MEHB323 Heat Transfer

Tutorial Assignment Set No. 6

1. Consider one-dimensional steady heat conduction in the radial direction of a hollow
cylinder. The thermal conductivity of the cylinder is 1.5 W/mK. The inner wall of the
cylinder has a radius of 35 mm and is subjected to a heat flux of 1 kW/m2. The thickness
of the cylinder wall is 50 mm. The outer wall of the cylinder is exposed to an airflow at
70C and velocity of 12 m/s.
a) Calculated the temperature of the inner wall of the cylinder.
b) At which radial location do you think the cylinder has highest temperature?
Tmax = 100.08C
2. Electrical current flows through a long rod with radius rr = 0.01 m generating thermal
energy at a uniform volumetric rate of q = 2 106 W/m3. The rod is concentric with a
hollow ceramic cylinder, creating an enclosure that is filled with air as shown below. The
hollow ceramic cylinder has inner and outer radius of ri = 0.02 m and ro = 0.06 m,
respectively, and the conductivity k = 1.75 W/mK. Neglecting the radiation heat transfer
within the enclosure, the convection coefficient in the enclosure is h = 20 W/m2K. The
outer surface of the hollow cylinder is exposed to cold air at cross flow over the cylinder
= 100 W/m2.
with T = 27C and velocity of 20 m/s while absorbs a radiant flux of q rad
Under steady condition, construct a thermal circuit that can be used to calculate the surface
temperature of the rod, Tr and calculate the surface temperature of the rod, Tr.

= 100 W/m2
qrad
Ceramic

Enclosure, air space

Tr
Rod

Tr = 862.48C
3. A proposal to store naturally occurred radioactive materials (NORM) in a 0.25 m3 rigid
spherical vessel constructed from aluminium alloy 2024-T6. The thickness of the
vessel is 10 cm. In order to protect the vessel from corrosive environment, the outer
surface is wrapped by a stainless still (AISI 302) lining. The NORM generates 0.30
MW/m3 of heat. The wrapped vessel is to be submerged in a stream of flowing water
that is at an average temperature of 20C and velocity of 0.03 m/s. Evaluate the
materials properties at room temperature (27C).
(a) Design a suitable thickness of the stainless still (AISI 302) lining for safe storing of
the NORM.
(b) What is the outer surface temperature of the lining?
No fixed answer. Note: in the absent of surface temperature, it can assume s
1

MEHB323 Heat Transfer

Tutorial Assignment Set No. 6
4. For household water heating purpose, a plastic (kp = 0.23 W/mK) pipe carrying hot
water at an average temperature of 90C as shown below. The average convection heat
transfer coefficients between the hot water and the inner wall of the pipe is estimated
to be 1500 W/m2K while ambient air at 27C and effectively 5 m/s is flowing across
the outer surface of the pipe. For a unit length of the pipe (L = 1 m), design the pipe
dimensions (i.e. diameters and thickness) in order to ensure the outer surface of the pipe
is at safe-to-touch condition, which is below 40C. (Hint: in common practice, the outer
diameter of a household water heater pipe is within the range of 2 to 4 cm).
No fixed answer

5. Given a composite wall as shown below with kB = 1.0W/mK, kC = 1.5W/mK, kD = 2.0

W/mK, and L = H = 1m. The right-hand side of wall D is exposed to a parallel airflow
from bottom to top at T = 27oC and velocity of 5 m/s. Wall A experiences uniform
volumetric heat generation of q 250W/m 3 . Assuming one-dimensional conduction
with constant properties and steady state condition, determine the inner wall surface
temperature of wall D labeled as TD.
Perfect Insulation

Wall B
Wall A

Wall
D

Wall C
TD

0.5H
L

T = 20oC
h = 25W/m2K

0.5L

TD = 118.15C

6. A 3-mm-diameter electrical wire is insulated by a rubberized sheath (k = 0.13 W/mK).

The wire is exposed to air environment with average air velocity of 0.3 m/s in cross
flow over the insulated wire. With the electrical current flowing through, the outer
surface of the wire has a temperature of 50C. The outer surface of the insulation must
be kept at safe-to-touch temperature of 40C or below. Design a suitable thickness of
the insulation in order to allow the use of such insulated wire in a room temperature
ranges between 25C to 30C.
No fixed answer, may start with the thickness of 3 to 4 mm for the insulation

MEHB323 Heat Transfer

Tutorial Assignment Set No. 6
7. An incandescent lightbulb is inexpensive but highly inefficient that converts electrical
energy into light. It converts about 5 percent of the electrical energy it consumes into
light while converting the remaining 95 percent into heat. The glass bulb of the lamp
heats up very quickly as a result of absorbing all that heat and dissipating it to the
surroundings by convection and radiation. A company is producing 60-W lightbulbs to
be installed in a room where the air temperature varies in the range of 18 - 25oC. The
lightbulb can be modelled as sphere in shape and to be cooled by a fan that blows air to
the bulb at a velocity of 2.7 m/s. Assuming 57-W of the energy is absorbed by the glass
bulb itself and dissipated to the air through convection only by neglecting the radiation
effect, design the diameter of the glass bulb so that its surface temperature does not
exceed 100oC under the steady-state condition.
No fixed answer, try to start with a realistic size of a 60-W incandescent lightbulb