UNSTEADY HEAT TRANSFER

Many heat transfer problems require the understanding of

the complete time history of the temperature variation. For
example, in metallurgy, the heat treating process can be
controlled to directly affect the characteristics of the
processed materials. Annealing (slow cool) can soften
metals and improve ductility.
On the other hand,
quenching (rapid cool) can harden the strain boundary and
increase strength. In order to characterize this transient
behavior, the full unsteady equation is needed:

T
1 T
2
2
c
k T , or
T
t
t
k
where =
is the thermal diffusivity
c

A heated/cooled body at Ti is suddenly exposed to fluid at T with a

known heat transfer coefficient . Either evaluate the temperature at a
given time, or find time for a given temperature.

Fig. 5.1

Q: How good an approximation would it be to say the annular cylinder is

more or less isothermal?
A: Depends on the relative importance of the thermal conductivity in the
thermal circuit compared to the convective heat transfer coefficient.

Biot No. Bi
Defined to describe the relative resistance in a thermal circuit of
the convection compared
hLc Lc / kA
Internal conduction resistance within solid
Bi

k
1 / hA External convection resistance at body surface
Lc is a characteristic length of the body

Bi0: No conduction resistance at all. The body is isothermal.

Small Bi: Conduction resistance is less important. The body may still
be approximated as isothermal
Lumped capacitance analysis can be performed.
Large Bi: Conduction resistance is significant. The body cannot be treated as
isothermal.

Transient heat transfer with no internal

resistance: Lumped Parameter Analysis
Valid for Bi<0.1
Solid

Total Resistance= Rexternal + Rinternal

GE:

dT
hA

T T
dt
mc p
Solution:

BC:

T t 0 Ti

let T T , therefore
d
hA

dt
mc p

Lumped Parameter Analysis

i Ti T

hA
ln

t
i
mc p

e
i

hA
t
mc p

T T
e
Ti T

mc p
hA

- To determine the temperature at a given time, or

- To determine the time required for the
temperature to reach a specified value.

Note: Temperature function only of time and not of

space!

Lumped Parameter Analysis

T T
hA
T
exp(
t)
T0 T
cV

hA

hLc k 1 1
t
t Bi 2 t

cV
Lc
k c Lc Lc
Thermal diffusivity:

k

c

(m s-1)

Lumped Parameter Analysis

Define Fo as the Fourier number (dimensionless time)

Fo

Lc

t and Biot number Bi hLC

k

The temperature variation can be expressed as

T = exp(-Bi*Fo)
where Lc is a characteristic length scale : realte to the size of the solid invloved in the problem
r
for example , Lc o (half - radius) when the solid is a cylinder.
2
r
Lc o (one - third radius) when the solid is sphere
3
Lc L (half thickness) when the solid is aplane wall with a 2L thickness

Spatial Effects and the Role of Analytical

Solutions
The Plane Wall: Solution to the Heat Equation for a Plane Wall with
Symmetrical Convection Conditions
T(x, 0) = Ti
1 T 2 T
k

a x 2
T ( x, 0) Ti
T
x

T, h

T, h

0
x 0

T
k
x

hT ( L, t ) T
x l

x= -L x*=x/L

x=+L

The Plane Wall:

Note: Once spatial variability of temperature is included,
there is existence of seven different independent
variables.
How may the functional dependence be simplified?
The answer is Non-dimensionalisation. We first need
to understand the physics behind the phenomenon,
identify parameters governing the process, and group
them into meaningful non-dimensional numbers.

 T T

i Ti T
*

Dimensionless temperature difference:

x*

Dimensionless coordinate:

Dimensionless time:

t*

The Biot Number:

Bi

x
L

Fo

hL
k solid

The solution for temperature will now be a function of the other non-dimensional
quantities

* f ( x * , Fo, Bi )

Exact Solution:

Cn exp n2 Focos n x *

n 1

4 sin n
Cn
2 n sin 2 n

n tan n Bi

The roots (eigenvalues) of the equation can be obtained from tables given in standard textbooks.

The One-Term Approximation

Fo 0.2

Variation of mid-plane temperature with time

Fo ( x * 0)

T T

C1 exp 12 Fo
Ti T
*
0

From tables given in standard textbooks, one can obtain C1

as a function of Bi.
Variation of temperature with location ( x * )

* 0* cos 1 x *
Change in thermal energy storage with time:

and

and time ( Fo ):

E st Q
sin 1 *
0
Q Q0 1
1

Q0 cV Ti T

Numerical Methods for Unsteady

Heat Transfer
Unsteady heat transfer equation, no generation, constant k, onedimensional in Cartesian coordinate:

T T
c
k
S
t x x
The term on the left hand side of above eq. is the storage term,
arising out of accumulation/depletion of heat in the domain under
consideration. Note that the eq. is a partial differential equation as a
result of an extra independent variable, time (t). The corresponding
grid system is shown in fig. on next slide.

t
(dx)w

(dx)e

w
P
W

Integration over the control volume and over a time interval

gives
t t
t t
t t
T
T

t CV c t dV dt t cv x k x dV dt t CV SdV dt
t t
t t
t t T
T T
w t c t dt dV t kA x e kA x w dt t S V dt
e

If the temperature at a node is assumed to prevail over the whole

control volume, applying the central differencing scheme, one obtains:
cT

t t

new

old
P

V
t

ke A TE TP k w A TP TW

x
xw
e

t t

dt S V dt

Now, an assumption is made about the variation of TP, TE and Tw with

time. By generalizing the approach by means of a weighting
parameter f between 0 and 1:
t t

new
old

dt

P
P t
P P
t

Repeating the same operation for points E and W,

TPnew TPold
c
t

TEnew TPnew TPnew TWnew

k w

f ke
xe
xw

TEold TPold
(1 f ) ke
xe

TPold TWold
k w
xw

S x

;
;
;
;

Upon re-arranging, dropping the superscript new, and casting the

equation into the standard form

aPTP aW fTW (1 f )TWold aE fTE (1 f )TEold

a P aW a E a

0
P

0
P

(1 f )aW (1 f )aE TPold b

x
a c
t
0
P

kw
aW
xw

aE

ke
xe

b S x

The time integration scheme would depend on the choice of the

parameter f. When f = 0, the resulting scheme is explicit; when
0 < f 1, the resulting scheme is implicit; when f = 1, the
resulting scheme is fully implicit, when f = 1/2, the resulting
scheme is Crank-Nicolson.

Variation of T within the time interval t for different schemes

T
TP old

f=0
f=0.5

TP new

f=1

t+Dt

Explicit scheme
Linearizing the source term as and setting f = 0

aPTP aW TWold aETEold aP0 (aW aE ) TPold Su

a P a P0

x
a P0 c
t

kw
aW
xw

ke
aE
xe

For stability, all coefficients must be positive in the discretized

equation. Hence,
a P0 (aW a E S P ) 0

;
;
;
;

x
k
k
c ( w e ) 0
t xw xe

x 2k
c

t x

(x) 2
t c
2k

The above limitation on time step suggests that the explicit

scheme becomes very expensive to improve spatial accuracy.
Hence, this method is generally not recommended for general
transient problems.
Crank-Nicolson scheme
Setting f = 0.5, the Crank-Nicolson discretisation becomes:
TE TEold
aPTP aE
2

1
1
a P (a E aW ) a P0 S P
2
2

TW TWold

aW
2

x
a c
t
0
P

0 aE aW 0
aP
TP b
2
2

k
aW w
xw

k
aE e
xe

1
b Su S pTpold
2

;
;

For stability, all coefficient must be positive in the discretized

equation, requiring
a a
a P0 E W
2

(x) 2
t c
k

The Crank-Nicolson scheme only slightly less restrictive than the

explicit method. It is based on central differencing and hence it is
second-order accurate in time.
The fully implicit scheme
Setting f = 1, the fully implicit discretisation becomes:

a PTP a ETE aW TW aP0 TPold

a P a P0 a E aW S P

a P0 c

x
t

kw
aW
xw

ke
aE
xe

General remarks:
A system of algebraic equations must be solved at each time
level. The accuracy of the scheme is first-order in time. The time
marching procedure starts with a given initial field of the scalar
0. The system is solved after selecting time step t. For the
implicit scheme, all coefficients are positive, which makes it
unconditionally stable for any size of time step. Hence, the
implicit method is recommended for general purpose transient
calculations because of its robustness and unconditional stability.