3505ENG Heat and Mass Transfer Assignment 1

Assignment 1: (Numerical Assignment)

Due Date: Thursday 27th August 2015, 4:00 pm

Please submit electronically as an excel spreadsheet file through a

submission point in the assessments folder on Learning @ Griffith
Weighting: 10% of the total marks for this course.
The report should be in the form of a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. Each question should be
on a separate page (sheet) in the excel workbook (with tabs labelled Question 1, Question 2,
etc.). Input parameters should be clearly identified with units specified. Likewise, output
parameters should also be highlighted. The spreadsheet should be user friendly so that
someone else could easily use the spreadsheet to solve the same problems but with different
input parameters.
Question 1: Composite Wall (1 mark)
A composite wall consisting of three materials A, B and C with thermal conductivities kA = 20
W/mK, kB = 8 W/mK and kC = 50 W/m.K, has warm air (32 C) on one side and cold air (17
C) on the other. The heat transfer coefficients are 4.0 W/m2K and 6.5 W/m2K for the warm
and cold sides respectively. The thicknesses are as given in the figure below. Assuming
steady-state heat conduction and neglecting contact resistance between the layers, determine
the heat flux (in W/m2) through the wall and the wall surface temperature on the cold side.

Tcold = 17 C

Twarm = 32 C
A

hcold = 6.5 W/m2K

hwarm = 4.0 W/m K

Tsurface = ?
150 mm

70 mm

30 mm

3505ENG Heat and Mass Transfer Assignment 1

Question 2: Heating a Plate (1 mark)

A solid plate of thickness 0.01 m is initially 30C and then placed in an oven at 250 C. The
plate is made of AISI 316 stainless steel and the heat transfer coefficient between the air and
the surfaces of the plate is 20 W/m2K. Determine the time it takes for the centre of the plate to
heat to 100 C. Is it justifiable to assume the temperature inside the plate is uniform? Neglect
heat transfer to the edges of the plate and neglect radiation. Determine also the time required
for the centre of a glass plate to heat to 100 C for the same conditions.
Initial temperature: 30 C
2

h = 20 W/m K

h = 20 W/m2K

T = 250 C

T = 250 C

10 mm

Question 3: Radiation heat transfer (2 marks)

For problems involving radiation and natural convection, the heat transfer often changes as a
non-linear function of the temperature of the surface and the surroundings. An aluminium
sphere of diameter 0.01 m is initially heated to 900 K and then cooled under vacuum
conditions in a vacuum chamber with wall temperature 300 K. Assume radiation heat transfer
per unit surface area of the sphere (i.e. W/m2) is given by Eq. 1 (where temperatures are in K,
the emissivity = 0.4 and is the Stephan-Boltzman constant).
4
= Tsphere
qrad
T4
(1)

Taking into account the variation of radiation heat transfer with temperature, numerically
determine the temperature of the sphere as a function of time until it cools to about 305 K.
Show your solution as a graph on the spreadsheet. (Make sure you include axis labels and
units on the graph).

3505ENG Heat and Mass Transfer Assignment 1

Question 4: Heat Transfer in 2D (6 marks)

The 316 stainless steel component shown in the figure below is part of a larger cooling system
where cold fluid (T = 20 C) in the inside channels is used to remove heat from a hotter fluid
(T = 80 C) outside. Using the method of finite differences in an excel spreadsheet,
determine the steady-state temperature distribution in the section shown in the figure. You
may treat it as a two dimensional problem (i.e. neglect temperature gradients perpendicular to
the page). From your calculated temperatures, determine the heat transfer rate (in Watts) from
the hotter fluid outside (T = 80 C) to the top surface (24 mm 60 mm). The heat transfer
coefficient for the inside of the box is 100 W/m2K and for the outside (top and bottom) 280
W/m2K. Compare your result with the expected heat transfer rate obtained from the fin theory
of chapter 3 in the textbook. (Note: If you make use of symmetry you do not need to simulate
the whole component).
T = 80 C
1 mm

h = 280 W/m K

10 mm

T = 20 C

1 mm
Perfect
insulation

1 mm

T = 20 C

Perfect
insulation

2 mm

h = 100 W/m2K

16 mm

h = 100 W/m2K
10 mm

1 mm

T = 80 C
T = 80 C
h = 280 W/m2K

Perfect
insulation

h=
100
W/m 2K

h=
100
W/m 2K

h = 280 W/m K

Perfect
insulation

60 mm

T = 80 C