, respectively.

The terms represent the eddy diffusivities for momentum and

heat, respectively.

At the wall of the pipe, the momentum equation (eq. 4.29a) becomes,

Where f is the fanning friction factor (ratio of shear force to inertial force)

and is the average fluid velocity.

Equation eq.4.30 can be rearranged as,

 1

The eq.4.32 is the dimensionless velocity gradient at the wall using

momentum transport. We may get the similar relation using heat

transport as shown below.

Wall heat flux can be written as,

Where Tav is the wall temperature and the T av is the average temperature

of the fluid. Thus, the dimensionless temperature gradient at the wall

using heat transfer will be,

Where the heat transfer coefficient is represented by h and dimensionless

temperature is represented by .

Based on the above discussion many researchers have given their

analogies. These analogies are represented in the subsequent section.

4.4.1 Reynolds analogy

Reynolds has taken the following assumptions to find the analogy between

heat and momentum transport.

1. Gradients of the dimensionless parameters at the wall are equal.

2. The diffusivity terms are equal. That is

Thus if we use the above assumptions along with the eq.4.32 and 4.33,

Thus if we use the above assumptions along with the eq.4.32 and 4.33,

Equation 4.34 is known as Reynoldss analogy.

The above relation may also be written in terms of the Darcys friction
factor (fD) instead of fanning friction factor (f D = 4f)

Where Stanton number (St) is defined as,

The advantage of the analogy lies in that the h may not be available for

certain geometries/situations however, for which f value may be available

as it is easier to perform momentum transport experiments and then to

calculate the f. Thus by using the eq.4.34 the h may be found out without

involving into the exhaustive and difficult heat transfer experiments.

4.4.2 The Chilton-Colburn analogy

The Reynolds analogy does not always give satisfactory results. Thus,

Chilton and Colburn experimentally modified the Reynolds analogy. The

empirically modified Reynolds analogy is known as Chilton-Colburn

analogy and is given by eq.4.35,

It can be noted that for unit Prandtl number the Chilton-Colburn analogy

becomes Reynolds analogy.

4.4.3 The Pradntl analogy

In the turbulent core the transport is mainly by eddies and near the wall,

that is laminar sub-layer, the transport is by molecular diffusion.

Therefore, Prandtl modified the above two analogies using universal

velocity profile while driving the analogy (eq. 4.36).

4.4.4 The Van Karman analogy

Though Prandtl considered the laminar and turbulent laminar sublayers

but did not consider the buffer zone. Thus, Van Karman included the buffer

zone into the Prandtl analogy to further improve the analogy.

Convective Heat Transfer

 Problems

Frequently Asked Questions and Problems for Practice (Module 4)

Q.1 What is the local Reynolds number?

Q.2
What are the important dimensionless groups in heat transfer?

Explain their physical significance.

Q.3 What is the difference between Reynolds and Prandtl anologies?

Q.4 Explain why there is more heat transfer in forced convection as

compared to natural convection.

Q.5 What is Dittus-Boelter equation and when is it applied?
Q.6 Water is to be heated from 50oC to 100oC in a smooth hot pipe. The

pipe is maintained at a constant temperature above 30 oC that of bulk

water temperature under the condition of constant heat flux.

Calculate the length of the pipe required for heating, if the tube

diameter is 0.6 m and the Reynolds number of the water inside the

pipe is 95000?
Q.7
A tube bank having a square array of 100 tubes arranged in an in-line

position is at 100oC. The diameter and length of the tubes are 15 mm

and 100 cm, centre to centre tube spacing is 20 mm. Atmospheric air

enters in the tube bank at 25oC and at the free stream velocity of 5.5

m/s. Determine the total heat loss by the tubes.

Q.8
Water at 15oC flow past a sphere at the free stream velocity of 4 m/s.

The diameter and temperature of the sphere are 30 mm and 70 oC,

 respectively. Calculate the heat loss by the sphere.

Q.9 Atmospheric air flows at 10 m/s of free stream velocity in a

rectangular duct having dimensions of 25 cm by 50 cm. The air and

wall temperature of the duct are 25 oC and 50 oC, respectively.

Calculate the mean exit temperature of the air per unit length of the

duct.
Q.1 Air at 25 oC flows in a 10 mm diameter tube at a Reynolds number of

0 50,000. If the length of the tube is 100 cm, estimate the average

heat transfer coefficient for a constant heat flux at the wall.

NATURAL CONVECTION

Module 5 : Heat Transfer by Natural Convection

5.1 Introduction

In the previous chapter, we have discussed about the forced convective

heat transfer when the fluid motion relative to the solid surface was

caused by an external input of work by means of pump, fan, blower,

stirrer, etc. However, in this chapter we will discuss about the natural or

free convection. In natural convection, the fluid velocity far from the solid

body will be zero. However, near the solid body there will be some fluid

motion if the body is at a temperature different from that of the free fluid.

In this situation there will be a density difference between the fluid near

the solid surface and that far away from the system. There will be a

positive or negative buoyancy force due to this density difference. Hot

surface will create positive buoyancy force whereas the cold surface will

create the negative buoyancy force. Therefore, buoyancy force will be the

driving force which produce and maintain the free convective process.

Figure 5.1 shows the natural convective process for a hot and cold vertical

surface.
 Fig.5.1: Free convection boundary layer for vertical (a) hot

surface and (b) cold surface

Consider a vertical flat plate with contact of a fluid (say liquid) on one side

of the plate. Now assume that we raise the temperature of the plate to Ts,

a natural convective boundary layer forms as shown in fig. 5.2. The

velocity profile in this boundary layer is slightly different as compared to

forced convection boundary layer. At the wall the velocity is zero because

of no slip condition. The velocity increases to maximum and then reduces

to zero at the end of the boundary layer because the fluid is at rest in the

bulk. Initially the laminar flow is achieved in the boundary layer, but at

some distance from the leading edge, depending on the fluid properties

and the temperature difference between plate and bulk fluid, turbulent

eddies are found thus laminar to transition region comes. On further away

from the leading edge the boundary layer may become turbulent and the

boundary layer instability comes in to picture. Instability of the boundary

layer is quite complex and does not fall into the scope of this study

material.

Fig. 5.2: Boundary layer on a hot vertical flat plate (Ts: surface

temperature; Tb: bulk fluid temperature)

It has been found over the years that the average Nusselt number (or the

average heat transfer coefficient) for convective heat transfer can be

represented by the following functional dependence (say viscous flow past

a hard body).

Nu = f(Re,Gr,Ec,Pr) (5.1)
The Reynolds number (Re) is the ratio of inertia forces in the fluid to the

viscous forces. The Grashof number (Gr) is the ratio of buoyant forces to

the viscous forces. The Eckert number (Ec) is a measure of the thermal

equivalent of kinetic energy of the flow to the imposed temperature

differences. The Eckert number arises due to the inclusion of viscous

dissipation. Thus Ec is absent where dissipation is neglected. The Prandtl

number, Pr, is the ratio of the momentum diffusivity (kinematic viscosity)

to the thermal diffusivity. In other words, Prandtl number is a measure of

the relative magnitude of the diffusion of momentum, through viscosity,

and the diffusion of heat through conduction, in the fluid.

In case of perfect natural-convection and in absence of heat dissipation,

the eq. 5.1 reduces to,

Nu = f(Gr,Pr) (5.2)

It is to be noted that in case of perfect natural convection, the main fluid

stream is absent, thus Reynolds number is no longer significant.

The dimensionless numbers involved in eq. 5.2 evaluated at the average

film temperature, It can be easily found that in case of the

forced convection and in absence of heat dissipation the function for

average heat transfer will be,

 Nu = f(Re,Pr) (5.3)

On comparing eq. 5.2 and 5.3, one can see that the Grashof number will

perform for free convection in a same way as the Reynolds number for

forced convection.

Another parameter, the Rayleigh number is also used for perfect natural-

convection is defined as,

Ra = Gr . Pr (5.4)

Thus the functional relation is eq. 5.2 can be written as,

Nu = f(Ra,Pr) (5.5)

As discussed earlier that all free convection flows are not limited to

laminar flow. If instability occurs, the problem becomes complex. A

general rule one may expect that transition will occur for critical Rayleigh

number of

(5.6)

The Grashof number is defined as

where,

g = acceleration due to gravity

= coefficient of volume expansion

=
Ts surface temperature

=
Tb bulk fluid temperature

=
L = characteristic lenght
v = Momentum diffusivity (kinematic

viscosity)

5.2 Empirical relations for natural-convective heat transfer

5.2.1 Natural convection around a flat vertical surface

Churchill and Chu provided the correlation for average heat transfer

coefficient for natural convection for different ranges of Rayleigh number.

Case I:
If RaL < 109

(5.7)

Case II:
If 10-1 < RaL < 1012
 (5.8)

It should be noted that the eq. 5.7 and 5.8 are also applicable for an

inclined surface upto less than inclination from the vertical plane.

The above relations can be used for the vertical cylinder if the boundary

layer thickness is quite small as compared to the diameter of the cylinder.

The criteria to use the above relation for vertical cylinder is,

(5.9)

where, is the diameter and is the height of the cylinder.

5.2.2 Natural convection around a horizontal cylinder

Churchill and Chu has provided the following expression for natural-

convective heat transfer.

(5.10)

Condition of applicability of the eq.5.10:

5.2.3 Natural convection around a horizontal flat surface

In the previous case of vertical flat surface, the principal body dimension

was in-line with the gravity (i.e. vertical). Therefore, the flow produced by

the free convection was parallel to the surface regardless of whether the

surface was hotter or cooler compared to the bulk fluid around. However,

in case of horizontal flat plate the flow pattern will be different and shown

in fig. 5.3.
Fig. 5.3: A representative flow pattern (natural convection) for (a)

hot surface down, (b) hot surface up, (c) cold surface down, and

(d) cold surface up

Thus from fig. 5.3 it is understood that there are in fact two cases (i) when

the heated plate facing up or cooled plate facing down, and (ii) heated

plate facing down or cooled plate facing up.

Case I:
Heated plate facing up, cooled plate facing down

(5.11)

(5.12)

Case II: Heated plate facing down, cooled plate facing up

(5.13)

where, Lc is characteristic length defined as below.

5.2.4 Natural convection around sphere

Churchill proposed,
 (5.14)

Condition for applicability: Pr 0.7; Ra 1011

5.2.5 Natural convection in enclosure

It is another class of problems for which there are many cases and their

corresponding correlations are also available in the literature. Here two

cases will be discussed, (i) in which a fluid is contained between two

vertical plates separated by a distance d, (ii) the other where the fluid is in

an annulus formed by two concentric horizontal cylinders.

In the case first, the plates are at different temperature, T 1 and T2. Heat

transfer will be from higher temperature (T1) to lower temperature

(T2) through the fluid.

The corresponding Grashof number will be

McGregor and Emery proposed the following correction for free convection

heat transfer in a vertical rectangular enclosure, where the vertical walls

are heated or cooled and the horizontal surfaces many be assumed

adiabatic,
 (5.15)

Applicability conditions for the above equation are,

or,

(5.16)

Applicability conditions are,

Here L/d is known as the aspect ratio.

At steady state condition, the heat flux (qx) is equal thus,

qx = h(T1 - T2)

or,

or,

or,

or,
where, kc(= Nuxk) is known as the apparent thermal conductivity.

In the second case the heat transfer is involved in the enclosure formed

by two concentric cylinders in horizontal position, the correlation given by

Raithby and Holland,

(5.17

is the modified Rayleigh number given by,

where, di and d0 are the outer and inner diameter of the inner and outer

cylinders, respectively. The enclosure characteristic length l is defined as

(d0 - di).

The applicability of the eq. 5.17 is 102 < > 107.

It should be noted that the rate of heat flow by natural convection per unit

length is same as that through the annular cylindrical region having

effective thermal conductivity ke for the case,

where, T1 and T2 are the temperatures of the inner and outer cylindrical

walls, respectively.

Illustration 5.1

A hot oven is maintained at 180 oC having vertical door 50 cm

high is exposed to the atmospheric air at 20 oC. Calculate the

average heat transfer coefficient at the surface of the door.

The various air properties at the average temperature

[(180+20)/2 = 100oC] are,

k = 0.032 W/m oC; Pr = 0.7; Kinematic viscosity = 24 x 10-

6
m2/s

At Tb = 20oC,

Solution 5.1

First we have to find the Grashof number,

 With the help of Gr and Pr, we can estimate the Ra number,

Ra = GrPr = 1.16 X 108 X 0.7 = 8.12 X 107

As Ra < 109, the eq.5.7 can be used,

5.3 Combined natural and forced convection

As we know that there is hardly any situation in which only natural or

forced convective heat transfer occurs. Generally, in all the processes

natural and forced convection heat transfer occur but depending upon the

contribution made, the process may be approximated as either natural or

forced convection problem. However, certain situation needs to be

addressed as combined natural and forced convection problem. The

following is a thumb rule to determine the individual situations.

1. Forced convection region i.e. negligible natural convection

contribution
2. Natural convection region i.e. negligible forced convection

contribution

3. Mixed convection i.e., significant contribution by both natural and

forced convections

In this situation, the following equation may be used,

where, Nu is the Nusselt number due to mixed convection, Nu n is the

Nusselt number due to natural convection, and Nu f is the Nusselt number

due to forced convection. The value of m is generally taken as 3, whereas

positive and negative signs can be used for the convection in the same

and opposite directions, respectively.

Frequently Asked Questions and Problems for Practice (Module 5)

Q.1 Define Grashof number and its physical significance. What is

the analogous in forced convection?

Q.2 What are the criteria to know natural and forced convection?

Q.3 Define Rayleigh number and its physical significance.

Q.4 Show the flow pattern of natural convection for a (a) hot
 surface down, (b) hot surface up, (c) cold surface down, and

(d) cold surface up.

Q.5 Warm air at 65oC, 3 m/s enters into a square (25 cm) duct

made up of steel metal. The un-insulated duct is 10 m long

and is in contact with the atmospheric air at 25oC. If the heat

losses to the atmosphere by natural convection then what

will be the exit warm air temperature from the duct. It may

be assumed that the natural convective flow at one surface

does not affect the others as the two surfaces are horizontal,

one at the top and at the bottom, and the two surfaces are

vertical. Calculate the heat transfer coefficient for the

obviously forced convection inside of the duct.

Q.6. A horizontal tube having diameter of 10 mm is heated to a

surface temperature of 240 oC. The tube is exposed to air at

25oC. Calculate the natural convective heat transfer.

Q.7. A sphere having diameter of 25 cm is heated to a surface

temperature of 240 oC. The sphere is exposed to air at 25 oC.

Calculate the natural convective heat transfer.

Q.8. A square (1 m) flat plate inclined at 45 oC with the horizontal

is exposed to air at 25oC and 1 atm. The plate receives 750

W/m2 from the Sun and dissipated the heat to the

atmosphere by natural convection. What will be the average

 temperature of the plate at steady-state?

HEAT TRANSFER BY BOILING AND CONDENSATION

Heat transfer in boiling and condensation

In the previous chapter we have discussed about the convective heat

transfer in which the homogeneous single phase system was considered.

The heat transfer processes associated with the change of fluid phase

have great importance in chemical process industries. In this chapter, we

will focus our attention towards the phase change from liquid to vapour

and vice-versa.

6.1 Heat transfer during boiling

The conversion of a liquid into a vapour is one of the important and

obvious phenomena. It has been found that if water (say) is totally

distilled and degassed so that it does not have any impurity or dissolved

gases, it will undergo liquid to vapour phase change without the

appearance of bubbles, when it is heated in a clean and smooth container.

However, in normal situation, as can be understood, the presence of

impurities, dissolved gases, and surface irregularities causes the

appearance of vapour bubble on the heating surface, when the rate of

heat input is significantly high.

The boiling may be in general of two types. The one in which the heating

surface is submerged in a quiescent part of liquid, and the heat transfer

occur by free convection and bubble agitation. The process is known as

pool boiling. The pool boiling may further be divided into sub-cooled or

local boiling and saturated or bulk boiling. If the temperature of the liquid

is below the saturation temperature, the process is known as sub-cooled,

or local, boiling. If the liquid is maintained at saturation temperature, the

process is known as saturated or bulk boiling.

The other form of the boiling is known as forced convective boiling in

which the boiling occurs simultaneously with fluid motion induced by

externally imposed pressure difference. In this chapter, we will mostly

consider the pool boiling.

As generally the bubbles are formed during boiling, we will first refresh the

following basic information. Consider a spherical bubble of radius in a

liquid as shown in fig. 6.1

Fig. 6.1: Force balance on a submerge spherical bubble in a liquid

The pressure of vaporisation inside the bubble, Pvap, must exceed that in

the surrounding liquid, Pliq, because of the surface tension () acting on the

liquid-vapour interface.
The force balance on the equatorial plane

r2(Pvap - Pliq) = 2r

(6.1)

The eq. 6.1 shows that to create a bubble of small radius, it would be

necessary to develop very large pressure in the vapour. In other word, a

high degree super heat is necessary for the generation of a tiny bubble (or

nucleus) in the bulk liquid. This is the reason, the bubble are usually

formed at bits existing in the surface irregularities, where a bubble of

finite initial radius may form, or where gasses dissolved in the system of

the liquid come out of the solution.

6.2 Boiling of saturated liquid

In this section, we will discuss about the boiling curve which is a log-log

plot between heat flux (q/A) or heat transfer coefficient (h) and excess

temperature (T). Excess temperature (T = Tw - Tsat) is the temperature

difference between heating surface (Tw) and saturated temperature of the

liquid (Tsat).

Figure 6.2 shows a typical representative pool boiling curves for water

contained in a container where the water is heated by an immersed

horizontal wire. Consider we are measuring the heat flux (thus, h) and the

temperature difference (T) between the boiling water (Tsat) and the wall

temperature of the heater wire (Tw). The temperature of the heater wire is

gradually raised while measuring the heat flux between heated surface

and boiling water until a large value of T reaches. The corresponding plot

is prepared at the log-log scale. The plot shows six different sections in the

boiling curve shown in the fig.6.2.

Fig. 6.2: Saturated water boiling curve

The different regimes of the boiling plot (fig. 6.2) have different

mechanism. We will see those mechanisms in-brief in the following

section.
6.2 Boiling of saturated liquid

In this section, we will discuss about the boiling curve which is a log-log

plot between heat flux (q/A) or heat transfer coefficient (h) and excess

temperature (T). Excess temperature (T = Tw - Tsat) is the temperature

difference between heating surface (Tw) and saturated temperature of the

liquid (Tsat).

Figure 6.2 shows a typical representative pool boiling curves for water

contained in a container where the water is heated by an immersed

horizontal wire. Consider we are measuring the heat flux (thus, h) and the

temperature difference (T) between the boiling water (Tsat) and the wall

temperature of the heater wire (Tw). The temperature of the heater wire is

gradually raised while measuring the heat flux between heated surface

and boiling water until a large value of T reaches. The corresponding plot

is prepared at the log-log scale. The plot shows six different sections in the

boiling curve shown in the fig.6.2.

 Fig. 6.2: Saturated water boiling curve

The different regimes of the boiling plot (fig. 6.2) have different

mechanism. We will see those mechanisms in-brief in the following

section.

At this stage it would be interesting to know the Leidenfrost phenomenon,

which was observed by Leidenfrost in 1756. When water droplets fall on a

very hot surface they dance and jump on the hot surface and reduces in

size and eventually the droplets disappear. The mechanism is related to

the film boiling of the water droplets. When water droplet drops on to the
very hot surface, a film of vapour forms immediately between the droplet

and the hot surface. The vapour film generated provide and up-thrust to

the droplet. Therefore, the droplet moves up and when again the droplet

comes in the contact of the hot surface, the vapour generated out of the

water droplet and the phenomenon continues till it disappears.

The effectiveness of nucleate boiling depends primarily on the ease with

which bubbles form and free themselves from the heating surface. The

important factor in controlling the rate of bubble detachment is the

interfacial tension between the liquid and the heating surface. If this

interfacial tension is large the bubbles tends to spread along the surface

and blocked the heat transfer area, rather than leaving the surface, to

make room for other bubbles. The heat transfer coefficient obtained

during the nucleation boiling is sensitive to the nature of the liquid, the

type and condition of the heating surface, the composition and purity of

the liquid, agitation, temperature and pressure.

Fact: Film boiling is not normally desired in commercial equipment

because the heat transfer rate is low for such a large temperature drop.

6.2.1 Nucleation boiling

Rohsenow correlation may be used for calculating pool boiling heat

transfer
 (6.2

where,

q is the heat flux (W/m2)

l is the liquid viscosity (Pa.s)

is the enthalpy of liquid vaporisation (J/kg)

l and v are the liquid and vapour density, respectively, (kg/m3)

cp1 is the specific heat of liquid (J/kg/C)

is the surface tension (N/m)

Te is the excess temperature of the boiling surface, Tw - Tsat, (K)

Pr1 is the liquid Prandtl number

Csf and n are the constants and depend on the liquid and heating surface

combination for boiling operation, for example,

All the properties are to be evaluated at film temperature.

6.2.2 Maximum heat flux

Maximum heat flux corresponding to the point S in the fig.6.2 can be

found by Leinhard correlation,

(6.3

The notations are same as for eq.6.2.

6.2.3 Film boiling

(6.4

)
where, kv is the thermal conductivity of the vapour, v is the viscosity of

the vapour, d is the characteristic length (tube diameter or height of the

vertical plate), other notations are same as for eq. 6.2.

If the surface temperature is high enough to consider the contribution of

radiative heat transfer, the total heat transfer coefficient may be

calculation by,

(6.5

where, hr is the radiative heat transfer coefficient and is given in eq.6.4.

Upto this section, we have discussed about the boiling phenomenon

where the liquid phase changes to vapour phase. In the subsequent

sections, we will study the opposite phenomena of boiling that is

condensation, where the vapour phase changes to the liquid phase.

6.3 Heat transfer during condensation

Condensation of vapours on the surfaces cooler than the condensing

temperature of the vapour is an important phenomenon in chemical

process industries like boiling phenomenon. It is quite clear that in

condensation the phase changes from vapour to liquid. Consider a vertical

flat plate which is exposed to a condensable vapour. If the temperature of

the plate is below the saturation temperature of the vapour, condensate

will form on the surface and flows down the plate due to gravity. It is to be

noted that a liquid at its boiling point is a saturated liquid and the vapour

in equilibrium with the saturated liquid is saturated vapour. A liquid or

vapour above the saturation temperature is called superheated. If the

non-condensable gases will present in the vapour the rate of

condensation of the vapour will reduce significantly.

Condensation may be of two types, film condensation and dropwise

condensation. If the liquid (condensate) wets the surface, a smooth film is

formed and the process is called film type condensation. In this process,

the surface is blocked by the film, which grows in thickness as it moves

down the plate. A temperature gradient exists in the film and the film

represents thermal resistance in the heat transfer. The latent heat is

transferred through the wall to the cooling fluid on the other side of the

wall. However, if the liquid does not wet the system, drops are formed on

the surface in some random fashion. This process is called dropwise

condensation. Some of the surface will always be free from the

condensate drops (for a reasonable time period).

Now, with the help of the above discussion one can easily understand that

the condensate film offers significant heat transfer resistance as

compared to dropwise condensation. In dropwise condensation the

surface is not fully covered by the liquid and exposed to the vapour for the

condensation. Therefore, the heat transfer coefficient will be higher for

dropwise condensation. Thus the dropwise condensation is preferred over

the film condensation. However, the dropwise condensation is not

practically easy to achieve. We have to put some coating on the surface or

we have to add some additive to the vapour to have dropwise

condensation. Practically, these techniques for dropwise condensation are

not easy for the sustained dropwise condensation. Because of these

reasons, in many instances we assume film condensation because the film

condensation sustained on the surface and it is comparatively easy to

quantify and analyse.

6.4 Film condensation on a vertical flat plate

Figure 6.4 shows a vertical wall very long in z-direction. The wall is
exposed to a condensable vapour. The condensate film is assumed to be
fully developed laminar flow with zero interfacial shear and constant liquid
properties. It is also assumed that the vapour is saturated and the heat
transfer through the condensate film occurs by condensation only and the
temperature profile is assumed to be linear.
 Fig. 6.4: Condensation of film in laminar flow

The wall temperature is maintained at temperature Tw and the vapour

temperature at the edge of the film is the saturation temperature Tv. The
condensate film thickness is represented by x, a function of x. A fluid
element of thickness dx was assumed with a unit width in the z-direction.
The force balance on the element provides,

F1 = F 2 - F3

where, shear force is the viscosity of the condensate

(liquid). In the subsequent sections of this module, the
subscripts l and v will represent liquid and vapour phase.

Gravity force, F2 = lg (x - y)dx; and

Buoyancy force, F3 = vg (x - y)dx

Thus,

On integrating for the following boundary condition, u = 0 at y = 0; no slip

condition.

(6.6)

Equation 6.6 shows the velocity profile in the condensate falling film.

The corresponding mass flow rate of the condensate for dy thickness and
unit width of the film,

(6.7)
where dy is the length of the volume element at y distance. The rate of
condensation for dx.1 (over element surface) area exposed to the vapour
can be obtained from the rate of heat transfer through this area.

The rate of heat transfer

The thermal conductivity of the liquid is represented by kl. The above rate
of heat transfer is due to the latent heat of condensation of the vapour.
Thus,

(6.8)

The specific latent heat of condensation is represented by . On solving

eqs.6.7 and 6.8, for boundary layer conditions (x = 0; x = 0)

(6.9)

The eq. 6.9 gives the local condensate film thickness at any location x. If h
is the film heat transfer coefficient for the condensate film, heat flux
through the film at any location is,

(6.10
a)

The local Nusselt number will be,

We can also calculate the average heat transfer coefficient along the
length of the surface,
 (6.10b
)

In eq. 6.10, the liquid properties can be taken at the mean film

temperature The equation 6.10 is applicable for Pr > 0.5

and 1.0

It can also be understood that at any location on the plate the liquid film
temperature changes from Tv to Tw. It indicates that apart from latent heat
some amount of sensible heat will also be removed. Thus, to take this into
account and to further improve the accuracy of Nusselts equation (eq.

6.10), a modified latent heat term can be used in

place of . The term Ja is called the Jacob number as is defined by eq. 6.11.
All the properties are to be evaluated at film temperature.

(6.11
)

In the previous discussion we have not discussed about the ripples or

turbulent condition of the condensate film as it grows while coming down
from the vertical wall. The previous discussion was applicable only when
the flow in the condensate film was 1-D and the velocity profile was half
parabolic all along the length of the wall. However, if the rate of
condensation is high or the height of the condensing wall is more, the
thickness of the condensate film neither remains small nor the flow
remains laminar.

The nature of the flow is determined by the film Reynolds number (Re f).
The local average liquid velocity in the film can be obtained by eq. 6.6.

Now, the Ref can be calculated by,

 (6.12
)

where D is the hydraulic diameter of the condensate film. The hydraulic

diameter can be calculated by the flow area ( x.1) and wetted perimeter
(unit breadth, thus 1). It has been found that, if

Case 1: Ref 30; the film remains laminar and the free surface of the film
remains wave free.
Case 2: 30 < Ref < 1600; the film remains laminar but the waves and
ripples appear on the surface.
Case 3: Ref 1600; the film becomes turbulent and surface becomes
wavy.

The corresponding average heat transfer coefficient can be calculated by

the following correlation,

: for Case 1

(It is same as eq. 6.10 if Re f is taken at the bottom of

the wall.)

: for Case 2

: for Case 3

The Nusselt number in case-1 is defined as Modified Nusselt number or

condensation number (Co).

The above relations may also be used for condensation inside or outside
of a vertical tube if the tube diameter is very large in comparison to
condensate film thickness. Moreover, the relations are valid for the tilted
surfaces also. If the surface make an angle from the vertical plane the
g will be replaced by g.cos in the above equations
Illustration 6.1

Saturated steam at 70.14 kPa is condensing on a vertical tube 0.5 m long

having an outer diameter of 2.5 cm and a surface temperature of 80 oC.
Calculate the average heat-transfer coefficient.

Solution 6.1

It is a problem of condensation on a vertical plate, thus eq.6.10b can be

used,

where, different liquid and steam properties are evaluate at average film
temperature,

Using steam table, the temperature of the steam corresponding to

70.14kPa pressure is 90oC. The average film temperature will then be the
average of 80 oC and 90 oC and it comes out to be 85 oC,

Using given data the different properties can be found using steam table
and other relevant tables given in the standard literature. The data is
tabulates below at 85oC,
On putting the above values in the above equation,

hav = 1205.2 W/m2 C

6.5 Condensation for horizontal tube

6.5.1 Condensation outside horizontal tube or bank of tube

This type of condensation is very common especially for the shell and
tube heat exchanger. In case of condensation outside the vertical array of
horizontal tubes the condensate flows as a film along the cylindrical
surface or it may drop down. In case of another tube below, the
condensate film flows down from the bottom edge of the upper tube to
the upper edge of the bottom tube. As it goes on to the lower tubes, the
thickness of the condensate film increases. Some of the correlations are
given below.

6.5.1.1 Condensation on a single horizontal tube

(6.13)

6.5.1.2 Condensation on a vertical tube of N horizontal tubes

(6.14)

6.5.1.3 Condensation inside a horizontal tube

Figure 6.5 shows the physical picture of the condensation inside a
horizontal tube (like an open channel flow).
 Fig. 6.5: Film condensation inside a horizontal tube

Case 1: The length is small or the rate of condensation is low.

This situation will have small thickness of the flowing condensate layer at
the bottom of the tube and the following coefficient can be used,

(6.15)

where, and the vapour Reynolds number (Rev) should be

less than 35,000. The Rev is calculated based on inlet condition of vapour
and inside diameter of tube.

Case 2: The length is high or the rate of condensation is high.

In this the following relation can be used.

(6.16)

where,
(Condition: Rel >5000, Rev > 20,000)

where, Gl and Gv are the liquid and vapour mass velocities calculated on

the basis of the cross-section of the tube.

6.6 Correlations for packed and fluidized bed

6.6.1 Packed bed
The heat transfer correlation for gas flow through a packed bed is given
as,

(6.17)

Conditions to use eq.6.12 are,

where,

is the Stanton number.

is the particle Reynolds number

dp = Diameter or the effective diameter of a particle

v0 = Superficial fluid velocity. It is the velocity based on the cross-section

of the bed).

: Bed porosity or void fraction

: 0.3 0.5

Theoreticall = 0.69 for uniform shape

y:

= 0.71 bed of cubes

= 0.79 bed of
 cylinder

Colburn factor

6.6.2 Fluidized bed

The heat transfer coefficient to or from particles in a fluidized bed can be

estimated with the help of following correlation,

(6.18)

where, v0 is the superficial velocity.

Module 6 : Heat Transfer in Boiling and Condensation

Problems

Frequently Asked Questions and Problems for Practice (Module 6)

What is Leidenfrost phenomenon?

Q.1

How the presence of non-condensable gases affect the

Q.2 condensation rate of vapour?

Q.3 What is the difference between drop-wise and film

condensation?

Discuss the phenomena of condensation on a vertical and a

Q.4 horizontal plate.

Saturated vapour of methanol condenses on a vertical plate

Q.5
 at 1 atm. The vertical plate is maintained at 55 oC by cooling
water at the other side. Calculate the following,
(a) Length of the plate over which the condensate film
remains laminar.
(b) What is the thickness of the film at the end of the laminar
region?
(c) Determine the average heat transfer coefficient and the
rate of condensation in the laminar region.
(c) What is the average heat transfer coefficient for the
entire plate?

Saturated steam flows in a horizontal tube having 5 cm

Q.6. diameter and 15 cm of length. Calculate the condensation
for a tube wall temperature of 96 oC.

An uninsulated water pipe carrying water at 2 oC passes

Q.7. through hot and humid area where the temperature is 32 oC
and the relative humidity is 75%. Estimate the condensate if
the pipe is 50 mm in diameter and the exposed length is 75
cm. It may be assumed that the pipe is exposed to saturated
vapour at the partial pressure of the water vapour in the air.

Compare the heat transfer coefficients for boiling water and

Q.8. condensing steam on a horizontal tube for normal
atmospheric conditions.
REDIATIVE HEAT TRANSFER

In the previous chapters it has been observed that the heat transfer
studies were based on the fact that the temperature of a body, a portion
of a body, which is hotter than its surroundings, tends to decrease with
time. The decrease in temperature indicates a flow of energy from the
body. In all the previous chapters, limitation was that a physical medium
was necessary for the transport of the energy from the high temperature
source to the low temperature sink. The heat transport was related to
conduction and convection and the rate of heat transport was proportional
to the temperature difference between the source and the sink.

Now, if we observe the heat transfer from the Sun to the earth
atmosphere, we can understand that there is no medium exists between
the source (the Sun) and the sink (earth atmosphere). However, still the
heat transfer takes place, which is entirely a different energy transfer
mechanism takes place and it is called thermal radiation.

Thermal radiation is referred when a body is heated or exhibits the loss of

energy by radiation. However, more general form radiation energy is
used to cover all the other forms. The emission of other form of radiant
energy may be caused when a body is excited by oscillating electrical
current, electronic bombardment, chemical reaction etc. Moreover, when
radiation energy strikes a body and is absorbed, it may manifest itself in
the form of thermal internal energy, a chemical reaction, an electromotive
force, etc. depending on the nature of the incident radiation and the
substance of which the body is composed.

In this chapter, we will concentrate on thermal radiation (emission or

absorption) that on radiation produced by or while produces thermal
excitation of a body.

There are many theories available in literature which explains the

transport of energy by radiation. However, a dual theory is generally
accepted which enables to explain the radiant energy in the
characterisation of a wave motion (electromagnetic wave motion) and
discontinuous emission (discrete packets or quanta of energy).

An electromagnetic wave propagates at the speed of light (310 8 m/s). It

is characterised by its wavelength or its frequency related by

c = v (7.1)
Emission of radiation is not continuous, but occurs only in the form of
discrete quanta. Each quantum has energy

E = hv (7.2)

where, = 6.624610-34 J.s, is known as Plancks constant.

Table 7.1 shows the electromagnetic radiation covering the entire

spectrum of wavelength

Table 7.1: Electromagnetic radiation for entire spectrum of

wavelength

Type Band of wavelength (m)

Cosmic rays upto 4107

Gamma rays 4107 to 1.4104

X-rays 1105 to 2102

Ultraviolet rays 5103 to 3.9101

Visible light 3.9101to 7.8101

Infrared rays 7.8101 to 1103

Thermal radiation 1101 to 1102

Microwave, radar, radio 1103 to 51010

waves
It is to be noted that the above band is in approximate values and do not
have any sharp boundary.

7.1 Basic definition pertaining to radiation

Before we further study about the radiation it would be better to get
familiarised with the basic terminology and properties of the radiant
energy and how to characterise it.

As observed in the table 7.1 that the thermal radiation is defined between
wavelength of about 110-1 and 1102 m of the electromagnetic
radiation. If the thermal radiation is emitted by a surface, which is divided
into its spectrum over the wavelength band, it would be found that the
radiation is not equally distributed over all wavelength. Similarly, radiation
incident on a system, reflected by a system, absorbed by a system, etc.
may be wavelength dependent. The dependence on the wavelength is
generally different from case to case, system to system, etc. The
wavelength dependency of any radiative quantity or surface property will
be referred to as a spectral dependency. The radiation quantity may be
monochromatic (applicable at a single wavelength) or total (applicable at
entire thermal radiation spectrum). It is to be noted that radiation quantity
may be dependent on the direction and wavelength both but we will not
consider any directional dependency. This chapter will not consider
directional effect and the emissive power will always used to be
(hemispherical) summed overall direction in the hemisphere above the
surface.

7.1.1 Emissive power

It is the emitted thermal radiation leaving a system per unit time, per unit
area of surface. The total emissive power of a surface is all the emitted
energy, summed over all the direction and all wavelengths, and is usually
denoted as E. The total emissive power is found to be dependent upon the
temperature of the emitting surface, the subsystem which this system is
composed, and the nature of the surface structure or texture.

The monochromatic emissive power E, is defined as the rate, per unit

area, at which the surface emits thermal radiation at a particular
wavelength . Thus the total and monochromatic hemispherical emissive
power are related by

(7.3)

and the functional dependency of E on must be known to evaluate E.

7.1.2 Radiosity
It is the term used to indicate all the radiation leaving a surface, per unit
time and unit area.

(7.4)

where, J and J are the total and monochromatic radiosity.

The radiosity includes reflected energy as well as original emission
whereas emissive power consists of only original emission leaving the
system. The emissive power does not include any energy leaving a
system that is the result of the reflection of any incident radiation.

7.1.3 Irradiation

It is the term used to denote the rate, per unit area, at which thermal
radiation is incident upon a surface (from all the directions). The
irradiative incident upon a surface is the result of emission and reflection
from other surfaces and may thus be spectrally dependent.

(7.5)

where, G and G are the total and monochromatic irradiation.

Reflection from a surface may be of two types specular or diffusive as
shown in fig.7.1.

Fig. 7.1: (a) Specular, and (b) diffusive radiation

Thus,

J = E + G (7.6)
 7.1.4 Absorptivity, reflectivity, and transmitting
The emissive power, radiosity, and irradiation of a surface are inter-related
by the reflective, absorptive, and transmissive properties of the system.
When thermal radiation is incident on a surface, a part of the radiation
may be reflected by the surface, a part may be absorbed by the surface
and a part may be transmitted through the surface as shown in fig.7.2.
These fractions of reflected, absorbed, and transmitted energy are
interpreted as system properties called reflectivity, absorptivity, and
transmissivity, respectively.

Fig. 7.2: Reflection, absorption and transmitted energy

Thus using energy conservation,

(7.7)

(7.7)

where, are total reflectivity, total absorptivity, and total

transmissivity. The subscript indicates the monochromatic property.

1
2
3
In general the monochromatic and total surface properties are
dependent on the system composition, its roughness, and on its
temperature.
 Monochromatic properties are dependent on the wavelength of the
incident radiation, and the total properties are dependent on the
spectral distribution of the incident energy.
Most gases have high transmissivity, i.e. (like air
at atmospheric pressure). However, some other gases (water
vapour, CO2 etc.) may be highly absorptive to thermal radiation, at
least at certain wavelength.
Most solids encountered in engineering practice are opaque to
thermal radiation Thus for thermally opaque solid surfaces,

+=1 (7.6)

Another important property of the surface of a substance is its

ability to emit radiation. Emission and radiation have different
concept. Reflection may occur only when the surface receives
radiation whereas emission always occurs if the temperature of the
surface is above the absolute zero. Emissivity of the surface is a
measure of how good it is an emitter.
7.2 Blackbody radiation
In order to evaluate the radiation characteristics and properties of a
real surface it is useful to define an ideal surface such as the perfect
blackbody. The perfect blackbody is defined as one which absorbs
all incident radiation regardless of the spectral distribution or
directional characteristic of the incident radiation.

A blackbody is black because it does not reflect any radiation. The

only radiation leaving a blackbody surface is original emission since
a blackbody absorbs all incident radiation. The emissive power of a
blackbody is represented by , and depends on the surface
temperature only.

Fig. 7.3: Example of a near perfect blackbody
It is possible to produce a near perfect blackbody as shown in
fig.7.3.
 Figure 7.2 shows a cavity with a small opening. The body is at
isothermal state, where a ray of incident radiation enters through
the opening will undergo a number of internal reflections. A portion
of the radiation absorbed at each internal reflection and a very little
of the incident beam ever find the way out through the small hole.
Thus, the radiation found to be evacuating from the hole will appear
to that coming from a nearly perfect blackbody.

7.2.1 Plancks law

A surface emits radiation of different wavelengths at a given temperature
(theoretically zero to infinite wavelengths). At a fixed wavelength, the
surface radiates more energy as the temperature increases.
Monochromatic emissive power of a blackbody is given by eq.7.10.

(7.7)

where, h = 6.6256 X 10-34 JS; Plancks constant

c = 3 X 108 m/s; speed of light
T = absolute temperature of the blackbody
= wavelenght of the monochromatic
radiation emitted
k = Boltzmann constant

Equation 7.10 is known as Plancks law. Figure 7.4 shows the

representative plot for Plancks distribution.
 Fig. 7.4: Representative plot for Plancks distribution

Module 7 : Radiation Heat Transfer

7.2.2 Wiens law

Figure 7.4 shows that as the temperature increases the peaks of the curve
also increases and it shift towards the shorter wavelength. It can be easily
found out that the wavelength corresponding to the peak of the plot
(max) is inversely proportional to the temperature of the blackbody (Weins
law) as shown in eq. 7.11.

max T = 2898 (7.11)

Now with the Wiens law or Wiens displacement law, it can be understood
if we heat a body, initially the emitted radiation does not have any colour.
As the temperature rises the of the radiation reach the visible spectrum
and we can able to see the red colour being height (for red colour).
Further increase in temperature shows the white colour indicating all the
colours in the light.

7.2.3 The Stefan-Boltzmann law for blackbody

Josef Stefan based on experimental facts suggested that the total
emissive power of a blackbody is proportional to the fourth power of the
absolute temperature. Later, Ludwig Boltzmann derived the same using
classical thermodynamics. Thus the eq. 7.12 is known as Stefan-
Boltzmann law,

Eb = T4 (7.12)

where, Eb is the emissive power of a blackbody, T is absolute temperature,

and (= 5.67 X 10-8W/m2/K4) is the Stefan-Boltzmann constant.

The Stefan-Boltzmann law for the emissive power gives the total energy
emitted by a blackbody defined by eq.7.3.

7.2.4 Special characteristic of blackbody radiation

It has been shown that the irradiation field in an isothermal cavity is equal
to Eb. Moreover, the irradiation was same for all planes of any orientation
within the cavity. It may then be shown that the intensity of the blackbody
radiation, Ib, is uniform. Thus, blackbody radiation is defined as,

Eb = Ib (7.13)

where, is the total intensity of the radiation and is called

the spectral radiation intensity of the blackbody.

7.2.5 Kirchhoffs law

Consider an enclosure as shown in fig.7.2 and a body is placed inside the
enclosure. The radiant heat flux (q) is incident onto the body and allowed
to come into temperature equilibrium. The rate of energy absorbed at
equilibrium by the body must be equal to the energy emitted.

where, E is the emissive power of the body, is absorptivity of the of the

body at equilibrium temperature, and A is the area of the body.
Now consider the body is replaced by a blackbody i.e. E Eb and = 1, the
equation 7.14 becomes

E b= q (7.15)

Dividing eq. 7.14 by eq.7.15,

(7.16)

At this point we may define emissivity, which is a measure of how good

the body is an emitter as compared to blackbody. Thus the emissivity can
be written as the ratio of the emissive power to that of a blackbody,

(7.17)

On comparing eq.7.16 and eq.7.17, we get

(7.18)

Equation 7.18 is the Kirchhoffs law, which states that the emissivity of a
body which is in thermal equilibrium with its surrounding is equal to its
absorptivity of the body. It should be noted that the source temperature is
equal to the temperature of the irradiated surface. However, in practical
purposes it is assumed that emissivity and absorptivity of a system are
equal even if it is not in thermal equilibrium with the surrounding. The
reason being the absorptivity of most real surfaces is relatively insensitive
to temperature and wavelength. This particular assumption leads to the
concept of grey body. The emissivity is considered to be independent of
the wavelength of radiation for grey body.

7.4 Radiative heat exchanger between surfaces

Till now we have discussed fundamental aspects of various definitions and
laws. Now we will study the heat exchange between two or more surfaces
which is of practical importance. The two surfaces which are not in direct
contact, exchanges the heat due to radiation phenomena. The factors
those determine the rate of heat exchange between two bodies are the
temperature of the individual surfaces, their emissivities, as well as how
well one surface can see the other surface. The last factor is known as
view factor, shape factor, angle factor or configuration factor.

7.4.1 View factor

In this section we would like to find the energy exchange between two
black surfaces having area A1 and A2, respectively, and they are at
different temperature and have arbitrary shape and orientation with
respect to each other. In order to find the radiative heat exchange
between the bodies we have to first define the view factor as

F12 = fraction of the energy leavings surface 1 which reaches

surface 2
F21 = fraction of the energy leaving surface 2 which reaches surface
1 or in general,
Fmn = fraction of the energy leaving surface m which raches surface
n

Thus the energy leaving surface 1 and arriving at surface 2 is E b1A1F12 and
the energy leaving surface 2 and arriving at surface 1 is E b2A2F21. All the
incident radiation will be absorbed by the blackbody and the net energy
exchange will be,

Q = Eb1A1F12 - Eb2A2F21

At thermal equilibrium between the surfaces Q12 = 0 and Eb1 = Eb2, thus

0 = Eb1 (A1F12 - A2F21)

A1F12 - A2F21 (7.19)

Equation 7.19 is known as reciprocating relation, and it can be applied in

general way for any blackbody surfaces.

AiFij - AjFji (7.20)

Though the relation is valid for blackbody it may be applied to any surface
as long as diffuse radiation is involved.

7.4.1.1 Relation between view factors

In this section we will develop some useful relation of view factor

considering fig. 7.5
Fig. 7.5: Exchange of energy between area A1 and A2 (A is area of
blackbody)

View factor for radiation from A1 to the combined area A2,

F12 = F13 + F14 (7.21)

and using the reciprocating relations for surface 1 and 4,

A1F14 = A4F41 (7.22)

Using eq. 7.21 and 7.22,

Thus the unknown view factor F 14 can be estimated if the view factors
F12 and F13, as well as their areas are (A1, A2) known.

Now, consider a flat plate (for eg.) which is emitting the radiation, it can
be understood that the radiation of the flat plat cannot fall on its own
surface (partly or fully). Such kind or surfaces are termed as not able to
see itself. In such situations,

F11 = F22 = F33 = F44 = 0

However, if the surface can see itself like concave curved surfaces, which
may thus see themselves and then the shape factor will not be zero in
those cases.

Another property of the shape factor is that when the surface is enclosed,
then the following relation holds,

(7.23)

where, Fij is the fraction of the total energy leaving surface i which arrives
at surface j.

In case of N-walled enclosure, some of the view factors may be evaluated

from the knowledge of the rest and the total N2 view factors may be
represented in square matrix form shown below,

Illustration 7.2

A pipe having 10 cm of diameter is carrying saturated steam at 8

bar of absolute pressure. The pipe runs through a room. The wall
of the room is at 300 oK. A portion around 1 m of the pipe
insulation is damaged and exposed to the room atmosphere.
Calculate the net rate of heat loss from the pipe by radiation.

Solution 7.2

The emissivity of the pipe surface is not given so it may be considered

black. Moreover, since the room may be big compared to the surface area
of the pipe, the room may also be considered to be a blackbody.
We can write F11 + F12 = 1.
The value of F11 = 0, as the pipe cannot see itself.
Thus F12, the view factor (1-pipe, 2-room) will be 1.
The net rate heat loss due to radiation,
 Tpipe can be obtained by the temperature of the steam at the prevailing
pressure with the help of steam table = 450 K.

(= 5.67 X 10-8 W/m2/K4)

On putting the value,

Q12 = {(0.1)(1)}(1)(1)(5.67 X 10-8){4504 - 3004}

Q12 = 586 W

7.5 Heat exchange between non blackbodies

Evaluation of radiative heat transfer between black surfaces is relatively
easy because in case of blackbody all the radiant energy which strikes the
surface is absorbed. However, finding view factor is slightly complex, but
once it can be done, finding heat exchange between the black bodies is
quite easy.

When non blackbodies are involved the heat transfer process becomes
very complex because all the energy striking on to the surface does not
get absorbed. A part of this striking energy reflected back to another heat
transfer surface, and part may be reflected out from the system entirely.
Now, one can imagine that this radiant energy can be reflected back and
forth between the heat transfer surfaces many times.

In this section, we will assume that all surfaces are in the analysis are
diffuse and uniform in temperature and that the reflective and emissive
properties are constant over all surfaces.

Fig. 7.6: (a) Surface energy balance for opaque surface (b)
equivalent electrical circuit

1
 2
3
4

It is also assumed that the radiosity and irradiation are uniform over each
surface. As we have already discussed that the radiosity is the sum of the
energy emitted and the energy reflected when no energy is transmitted
(as opaque body), or

(7.24)

where, is the emissivity and Eb is the blackbody emissive power.

Because the transmissivity is zero due to opaque surface and absorptivity
of the body (grey) will be equal to its emissivity by Kirchhoffs law.

Thus, eq.7.24 becomes

(7.25)

The net energy leaving the surface is the difference between the radiosity
and the irradiance (fig.7.6a),

(7.26)

The eq.7.26 can be analogous to the electrical circuit as shown in

fig.7.6(b). The numerator of the eq.7.26 is equivalent to the potential
difference, denominator is equivalent to the surface resistance to radiative
heat, and left part is equivalent to the current in the circuit.
In the above discussion we have considered only one surface. Now we will
analyse the exchange of radiant energy by two surfaces, A 1 and A2, as
shown in the fig.7.7a.

Fig. 7.7: (a) Energy exchange between two surfaces, (b)

equivalent circuit diagram

The radiation which leaves surface 1, the amount that reaches surface 2 is

J1A1F12

Similarly, the radiation which leaves system 2, the amount that reaches
surface 1 is

J2A2F21

The net energy transfer between the surfaces,

Reciprocity theorem states that

(7.27
)
It also resembles an electrical circuit shown in fig.7.7b. The difference
between eq.7.26 and 7.27 is that in eq.7.27 the denominator term is
space resistance instead of surface resistance.

Now, to know, the net energy exchange between the two surfaces we
need to add both the surface resistances along with the overall potential
as shown in the fig.7.8. Here the surfaces see each other and nothing
else.

Fig. 7.8: Radiative nature for two surfaces which can see each
other nothing else

(7.28
)

Module 7 : Radiation Heat Transfer

7.6 Radiation shield

Till now we have discussed about the radiative heat transfer from one
surface to another without any interfering surface in between. Here we
will discuss about an interfering shield in between, which is termed as
radiation shield. A radiation shield is a barrier wall of low emissivity placed
between two surfaces which reduce the radiation between the bodies. In
fact, the radiation shield will put additional resistance to the radiative heat
transfer between the surfaces as shown in fig.7.9.
Fig. 7.9: Radiation between two large infinite plates (a) without
and (b) with radiation shield

Considering fig.7.9(b) and the system is at steady state, and the surfaces
are flat (Fij because each plate is in full view of the other). Moreover, the

surface are large enough and may be considered and the

equivalent blackbody radiation energy may be written as Eb = T4.

Thus, eq. 7.28 becomes

(7.29)

In order to have a feel of the role of the radiation shield, consider that the
emissivities of all the three surfaces are equal.

Then it can be seen that the heat flux is just one half of that which would
be experienced if there were no shield present.
In similar line we can deduce that when n-shields are arranged between
the two surfaces then,

(7.30)

7.7 Electrical network for radiation through absorbing and

transmitting medium
The previous discussions were based on the consideration that the heat
transfer surfaces were separated by a completely transparent medium.
 However, in real situations the heat transfer medium absorbs as well as
transmits. The examples of such medium are glass, plastic film, and
various gases.

Consider two non-transmitting surfaces (same as in fig. 7.8) are separated

by a transmitting and absorbing medium. The medium may be considered
as a radiation shield which see themselves and others. If we distinguish
the transparent medium by m and if the medium is non-reflective (say
gas) then using Kirchhoffs law,

(7.31)

The energy leaving surface 1 which is transmitted through the medium

and reaches the surface 2 is,

and that which leaves surface 2 and arrives at surface 1 is,

Therefore, the net exchange in the transmission process is therefore,

Using eq. 7.31,

Thus the equivalent circuit diagram is shown in fig. 7.9

Fig. 7.9. Equivalent electrical circuit for radiation through gas

1
2
 7.8 Radiation combined with conduction and convection
In industrial processes, in general, the heat transfer at higher
temperature has significant portion of radiation along with
conduction and convection. For example, a heated surface is shown
in the fig. 7.10 with all the three mechanism of heat transfer.

Fig. 7.11: Radiation combined with conduction and

convection

At steady state

Heat flux by conduction = heat flux by convention + heat flux by

radiation

where, h is the heat transfer coefficient at the surface in contact

(outer surface) with atmosphere due to natural and forced
convection combined together, is the emissivity of the outer
surface, and Tatm is the atmospheric temperature.

Questions for Practice (Module 7)

Q. What is the wavelength for thermal and infrared radiation?
1
Q. Define black body and grey body emphasising on the differences
2 and similarity.
Q. If a stainless steel body reflects 45% of the incident solar radiation,
3 what will be the absorptivity and transmissivity?
Q. What is Wein's law?
4
Q. What is the practical advantage of studying radiation shield?
5
Q. What is the difference between spectral emissive power and
6 spectral radiation intensity?
Q. A hollow sphere having 1 m of diameter is evacuated and heated to
7 a interior surface temperature of 600 o K. If the sphere has a hole of
0.25 cm of diameter in the wall, how many watts of radiant energy
 is emitted from the hole. The inner surface of the sphere has an
emissivity of (i) 0.9, and (ii) 0.4?
Q.
8 Find the view factor for the following geometry, all dimensions are in
meter,

(i) (ii)
Q. A surface has a monochromatic emissivity of 0.2 for all the
9 wavelengths less than or equal to 0.3micrometer and 0.85 for all the
wabelengths greater than or equal to 3 micrometer. Find the total
emissivity of the surface for a surface temperature of 1100 o K.
Determine also the solar absorptivity of the surface.
HEAT EXACHANGER

In any process industry, we need to transfer heat for different operations

(like cooling, heating, vaporizing, or condensing) to or from various fluid
streams in various equipment like condensers, water heaters, re-boilers,
air heating or cooling devices etc., where heat exchanges between the
two fluids. In a chemical process industry, the heat exchanger is
frequently used for such applications. A heat exchanger is a device where
two fluids streams come into thermal contact in order to transfer the heat
from hot fluid to cold fluid stream.

In this chapter, we will discuss about the technical analysis of the heat
exchangers along with the method for predicting heat exchanger
performance and operational parameters. Moreover the discussion on
heat exchanger size will also be discussed. However, we will not discuss
the economics (though discuss the heat exchanger size) of the heat
exchanger. We will consider that the heat transfer will primarily be taken
by conduction and convection only. We will describe the commonly used
heat exchangers and their important characteristics.

In general heat exchangers may be categorized into two general classes

depending on the relative orientation of the flow direction of the two fluid
streams. If the two streams cross one another in space, usually at right
angles, the heat exchangers are known as cross flow heat exchanger as
shown in the fig. 8.1(a).

In the second class of heat exchanger the two streams move in parallel
direction in space. The usual shell and tube heat exchanger or concentric
pipe exchanger or double tube exchanger is the most frequently used
exchanger in the class. Two situations may arise when the fluid flow in the
parallel direction, one in which the fluids flow in same direction and the
other in which the fluids flow in opposites direction. Parallel flow or Co-
current flow is used when the flow is in same direction and counter
current is used when the fluid flow is in the opposite direction.
Before understanding the principle of heat exchanger we would first
understand it from the point of construction.

8.1 Elements of shell and tube heat exchanger

We will discuss shell and tube heat exchanger as they or the most
commonly used heat exchangers in the chemical process industries.
Schematic of a typical shell and tube heat exchanger is shown in fig. 8.2.

Fig. 8.1: Orientation of fluid stream in heat exchanger (a) cross

flow (b) counter current flow (c) parallel flow
The heat exchanger as shown in fig. 8.2 consists of a bundle of tubes
properly secured at either ends in tube sheets. The tube sheets are drilled
plates into which the tubes are fixed up using different technique to have
leak proof joints. The entire tube bundles shown in the fig. 8.3 is placed
inside a closed shell, which seals around the tube sheet periphery to form
the two immiscible zones for hot and cold fluids are shown in fig.8.4.

Fig.8.2: A schematic of (a) one-shell pass, one tube pass heat

exchanger; (b) parallel flow; and (c) counter flow
 Fig. 8.4: Tube bundle inside a shell

One fluid flows through the tubes while the other fluid flows around the
outside of the tubes, it is the space between the tube sheets and enclosed
by the outer shell.

For a thorough distribution of the shell side fluid, baffles are placed normal
to the tube bundle. This baffle creates turbulence in the shell side fluid
and enhances the transfer coefficients for the shell side flow.

Fig. 8.2 shows the simplified diagram of a shell and tube heat exchanger,
showing a few of the important components. Infact, the present heat
exchanger used in the process industry are quite complex and have
improved design such as factors for thermal expansion stresses, tube
fouling due to contaminated fluids, ease of assembly and disassembly,
size, weight, etc.
The heat exchanger shows in fig. 8.2 is having one shell and one tube
pass since both the shell and tube side fluid make a single traverse
through the heat exchanger. Thus, this type of shell-and-tube heat
exchangers is designated as 1-1 exchanger. If we desire to pass the tube
fluid twice, then it is designated as 1-2 exchangers. Similarly, if there are
2 shell pass and 4 tube pass, the designation will be 2-4 exchanger. The
number of pass in tube side is done by the pass partition plate. A pass
particular plate or pass divider as shown in fig.8.5. The shell side pass can
be creator by a flat plate as shown in fig.8.6.
 Fig. 8.6: 2-4 exchanger showing shell and tube passes

It can be understood that for a given number of tubes; the area available
for flow of the tube side fluid is inversely proportional to the number of
passes. Thus, on increasing the pass the area reduces and as a result the
velocity of fluid in the tube increases and henceforth the Reynolds number
increases. It would result in increased heat transfer coefficient but at the
expense of high pressure drop. Generally, even numbers of tube passes
are used for the multi-pass heat exchangers.

Figure 8.2 shows some baffles. These baffles (or shell-side baffles) are a
metal plate usually in the form of the segment of a circular disc having
holes to accommodate tubes. Shell-side baffles have two functions. The
first is to create turbulence in the shell side fluid by changing the flow
pattern parallel or cross flow to the tube bundles and thus increases the
shell side heat transfer coefficient. The second major function of these
baffles is to support the tube all along its length otherwise the tube may
bend. Moreover, these baffles may have horizontal or vertical cuts
(segmental baffle) as shown in fig.8.7.
Fig.8.7: Baffles; (a) horizontal cut baffles; (b) Vertical cut baffles;
(c, d and e)the shaded region show the baffle area

The cut portion of the baffle, which is called baffle window, provides the
area for flow of the shell fluid. The baffle window area ranges from 15% to
50%. At 25% cut segmental baffle means that the area of the cut-out
portion is 25% of the area of the baffle. The spacing between the baffles is
an important aspect. A larger baffles spacing reduces the shell side
pressure drop but at the same time decreases the turbulence and heat
transfer coefficient. Smaller baffle spacing increases the turbulence and
heat transfer coefficient. However, the pressure drop may increase
significantly, thus the advantage attained due to the higher heat transfer
coefficient may be nullified. Therefore baffle spacing is selected
considering the allowable shell side pressure drop and the heat transfer
coefficient desired. A rule of thumb is that the minimum spacing of
segmental baffles is one by fifth of the shell diameter or 5 cm, whichever
is larger.

Lecture 34

8.2 Thermal design of heat exchangers

The mechanical design is done by the mechanical engineers on the inputs

of chemical engineers and using the codes. The most widely used code in
Tubular Exchanger Manufactures Associations (TEMA). This USA code
along with ASME selection VIII (unfired pressure vessel) code is used
together for the mechanical design of the heat exchanger. The Indian code
for the heat exchanger design IS 4503.
Here we would discuss about the process design (or thermal design)
leading to the sizing of the heat exchanger. Before understanding design
steps, it is necessary to understand the following for the heat exchanger.

8.2.1 Overall heat transfer coefficient

As understood by the previous discussion that generally heat exchangers

are tubular in nature (Note: we are not discussing about plate type heat
exchangers). Thus we can easily find out the overall heat transfer
coefficient based on our previous knowledge. Figure 8.8 shows a simplest
form (double pipe heat exchanger) of tubular heat exchanger, where fluid
A is being heated by fluid B in a co-current flow pattern. The inside and
outside radii of the inner tube is represented r i and ro. The length of the
exchanger for heat transfer is considered as L for section 1 to 2.

Fig.8.8: (a) Schematic of a double pipe heat exchanger (b)

thermal resistance network for overall heat transfer

Thus the rate of heat transfer from the hot fluid to the cold fluid will be
represented by eq.8.1,
 (8.1)

The overall heat transfer coefficient;

Based on inside area of the inner pipe (eq.8.2)

(8.2)

Based on outer side area of the outer pipe (eq.8.3)

(8.3)

Module 8 : Heat Exchangers

8.2.2 Fouling factor or dirt factor

Over a time period of heat exchanger operation the surface of the heat
exchanger may be coated by the various deposits present in the flow
system. Moreover, the surfaces may become corroded or eroded over the
time. Therefore, the thickness of the surface may get changed due to
these deposits. These deposits are known as scale. These scales provide
another resistance and usually decrease the performance of the heat
exchangers. The overall effect is usually represented by dirt factor or
fouling factor, or fouling resistance, Rf (Table 8.1) which must have
included all the resistances along with the resistances due to scales for
the calculation of overall heat transfer coefficient.

The fouling factor must be determined experimentally using eq. 8.4,

 (8.4)

Thus to determine the Rf, it is very important to know Uclean for the new
heat exchanger. TheUclean must be kept securely to obtain the Rf, at any
time of the exchangers life.

Table-8.1 Fouling factor of a few of the industrial fluids

8.2.3 Temperature profiles in heat exchangers

Fig. 8.9 shows the temperature profile along the length of a 1-2
exchangers and 2-4 exchangers.

Fig.8.9 Temperature-length curve corresponding to (a) 1-2

exchanger ; (b) 2-4 exchanger

The nomenclature used in the fig.8.9 is described below

T ha : Inlet temperature of hot fluid

T hb : Outlet temperature of hot fluid
T ca: Inlet temperature of cold fluid
T cb: Outlet temperature of cold fluid
 T : Intermediate temperature of cold fluid
ci

In the above arrangement it is assumed that the hot fluid is flowing in the
shell side and cold fluid is flowing in the tube side of the exchangers. The
fig.8.9 (a) shows the 1-2 exchangers in which the hot fluid enter into the
exchanger from the left side and exits from the right side. The cold fluid
enters concurrently that is from the left side to the tube of the exchangers
and goes up to right end of the exchangers and returns back to make two
tube pass, and exits from the left end of the exchangers. The temperature
profile all along the length of the exchanger is shown in the corresponding
temperature length profile. Figure8.9 (b) shows the flow direction and
corresponding temperature length profile for 2-4 exchangers. The shell
side fluid two passes and the tube side fluid has 4-passes in the
exchangers.

It can be easily understood that whenever the number of passes is more

than one, the flow cannot be truly co-current or counter current. Thus it
will be a mix of co-current and counter current flows in any multi pass
heat exchangers.

Though the temperature profile of the hot and cold streams can be easily
predictable for single pass heat exchangers but for the complex flow
modes, the prediction of temperature distribution will be difficult as shown
in fig.8.9. As can be seen when 1-2 exchangers was (fig.8.9 (a)) used in
co-current mode, the temperature profile was given in the figure.
However, if the fluid streams enter in counter current mode a temperature
cross may occur sometimes. Temperature cross is described as the
positive temperature difference between the cold and the hot fluid, when
these fluids leave the exchangers. In that case the cold fluid will attain the
maximum temperature inside the exchanger instead of at the exit
(fig.8.10).
 Fig. 8.10: 1-2 flow pattern and temperature profile in exchanger
showing cross flow

At this temperature cross, the cold fluid temperature reaches the

maximum at a point inside the exchanger and not at its exits. This
temperature cross point also coincides with the point of intersection of the
temperature profile of the hot fluid and the co-current zone of the cold
fluid. The difference (Tc2 - Th2) is called the temperature cross of the
exchanger. However, if the temperature cross does not appear then the
(Tc2 - Th2) is called the approach. Moreover, on careful evaluation it can be
seen that for the multi shell side pass a significant length of the
exchanger have cross flow pattern in the tube flow when the shell side
fluid is migrating from one shell pass to another shell pass. Thus
calculating heat transfer co-efficient for shell side becomes little
challenging and will be explained in section 8.2.6. Although the parallel
flow or counter flow arequite similar, the parallel flow and counter
flow heat exchangers differ greatly in the manner in which the fluid
temperatures vary as the fluid pass through. The difference can be
understood in the figure 8.11.

The fig.8.11 shows an important parameter, mc p, the product of mass flow

rate (m) and the specific heat, cp, of the fluids. The product mcp is called
the rate of heat capacity.
The overall energy balance of the heat exchanger gives the total heat
transfer between the fluids, q, expressed by eq.8.5,

(8.5)

The fig.8.11 shows the relative variation of the two fluid temperatures
through the heat exchanger, which is influenced by whether is
greater or less than .
In particular, for counter flow, examination of the sketches in fig.8.11
shows that limiting condition for maximum heat transfer is determine by
whether is greater or less than . When, > the
maximum possible heat transfer is determined by the fact that the hot
fluid can be cooled to the temperature of the cold fluid inlet. Thus,
for >
Fig.8.11: Temperature profiles of (a) parallel flow, and (b) counter

flow, for different inequalities

For the other case when the limit is determined as the cold fluid is heated
to the inlet temperature of the hot fluid:

For,

Thus for the counter flow exchanger, the above two set equations show
that the maximum possible heat exchanger is determined in terms of the
inlet parameters. The maximum possible heat exchange may be
determined (eq.8.6) by the fluid stream having low heat capacity rate;

(8.6
)

The subscript ccf denotes counter current flow. The is for the
fluid having lower value of

In case of parallel flow, regardless of the relative sizes of the two stream
the limiting heat transfer condition is determine by the fact that the two
fluid streams approach the same outlet temperature. Thus,

Tho Tco condition can be found out by the weighted average of the inlet
stream.

Thus, the maximum possible heat transfer may be,

 or,

(8.7
)

The subscript pf represents parallel flow (co-current). From the above

discussion and qmaxequations (8.6 and 8.7) it can be calculated for a given
inlet conditions the counter current flow arrangement always has a better
potential for heat transfer as compared to parallel flow arrangement.

Module 8 : Heat Exchangers

8.2.4 Why multi-pass exchangers?

The simplest type of heat exchangers is double pipe heat exchangers,
which is inadequate for flow rates that cannot readily be handled in a few
tubes. If several double pipes are used in parallel, the metal weight
required for the outer tubes becomes so large that the shell and tube
construction, such as 1-1 exchanger will be helpful. In that one shell
serves for many tubes, is economical. The heat transfer coefficient of tube
side and shell side fluid is very important and the individual heat transfer
coefficients must be high enough to attain high overall heat transfer
coefficient. As the shell would be quite large as compared to the tubes,
the velocity and the turbulence of the shell side fluid is important.

In contrast, the 1-1 exchanger has limitations also. When the tube side
flow is divided evenly among all the tubes, the velocity may be quite low,
resulting in low heat transfer coefficient. There it may be required to
increase the area to have the desired heat exchange for this low heat
transfer coefficient. The area may be increased by increasing the length of
the tube. However, the tube length requirement may be impractical for a
given situation. Thus the number of tubes should be increased without
increased the tube length. The increased number of tubes would also
provide the increased velocity in the shell side resulting in the higher heat
transfer coefficient. Therefore, multi-pass construction is needed, which
would permit to use the practical and standard tube lengths. However, the
disadvantages are that,

1. The construction of the exchangers become complex.

2. Parallel flow cannot be avoided.
3. Additional friction losses may occur.
 It should be noted that generally even number of tube passes are used in
multi pass exchanger.

8.2.5 LMTD correction factor

In the earlier chapter, we have seen for co-current or counter current flow
system. The average driving force for heat transfer was defined by log
mean temperature difference (LMTD). Thus the LMTD can be used for 1-1
exchangers for co-current and counter current. However, for multi pass
exchangers (1-2, 2-4, etc.) the fluids are not always in co-current or
counter current flow. The deviation for co-current or counter current flow
causes a change in the average driving force. Therefore, in order to use
true heat transfer driving force, a correction factor is required into the
LMTD. Thus, the heat transfer rate can be written as (eq.8.8),

q = UdA(FTTm) (8.8)

where,

Ud = overall heat transfer coefficient including fouling/dirt

A = heat transfer area
FT Tm = true average temperature difference.
FT = LMTD correction factor

It is to be noted that the following assumption have been considered for

developing LMTD,

1. The overall heat transfer coefficient is constant throughout the

exchanger
2. In case any fluid undergoes for phase change (e.g., in condenser),
the phase change occurs throughout the heat exchanger and the constant
fluid temperature prevails throughout the exchanger.
3. The specific heat and mass flow rate and hence the heat capacity
rate, of each fluid is constant.
4. No heat is lost in to the surroundings.
5. There is no conduction in the direction of flow neither in the fluids
nor in the tube or shell walls.
6. Each of the fluids may be characterized by a single temperature, at
any cross section in the heat exchanger that is ideal transverse mixing in
each fluid is presumed.

FT, the LMTD correction factor can be directly obtained from available
charts in the literature. These charts were prepared from the results
obtained theoretically by solving the temperature distribution in multi-
pass heat exchangers.
Figures 8.12 and 8.13 show the two generally used heat exchangers and
their corresponding plots for finding FT. It may be noted that the given
figures have the representative plots and any standard book on heat
transfer may be consulted for the accurate results.

Fig. 8.12: FT plot for 1-2 exchanger; t: cold fluid in the tube; T: hot
fluid in the shell; 1: inlet; 2: outlet
Fig. 8.13: FT plot for 2-4 exchanger; t: cold fluid in the tube; T: hot
fluid in the shell; 1: inlet; 2: outlet

It should be noted that in case of condensation or evaporation the

correction factor becomes unity (FT =1). While designing a heat
exchanger, the rule of thumb is that the FT should not be less than 0.8.

8.2.6 Individual heat transfer coefficient

In section 8.2.1, we have seen that the overall heat transfer coefficient
can be calculated provide the parameters are known including individual
heat transfer coefficients. In this, section we will discuss how to find out
the individual heat transfer coefficient, which is basically based on the
well-established correlations and discussed earlier also.

The heat transfer coefficient (hi) for the tube side fluid in a heat exchanger
can be calculated either by Sieder-Tate equation or by Colburn equation
discussed in earlier chapter.

However, the shell side heat transfer coefficient (h o) cannot be so easily

calculated because of the parallel, counter as well as cross flow patterns
of the fluid. Moreover, the fluid mass velocity as well as cross sectional
area of the fluid streams vary as the fluid crosses the tube bundle. The
leakages between baffles and shell, baffle and tubes, short circuit some of
the shell fluid thus reduces the effectiveness of the exchanger.

Generally, modified Donohue equation (eq.8.9) (suggested by D.Q. Kern)

is used to predict the ho,

(8.9)

where,

h0= shell side heat transfer coefficient

Dh= hydraulic diameter of the shell side
k0= thermal conductivity of the shell side fluid
Gs= mass flow rate of the shell side

The Dh and Gs can be easily calculated if the geometry of the tube

arrangement in the shell is known. The tubes may be generally arranged
as a square or triangular pitch, as shown in figure 8.14.
 Fig.8.14: Tube arrangement in the shell (a) triangular pitch (b) square
pitch

The hydraulic diameter (Dh) for tubes on square pitch

Dh For 60 triangular pitch=

where,

d0 = outer diameter of tube

p = tube pitch

where,

= flow rate of shell fluid

as = shell side flow area

Shell side flow area can be calculated using baffle information number of
tubes in the shell and tube arrangement. If 25% cut baffles are used, that
means the shell side flow will be from this 25% area. However we have to
reduce the area of the pipes which are accumulated in this opening. So
depending upon the information we may determine the shell side fluid
flow area. It may also be found out by the following way,
where,

C = tube clearance
B = baffle spacing
Ds= inside diameter of shell
p = pitch of the tube

Module 8 : Heat Exchangers

8.2.7 Pressure drop in the heat exchanger

Pressure drop calculation is an important task in heat exchanger design.
The pressure drops in the tube side as well as shell side are very
important and quite a few co-relations are available in the literature. One
such co-relation is given below in the subsequent subsection.

8.2.7.1 Correlation for tube side pressure drop (eq. 8.10)

(8.10
)

where,

Pt,f = total pressure drop in the bundle of tube

f = friction factor (can be found out from Moodys chart)
Gt = mass velocity of the fluid in the tube
L = tube length
n = no of tube passes
g = gravitational acceleration
t = density of the tube fluid
di = inside diameter of the tube

m =0.14 for Re > 2100

0.25 for Re < 2100

The above correlation is for the pressure drop in the tubes owing to the
frictional losses. However in case of multi pass flow direction of the flow in
the tube changes when flow is from 1-pass to another pass and the
pressure losses due to the change in direction is called return-loss. The
return-loss (Pt,r) is given by eq.8.11,
 (8.11
)

n = no of tube pass
vt = velocity of the tube fluid
t = density of the tube fluid

Therefore, the total tube side pressure drop will be,

pt = Pt,f + Pt,r

8.2.7.2 Correlation for shell side pressure drop

The following correlation (eq.8.12) may be used for an unbaffled shell,

(8.12
)

The above equation can be modified to the following form (eq.8.13) for a
baffled shell,

(8.13
)

where

L = shell length

ns = no of shell pass

nb = no of baffles

s = shell side fluid density

Gs = shell side mass velocity

 Dh = hydraulic diameter of the shell

Dsi = inside diameter of shell

fs = shell side friction factor

The hydraulic diameter (Dh) for the shell can be calculated by the following
equation (eq. 8.14),

(8.14
)

where,

nt = number of tubes in the shell

do = outer diameter of the tube

The friction factor (fs) can be obtained by the Moodys chart for the

corresponding Reynolds number

8.2.8. Heat transfer effectiveness and number of transfer units

(NTU)
The LMTD is required to be calculated for the evaluation of heat
exchanger performance. However, the LMTD cannot be directly calculated
unless all the four terminal temperatures (Tc,i, Tc,o, Th,i, Th,o) of both the fluids
are known.

Sometimes the estimation of the exchanger performance (q) is required to

be calculated on the given inlet conditions, and the outlet temperature are
not known until q is determined. Thus the problem depends on the
iterative calculations. This type of problem may be taken care of using
performance equivalent in terms of heating effectiveness parameter (),
which is defined as the ratio of the actual heat transfer to the maximum
possible heat transfer. Thus,
 (8.15
)

For an infinite transfer area the most heat would be transferred in counter-
current flow and the qmax will be dependent on the lower heat capacity fluid
as such,

The actual heat transfer

The capacity ratio, which is the relative thermal size of the two fluid
streams, is defined as,

On careful analysis, we can say that

UA: Heat exchange capacities per unit temperature difference.

This thermal sizing (UA) can be non-dimensionalised by dividing it to the

storage capacity of one of the fluid streams. Given limits the

maximum heat transfers. The non-dimensional term obtained is known as
the number of transfer units (NTU)

It should be noted that

The actual determination of this function may be done using heat
balances for the streams. For a parallel flow exchanger the relation is
shown below

The above relation is true for both the

condition

Similarly the functional relationship for counter current exchanger is

(8.16
)

(8.17
)

The previous relation (eq. 8.16 and 8.17) were for 1-1 exchanger. The
relation for 1-2 exchanger (counter current) is given by eq. 8.18, 8.19),

(8.18
)

(8.19
)

When the fluid streams are condensing in a 1-1 pass exchanger (fig. 8.15)
as shown below,
 Fig.8.15: Condenser with the temperature nomenclature

the following relation arrives. 8.2.9 Calculation and designing of the

heat exchanger
8.2.9.1 Double-pipe heat exchanger

The following steps may be used to design a double-pipe heat exchanger

1. Calculate LMTD from the known terminal temperatures.

2. Diameter of the inner and outer pipes may be selected from the
standard pipes from the literature (generally available with the vendor and
given in the books). The selection thumb rule is the consideration of
higher fluid velocity and low pressure drop in the pipe.
3. Calculate the Reynolds number and evaluate the heat transfer
coefficient, hi, using the co-relations given in the chapter.
4. Similarly, calculate the Reynolds number of the fluid flowing through
annulus. Calculation the equivalent diameter of the annulus and find the
outside heat transfer coefficient, ho.
5. Using hi and ho, calculate the overall heat transfer coefficients. Note
that it will be a clean overall heat transfer coefficient. In order to find
design outside heat transfer coefficient using a suitable dirt factor or
fouling factor. The tube fouling factor is suggested by TEMA (table 8.1).

The calculations are based on trial and error. If the heat transfer
coefficient comes out to be very small or the pressure drop comes out to
be very high, this procedure to be redone for different set of diameters in
the step1.

8.2.9.2 Shell and tube heat exchanger

The shell and tube heat exchanger also involves trial and error but it is not
as simple as in case of double pipe heat exchanger.

The design of shell and tube heat exchanger includes,

a: heat transfer required for the given heat duty
b: tube diameter, length, and number,
c: shell diameter,
d: no of shell and tube passes,
e: tube arrangement on the tube sheet and its layout, and
f: baffle size, number and spacing of the baffles.
 The calculation of LMTD can be done if the terminal temperatures are

known. However, the design heat transfer co-efficient (i.e., heat transfer

co-efficient including fouling factor) and the area are dependent on each

other and thus challenges involve for the estimation. The also depends

upon Reynolds number, which depends upon the liquid flow rate, sizes

and the number of tubes. Therefore, is a function of diameter and the no

of tubes and the parameter provides the area.

Moreover, can also be calculated is based on shell side co-efficient but

then it requires tube number, diameters and pitch. Thus, the above

discussion shows that and A are not fully explicit and requires trial and

error method of calculation.

The guideline for shell-and-tube calculation is shown in below,

1. energy balance and exchanger heat duty calculation,

2. find all the thermo-physical properties of the fluid,

3. take initial guess for shell-and-tube passes,

4. calculate LMTD and FT,

5. assume (or select) Udirty, based on the outside tube area. Calculate

corresponding heat transfer area, A.

6. Select tube diameter, wall thickness and the tube length. Based on

this values and heat transfer area, find out the no of the tubes required.

7. Assume the tube pitch and assume diameter of the shell, which can

accumulate the no of tube. Now, select the tube-sheet layout.

8. Select the baffle design.

9. Estimate hi and ho, if the estimated shell-side heat transfer

coefficient (ho) appears to be small; the baffles at a close distance may be

tried. If the tube side co-efficient (hi) is low, the number of tube passes to

be reconsidered such that the Reynolds number increases (for a

reasonable p) and henceforth hi.

10. Evaluate Uclean on the outside tube area basis. Select a suitable

fouling factor (Rd) and find Udirty

11. Compare Udirty and A values with the values assumed in step (5). If

Acalculate Aassumed, it may be acceptable. Otherwise a new configuration in

terms of the size and no of the tubes and tube passes, shell diameter is

assumed and recalculation be done

12. Calculate the tube-side and shell side p. If p is more than the

allowable limit, the re-calculate after suitable adjustment has to be done.

1
2
3

8.2.9 Calculation and designing of the heat exchanger

8.2.9.1 Double-pipe heat exchanger

The following steps may be used to design a double-pipe heat exchanger

1. Calculate LMTD from the known terminal temperatures.

2. Diameter of the inner and outer pipes may be selected from the
standard pipes from the literature (generally available with the vendor and
given in the books). The selection thumb rule is the consideration of
higher fluid velocity and low pressure drop in the pipe.
3. Calculate the Reynolds number and evaluate the heat transfer
coefficient, hi, using the co-relations given in the chapter.
4. Similarly, calculate the Reynolds number of the fluid flowing through
annulus. Calculation the equivalent diameter of the annulus and find the
outside heat transfer coefficient, ho.
5. Using hi and ho, calculate the overall heat transfer coefficients. Note
that it will be a clean overall heat transfer coefficient. In order to find
design outside heat transfer coefficient using a suitable dirt factor or
fouling factor. The tube fouling factor is suggested by TEMA (table 8.1).

The calculations are based on trial and error. If the heat transfer
coefficient comes out to be very small or the pressure drop comes out to
be very high, this procedure to be redone for different set of diameters in
the step1.

8.2.9.2 Shell and tube heat exchanger

The shell and tube heat exchanger also involves trial and error but it is not
as simple as in case of double pipe heat exchanger.

The design of shell and tube heat exchanger includes,

a: heat transfer required for the given heat duty
b: tube diameter, length, and number,
c: shell diameter,
d: no of shell and tube passes,
e: tube arrangement on the tube sheet and its layout, and
f: baffle size, number and spacing of the baffles.

The calculation of LMTD can be done if the terminal temperatures are

known. However, the design heat transfer co-efficient (i.e., heat transfer
co-efficient including fouling factor) and the area are dependent on each
other and thus challenges involve for the estimation. The also depends
upon Reynolds number, which depends upon the liquid flow rate, sizes
and the number of tubes. Therefore, is a function of diameter and the no
of tubes and the parameter provides the area.

Moreover, can also be calculated is based on shell side co-efficient but

then it requires tube number, diameters and pitch. Thus, the above
discussion shows that and A are not fully explicit and requires trial and
error method of calculation.
The guideline for shell-and-tube calculation is shown in below,

1. energy balance and exchanger heat duty calculation,

2. find all the thermo-physical properties of the fluid,
3. take initial guess for shell-and-tube passes,
4. calculate LMTD and FT,
5. assume (or select) Udirty, based on the outside tube area. Calculate
corresponding heat transfer area, A.
6. Select tube diameter, wall thickness and the tube length. Based on
this values and heat transfer area, find out the no of the tubes required.
7. Assume the tube pitch and assume diameter of the shell, which can
accumulate the no of tube. Now, select the tube-sheet layout.
8. Select the baffle design.
9. Estimate hi and ho, if the estimated shell-side heat transfer
coefficient (ho) appears to be small; the baffles at a close distance may be
tried. If the tube side co-efficient (hi) is low, the number of tube passes to
be reconsidered such that the Reynolds number increases (for a
reasonable p) and henceforth hi.
10. Evaluate Uclean on the outside tube area basis. Select a suitable
fouling factor (Rd) and find Udirty
11. Compare Udirty and A values with the values assumed in step (5). If
Acalculate Aassumed, it may be acceptable. Otherwise a new configuration in
terms of the size and no of the tubes and tube passes, shell diameter is
assumed and recalculation be done
12. Calculate the tube-side and shell side p. If p is more than the
allowable limit, the re-calculate after suitable adjustment has to be done.

Illustration
A heat transfer fluid is leaving a reactor at a rate of 167 kg/s at
85C. The fluid is to be cooled to 50C before it can be recycled to
the reactor. Water is available at 30C to cool the fluid in a 1-2
pass heat exchanger having heat transfer area of 15 m2. The
water, which is being used to cool the fluid, must not be heated
to above 38C at the exit of the heat exchanger. The overall heat
transfer co-efficient of 400 Kcal/hm2C can be used for the heat
exchanger. The water flows through the shell and the oil flows
through the tubes. The specific heat of the fluid may be taken as
0.454 kcal/kgC. Find out whether the heat exchanger would be
suitable for the given heat duty?

Solution:
It is given,

f : hot stream (fluid)

c : cold stream (water)

Energy balance across the heat exchanger will be,

Thus the minimum stream will be the hot stream.

Putting the values in the eq. 8.19,

The area 13.2 m2 found is less than the available area (15 m 2). Therefore,
the given heat exchanger will perform the required heat duty.

Module 8 : Heat Exchangers

Problems

Questions for Practice (Module 8)

Q.1 Under what conditions it is advantageous to use U-tube heat
exchanger?
Q.2
What is the physical meaning of LMTD?

Q.3
Why correction factor for LMTD is required?

Q.4 If we have to process a corrosive liquid in a heat exchanger, where

will you prefer to send it, tube-side or shell-side of the heat
exchanger. Support your answer with the reasoning.
Q.5
Show the temperature profile of a heat exchanger (condenser)
where saturated water vapour is condensing in the shell side
and the cold liquid is flowing in the tube side. It should be
noted that the condensed water is not sub-cooled and the
tube-side water is not vaporized.

Q.6
What are the different types of tube arrangements in a shell-
and-tube heat exchanger? Explain the advantages and
drawbacks of the arrangements.

Q.7
What is the basic difference between 1-1 and 2-4 heat
exchanger? What is the basis to choose a particular type (with
respect to pass) of heat exchanger.

Q.8
Liquid ammonia feed is to be pre-heated from 30 C to 60 C
before pumping to the reactor. The liquid ammonia is heated
with the help of another stream of hot water at 90 C. The
properties of the streams may be collected from the available
literatures.

Q.9
Bombay high crude oil is to be heated from 15 C to 55 C at
the rate of 1,50 ton/h using a stream from the plant. The crude
oil is pumped in to the tube and the heating stream is pumped
into the shell side of an available heat exchanger. The heating
stream enters in to the tube at 150 C and leaves the tube at
110 C. The average properties of both the fluids are given
below. The available heat exchanger (1-2 pass) has shell
diameter of 23 in. The shell has 324 tubes, in. OD, BWG
 14 (wall thickness), 12 feet long arranged on 1 in. Square pitch
and supported by baffles with a 25% cut, spaced at 9 in
interval. You need to find the suitability of this exchanger for
the purpose. What will be the allowable fouling factor?

Heating stream Crude oil

cp , J/g. C 2.2 2

, cP 5.2 2.9

, kg/m3 866 822

k, W/m. C 0.12 0.138

Q.1
0 Hot water enters a counterflow heat exchanger at 95C. This
hot water is used to heat a cool stream of water from 8 to 40
C. The flow rate of the cool water is 1.2 kg/s, and the flow rate
of the hot water is 2.7 kg/s. The overall heat-transfer
coefficient is 850 W/m2C. What is the area of the heat
exchanger and its effectiveness?

EVAPORATOR
 Module 9 : Evaporators

Evaporation is the vaporization of a liquid. Chemical process industries, in

general, use evaporator for the vaporization of a solvent from a solution.
We have already discussed the heat transfer for boiling liquids in early
chapter. However the evaporation is so important operation in chemical
process industry that it is considered an individual operation. In this
chapter we will focus on the evaporation with an objective to concentrate
a solution consisting of a non-volatile solute and a volatile solvent. If we
continue the evaporation process, the residual mater will be solid, which is
known as drying. However, our aim is not to dry but to concentrate the
solution, moreover, we will also not deal with the crystallization, in which
the evaporation leads to formation of crystal in the solution. It is
suggested that reader should learn the difference between evaporator,
drying and crystallization.

As we will deal with the solution for the evaporation process, a few of the
facts must be known about the solution properties.

9.1 Solution properties

Knowledge of solution properties is important for the design of the
equipment for evaporation. Some of the important properties of the
solution are given below,

9.1.1 Concentration
Initially, the solution may be quite dilute and the properties of the solution
may be taken as the properties of solvent. As the concentration increases,
the solution becomes viscous and heat transfer resistance increases. The
crystal may grow on the heating coil or on the heating surface. The boiling
points of the solution also rise considerably. Solid or solute contact
increases and the boiling temperature of the concentrated solution
became higher than that of the solvent as the same pressure (i.e.
elevation in boiling point).

9.1.2 Foaming
Many of the materials like organic substance may foam during
vaporization. If the foam is stable, it may come out along the vapor known
as entrainment. Heat transfer coefficient changes abruptly for such
systems.

9.1.3 Degradation due to high temperature

The products of many chemical, food, pharmaceutical industries etc. are
 very temperature sensitive and they may get damaged during
evaporation. Thus special case or technique is required for concentrating
such solution.

9.1.4 Scaling
Many solution have tendency to deposit the scale on the heating surface,
which may increase the heat transfer resistance. These scales produce
extra thermal resistance of significant value. Therefore, scaling in the
equipment should not be ignored thus de-scaling becomes an important
and routine matter.

9.1.5 Equipment material

The material of the equipment must be chosen considering the solution
properties so that the solution should neither be contaminated nor react
with the equipment material.

9.2 Evaporator
Equipment, in which evaporation is performed, is known as evaporator.
The evaporators used in chemical process industries are heated by steam
and have tubular surface. The solution is circulated in the tube and the
tubes are heated by steam. In general the steam is the saturated steam
and thus it condenses on the outer tube surface in order to heat the tube.
The circulation of the solution in the tube have reasonable velocity in
order to increase the heat transfer coefficient and remove of scales on the
inner surface of the tube. The steam heated tubular evaporators may be
classified as natural and forced circulation evaporators.

9.2.1 Natural circulation evaporator

In this category the main evaporators are,

1. Calandria type or short tube evaporator

2. Long tube vertical evaporator

As the name indicates, the circulation of the solution is natural and the

density difference derives it. The solution gets heat up and partially

vaporized as it flows up the tubes. The heated liquid flows up because of

the density difference. Vapor-liquid disengagement occurs above the tube.

Thick liquor comes down from this down comer and withdrawn from the

bottom. The natural-circulation evaporators may be used if the solution is

quite dilute. In the dilute solution the natural circulation will be at

sufficient speed. It may also be used when the solution does not have
suspended solid particles. As the solution stays in the tube for larger time,

the solution should not be heat sensitive.

The Calandria type or short-tube evaporators have short tubes as

compared to the long tube evaporators. The short-tube evaporation uses

circulation and solution flows many times in the evaporators. However, in

case of the long tube evaporator the flow is once through.

Module 9 : Evaporators

9.2.2 Forced circulation evaporator

Natural circulation evaporators have many limitations (as mentioned
earlier) through they are economical as compared to forced circulation
evaporator. A forced circulation evaporator has a tubular exchanger for
heating the solution without boiling. The superheated solution flashes in
the chamber, where the solution gets concentrated. In forced circulation
evaporator horizontal or vertical both type of design is in- practice. The
forced circulation evaporators are used for handling viscous or heat
sensitive solution.

9.2.3 Falling film evaporator

Highly heat sensitive materials are processed in falling film evaporators.
They are generally once-through evaporator, in which the liquid enters at
the top, flows downstream inside the heater tubes as a film and leaves
from the bottom. The tubes are heated by condensing steam over the
tube. As the liquid flows down, the water evaporates and the liquid gets
concentrated. To have a film inside of the tube, the tube diameter is kept
high whereas the height low to keep the residence time low for the flowing
liquid. Therefore, these evaporators, with non-circulation and short
resistance time, handle heat sensitive material, which are very difficult to
process by other method. The main problem in falling film evaporator is
the distribution of the liquid uniformly as a thin film inside the tube.

9.3 Performance of steam heated tubular evaporators

The performance of a steam heated tubular evaporator is evaluated by
the capacity and the economy.
9.3.1 Capacity and economy
Capacity is defined as the no of kilograms of water vaporized per hour.
Economy is the number of kg of water vaporized per kg of steam fed to
the unit. Steam consumption is very important to know, and can be
estimated by the ratio of capacity divided by the economy. That is the
steam consumption (in kg/h) is

Steam Consumption = Capacity / Economy

9.3.2 Single and multiple effect evaporators

In single effect evaporator, as shown in fig. 9.1, the steam is fed to the
evaporator which condenses on the tube surface and the heat is
transferred to the solution. The saturated vapor comes out from the
evaporator and this vapor either may be vented out or condensed. The
concentrated solution is taken out from the evaporator.

Now we can see if we want the further concentrate, the solution has to be
sent into another similar evaporator which will have the fresh steam to
provide the necessary heat.

It may be noted that in this process the fresh steam is required for the
second evaporator and at the same time the vapor is not utilized.
Therefore it can be said the single effect evaporator does not utilized the
steam efficiently. The economy of the single effect evaporator is thus less
than one. Moreover, the other reason for low economy is that in many of
the cases the feed temperature remains below the boiling temperature of
the solution. Therefore, a part of the heat is utilized to raise the feed
temperature to its boiling point.
 Fig.9.1: Single effect evaporator

In order to increase the economy we may consider the arrangement of the

two evaporators as shown in the fig. 9.2.

The figure 9.2 shows that the two evaporators are connected in series.
The saturated vapor coming out from the evaporator-1 is used as steam in
the second evaporator. Partially concentrated solution works as a feed to
the second evaporator. This arrangement is known as double effect
evaporator in forward feed scheme. A few of the important point that we
have to note for this scheme is that the vapour leaving evaporator-2 is at
the boiling temperature of the liquid leaving the first effect. In order to
transfer this heat from the condensing vapor from the evaporator-1 to the
boiling liquid in evaporator-2, the liquid in evaporator-2 must boil at a
temperature considerable less than the condensation temperature of the
vaporization, in order to ensure reasonable driving force for heat transfer.
A method of achieving this is to maintain a suitable lower pressure in the
second effect so that the liquid boils at a lower temperature. Therefore, if
the evaporator-1 operates at atmospheric pressure, the evaporator-2
should be operated at same suitable vacuum.

Fig.9.2: Double effect evaporator with forward feed scheme

The benefit of the use of multiple effect evaporators is that in this

arrangement multiple reuse of heat supplied to the first effect is possible
and results in improved steam economy.

9.3.3 Boiling point elevation

The evaporators produce concentrated solution having substantially
higher boiling point than that of the solvent (of the solution) at the
prevailing pressure. The increase in boiling point over that of water is
known as boiling point elevation (BPE) of the solution. As the
concentration increases the boiling point of the solution also increases.
Therefore, in order to get the real temperature difference (or driving force)
between the steam temperature and the solution temperature, the BPE
must be subtracted from the temperature drop. The BPE may be predicted
from the steam table (in case water is a solvent).

An empirical rule known as Dhring rule is suitable for estimating the BPE
of strong solution. The Dhring rule states that the boiling point of a given
solution is a linear function of the boiling point of the pure water at the
 same pressure. Therefore, if the boiling point of the solution is plotted
against that of the water at the same pressure, a straight line results.
Different lines are obtained at different concentrations. The fig. 9.3 shows
representative Dhring plots for a solution (non-volatile solute in water).

Fig.9.3: Representative Dhring lines for a system (non-volatile

solute in water) mole fraction of solute in the solution (a) 0.1 (b)
0.2 (c) 0.25 (d) 0.39 (e) 0.35 (f) 0.45 (g) 0.5 (h) 0.6 (i) 0.7

The fig.9.3 helps to find out the boiling point of solution at moderate
pressure. For example if a solution having x mole fractions of solute have
a pressure over it such that water boils at T C, by reading up from the x-
axis at T C to the line for the x mole fraction solution and then moving
horizontally to the y-axis, the boiling point of the solution can be found at
that pressure,

Module 9 : Evaporators

Lecture 39
1
 2
3

9.4 Temperature profile in an evaporator

Let us consider the case of long-tube vertical evaporator heated by steam.

After boiling and flashing of the superheated liquid, the disengagement of
the vapor and liquid occur in vapor space of the evaporator and the
recycled liquid flows down the external pipe. A part of this concentrated
liquid is withdrawn as a product and the remaining part get mixed with a
feed and again enter the evaporator tube. If T BP is the boiling of the liquid
in the evaporator as the prevailing pressure, then the temperature of the
liquid in the tube will be TBP. The temperature of the recycled stream
entering the tubes will then also be T BP, if the feed is sufficiently hot. Now,
we will imagine how the temperature is changing in the tube. Let us see
that when the liquid flows up in the tube, its temperature rises because at
the bottom of the tube the pressure is higher (vapor chamber pressure +
hydrostatic pressure + frictional loss) as compared to the top of the tube.
Therefore, a liquid starts boiling at a level when its temperature rises to its
saturation temperature at the pressure at that point. After the boiling in
between the tube, as liquid goes up in the tube, the local temperature
drops because of the reduction in the local pressure. It may also be
mentioned that as the liquid moves up it gets concentrated and thus the
boiling point of the solution also increases as the liquid traversed up in the
tube. The liquid temperature profile in the tube is shown in the fig.9.4 for
low (plot i) and high (plot ii) liquid velocity. The liquid temperature in the
tubes increases up to certain height and then the temperature decreases
due to the loss of superheat. At higher velocity the temperature raise is
less and the liquid boils near the top of the tube. The plot (iii) shows the
shell side temperature profile where steam is heating the tube. As can be
seen, the slightly superheated steam enters the shell and soon the
temperature of the steam losses its sensible heat and then condenses on
the tubes and provide the latent heat of condensation (at
temperature Tsteam) to the tube and before boiling from the shell may get
slightly sub-cooled. The plot (iv) is the boiling temperature of the water
(Tw) at the pressure in the vapor chamber. Thus, the BPE=TBP-Twand the
true temperature during force is the difference between the plot (iii) and
the plot (i) or (ii).

It can be understood with the help of the discussion and fig.9.4 that the
temperature changes all along the length of the tube. Thus, the real
temperature driving force will be the difference in steam temperature and
liquid temperature always the high. However, it is practically not easy to
determine the temperature profile in the tube. Therefore, the driving force
can be taken as (Tsteam - TBP) for the design purpose.

9.5 Heat transfer coefficient

The correlation used in the boiling and condensation may be used here. If
the evaporator operates at very high liquid velocity so that the boiling
occurs at the top end of the tube, the following correlation (eq. 9.1) may
be used,

(9.1)

where, D is the inner diameter of the tube, k is the thermal conductivity of

the liquid or solution.

Fig.9.4: Temperature profiles in an evaporator

Fouling is a concern in the evaporator; therefore the following equation

(eq.9.2) may be used for the overall heat transfer coefficient with time,

(9.2)
 where, t is the time for where the evaporator is the operation, is a
constant for a particular liquid, Udirty and Uclean all the overall heat transfer
coefficient of the dirty and clean evaporator.

Module 9 : Evaporators

Lecture 39
1
2
3

9.6 Method of feeding: Multiple effect evaporators

The fig.9.5, 9.6, 9.7, and 9.8 show the four different feeding arrangement
of feed to the evaporators. In the fig.9.5 the liquid feed is pumped into the
first effect and the partially concentrated solution is sent to the second
effect and so on. The heating steam is also sent through the first effect to
another effect. This particular strategy is known as forward feed. In the
forward feed the concentration of the liquid increases from first effect to
the subsequent effects till the last effect. It may be noted that the first
effect is that in which the fresh steam is fed, whereas the vapour
generated in the first effect is fed to the next evaporator (connected in
series with the first effect) is known as second effect and so on.

The forward feed requires a pump for feeding dilute solution to the first
effect. The first effect is generally at atmospheric pressure and the
subsequent effects are in decreasing pressure. Thus, the liquid may move
without the pump from one effect to another effect in the direction of
decreasing pressure. However, to take out the concentrated liquid from
the last effect may need a pump.

The backward feed arrangement is very common arrangement. A triple-

effect evaporator in backward arrangement is shown in the fig.9.6. In this
arrangement the dilute liquid is fed to the last effect and then pumped
through the successive effects to the first effect. The method requires
additional pumps (generally one pump in between two effects) as shown
in the fig. 9.6. Backward feed is advantageous and gives higher capacity
than the forward feed when the concentrated liquid is viscous, because
the viscous fluid is at higher temperature being in the first effect.
However, this arrangement provides lower economy as compared to
forward feed arrangement.
The combination of forward-feed and backward-feed is known as mixed
feed arrangement. In mixed feed the dilute liquid enters in between
effects, flows in forward feed to the end of the effect and then pumped
back to the first effect for final concentration. Figure 9.7 shows triple
effect mixed feed arrangement. This mixed feed arrangement eliminates
the need of a few of the pumps. Moreover, it still passes the most
concentrated liquid through the first effect, which is having higher
temperature among all the effect (being at highest pressure compared to
other effects).

Another common evaporator arrangements, which is more common in

crystallization is parallel feed where feed is admitted individually to all the
effects. Figure 9.7 shows such arrangement.

Fig.9.5: Forward feed arrangement in triple-effect evaporator

(dotted line: recycle stream)
 Fig.9.6: Backward feed arrangement in triple-effect evaporator
(dotted line: recycle stream)

Module 9 : Evaporators

Lecture 39
1
2
3
Fig.9.7: Mixed feed arrangement in triple-effect evaporator
(dotted line: recycle stream)
 Fig.9.8: Parallel feed arrangement in triple-effect evaporator

9.7 Enthalpy Balance

9.7.1 Single effect evaporator
The latent heat of condensation of the steam is transferred to the boiling
solution through the heating surface in order to vaporize the water. Thus,
two enthalpy balances are required one for the liquid and another for the
steam.

The following assumptions are required, in order to make the enthalpy

balance,
1. Flow of non-condensable is negligible
2. The superheat and sub-cooling (see fig. 9.4) of the condensable
steam is negligible
3. No solid precipitates out from the concentrating solution

The enthalpy balance for the steam side is,

Where,

rate of heat transfer through heating surface from steam

= flow rate of steam
s = latent heat of condensation of steam
hs = specific enthalpy of steam
hc = specific enthalpy of condensate

Enthalpy balance for the liquid side is (eq.9.3),

(9.3)

Where,

rate of heat transfer from heating surface to the liquid

hv = specific enthalpy of vapour
hcl = specific enthalpy of concentrated liquid
hfl = specific enthalpy of liquid feed
flow rate of liquid feed
flow rate of concentrated liquid

The enthalpy balance at steam side and liquid side will be same in the
absence of any heat loss (eq.9.4). Thus,

(9.4)

The area of heat transfer A can be calculated from

When T = (Tb - Tc);
Tb = Saturated temperature of steam in the shell
Ts = Boiling point of the solution at the prevailing pressure
UD = Overall coefficient (dirty)

9.7.2 Effect of heat of dilution

Most of the solutions when mixed or diluted at constant temperature do

not give significant heat effect. It is generally true for organic solutions
(like sugar). However, many of the inorganic solutions (like sulfuric acid,
potassium hydroxide, calcium carbonate etc.) evolve significant heat on
dilution. Therefore, an equivalent amount of heat is required (in addition
to the latent heat of vaporization), when dilute solutions of these inorganic
chemicals are concentrated. Enthalpy-concentration diagram are helpful
in order to find the enthalpy of the solution at different concentration of
these chemicals in the solution.

9.7.3 Multiple effect evaporators

The steam goes into I-effect and heat the solution by the latent heat of
condensation. If the heat required to boil the feed is negligible, it follows
that practically all this heat

must appear as latent heat in the vapor that leaves the I-effect and enter
into II-effect as steam. The temperature of the condensate leaving the II-
effect will be very near the temperature T 1 of the vapors from the boiling
liquid in the I-effect. Thus, in steady state operation all the heat that was
expanded in creating vapor in the I-effect must be given by when this
same vapor condenses in the II-effect and so on.

The heat delivered into the II-effect will be,

The
Similarly, for III-effect

(9.5)
It can be seen (eq. 9.5) that the temperature drops in a multiple effect
evaporator is approximately inversely proportional to the heat-transfer
coefficient.

The total available temperature drop will be given by eq.9.6,

(9.6)

where,
Ts : Steam temp. (I-effect); Tv3 : Vapor temperature leaving III-effect
BPE : boiling point elevation in the solution in various effects

Illustration
A triple effect forward feed evaporator is used to concentrate a liquid
which has marginal elevation in boiling point. The temperature of the
stream to the first effect is 105C, and the boiling point of the solution
within third effect is 45C. The overall heat transfer coefficients are,

2,200 W/m2: in the -effect,

1,800 W/m2: in the -effect,
1,500 W/m2: in the -effect.

Find out at what temperatures the fluid boils in the and effects.
Solution:
Assumptions
1. We may assume that there is no elevation in boiling point in the
evaporators.
2. Area of all the three evaporators are same (A = AI = AII = A)
Total temperature drop = (105-45) C = 60 C
Using eq. 9.5, the temperature drop across -effect,

Similarly, the temperature drop across -effect,

And the temperature drop across -effect,

Therefore, the boiling point in the first effect will be = (105 15.2) C =
89.8 C
Similarly, the boiling point in the second effect will be = (89.8 18.6)C =
71.2 C.

Module 9 : Evaporators

Problems

Questions for Practice (Module 9)

Q.1 What are the main differences among evaporation drying, and
distillation?
Q.2
Define capacity and economy for evaporators.

Q.3
What is the difference between natural and forced evaporator?

Q.4 Why boiling point elevation is important in evaporators?

Q.5
When and why do we prefer to use backward-feed evaporator?

Q.6
Single effect evaporator has low heat economy but still we use
it in the industries, why?

Q.7
Explain Dhring rule.
Q.8
A forced circulation evaporator is to concentrate 50,000 kg/h
of 40% KOH to 70% KOH using steam at 3 bar pressure. The
feed temperature and the condensing temperature are both at
45oC. The density of the feed solution is 1.5 gm/cm3. If the
overall heat transfer coefficient is 2 kW/m2 oC, calculate the
following,
i. the steam requirement,

ii. the heat transfer area required.

Q.9
A triple effect evaporator is to be used to produce a 60% KOH
solution from a feed containing 30% KOH. The available steam
is at 160oC, and the vapour from the last stage is condensed
at 50oC. Backward feed is used.

If equal amounts of water are removed in each effect, what

will be the concentrations in the intermediate effects, the
boiling-point elevation in each effect, and the net temperature
differences available for heat transfer?
Q.1
0 In the problem number 9, what will be the maximum number
of effects that could be used with the same terminal
temperatures and more than three effects?