CHAPTER 2:

THE BASIC MODES OF

HEAT TRANSFER (PART II)
CH2035 FOOD ENGINEERING 2
Semester 1, 2024-2025

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 OUTLINE:
▪Convective Heat Transfer
▪Estimation of Convective
Heat-Transfer Coefficient
▪Radiation

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CONVECTIVE HEAT TRANSFER
▪ Convection is the mode of energy transfer between a solid
surface & the adjacent liquid or gas that is in motion, and it
involves the combined effects of conduction & fluid
motion.
➢ The faster the fluid motion, the greater the convection heat
transfer.
➢ In the absence of any bulk fluid motion, heat transfer
between a solid surface and the adjacent fluid is by pure
conduction.
➢ The presence of bulk motion of the fluid enhances the heat
transfer between the solid surface and the fluid, but it also
complicates the determination of heat transfer rates.
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CONVECTIVE HEAT TRANSFER
▪ Consider the cooling of a hot block by
blowing cool air over its top surface.
➢Heat is first transferred to the air layer
adjacent to the block by conduction.
➢This heat is then carried away from the
surface by convection, that is, by the Fig. 1: Heat transfer
combined effects of conduction within from a hot surface
the air that is due to random motion of to air by convection.
air molecules and the bulk or
macroscopic motion of the air that
removes the heated air near the surface
and replaces it by the cooler air.
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CONVECTIVE HEAT TRANSFER
▪ Convection is called forced convection if the fluid is forced
to flow over the surface by external means such as a fan,
pump, or the wind.
➢ In contrast, convection is called natural (or free)
convection if the fluid motion is caused by buoyancy
forces that are induced by density differences due to the
variation of temperature in the fluid.

Fig 2: The cooling of a

boiled egg by forced and
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natural convection.
CONVECTIVE HEAT TRANSFER
▪ In the absence of a fan, heat transfer from the surface of the hot
block in Fig. 1 is by natural convection since any motion in the
air in this case is due to the rise of the warmer (and thus lighter)
air near the surface and the fall of the cooler (and thus
heavier) air to fill its place.
➢ Heat transfer between the block & the surrounding air is by
conduction if the temperature difference between the air &
the block is not large enough to overcome the resistance of air
to movement & thus to initiate natural convection currents.
➢ Heat transfer processes that involve change of phase of a fluid
are also considered to be convection because of the fluid
motion induced during the process, such as the rise of the
vapor bubbles during boiling or the fall of the liquid droplets
during condensation. bblee@unimap.edu.my
 CONVECTIVE HEAT TRANSFER
▪ Despite the complexity of convection, the rate of convection
heat transfer is observed to be proportional to the
temperature difference, and is conveniently expressed by
Newton’s law of cooling as
ሶ = ℎ𝐴𝑆 𝑇𝑆 − 𝑇∞
𝑄𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑣
➢ where h is the convection heat transfer coefficient in W/m2 ·
°C or Btu/h · ft2 ·°F,
➢ As is the surface area through which convection heat transfer
takes place,
➢ Ts is the surface temperature (hot side), and 𝑇∞ is the
temperature of the fluid (cold side) sufficiently far from the
surface.
▪ Note that at the surface, the fluid temperature equals the surface
temperature of the solid.
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CONVECTIVE HEAT TRANSFER
▪ The convection heat transfer coefficient h is not a
property of the fluid.
➢It is an experimentally determined parameter whose
value depends on all the variables influencing convection
such as the surface geometry, the nature of fluid motion,
the properties of the fluid, and the bulk fluid velocity.

Table 1: Some Approximate

Values of Convective Heat-
Transfer Coefficient
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CONVECTIVE HEAT TRANSFER
▪ Some people do not consider
convection to be a fundamental
mechanism of heat transfer since it is
essentially heat conduction in the
presence of fluid motion.
➢ This combined phenomenon is
commonly known as conduction
with fluid motion.
➢ Thus, it is practical to recognize Fig. 3: Convective heat
convection as a separate heat flow from the surface of a
transfer mechanism despite the flat plate.
valid arguments to the contrary.
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CONVECTIVE HEAT TRANSFER
EXAMPLE 1:
▪ Determine the heat transfer by convection over a surface of 0.5
m2 area if the surface is at 160°C and fluid is at 40°C.
➢ The value of convective heat transfer coefficient is 25 W/m2.K.
➢ Also estimate the temperature gradient at the surface given k
= 1 W/mK.
▪ SOLUTION:
➢ Q = hA (T1 – T2) = 25 × 0.5 × (160 – 40) W = 1500 W or 1.5 kW
➢ The resistance = 1/hA = 1/25 × 0.5 = 0.08°C/W.
➢ Q = – kA dT/dx,
❖ The fluid has a conductivity of 1 W/mK, then the temperature
gradient at the surface,
❖ dT/dx = – Q/kA = – 1500/1.0 × 0.5 = – 3000°C/m.
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CONVECTIVE HEAT TRANSFER
EXAMPLE 2:
▪ The rate of heat transfer per unit area from
a metal plate is 1000 W/m 2. The surface
temperature of the plate is 120°C, and
ambient temperature is 20°C. Estimate the Fig. 4: Convective
convective heat transfer coefficient. heat transfer from
SOLUTION: a plate.
Since the rate of heat transfer per unit area is known, the
convective heat transfer coefficient can be estimated directly
from Newton’s law of cooling:

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 ESTIMATION OF CONVECTIVE HEAT-TRANSFER COEFFICIENT
▪ Conduction is the main mode of heat transfer within solids.
➢The heat transfer between a solid and a surrounding fluid
is a mode of heat transfer called convection.
➢The material (a fluid) experiencing heating or
cooling also moves.
➢The movement of fluid may be due to the
natural buoyancy effects or caused by
artificial means, such as a blower for air or
a pump for liquid.

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ESTIMATION OF CONVECTIVE HEAT-TRANSFER COEFFICIENT
▪ Determination of the rate of heat transfer due to convection
is complicated because of the presence of fluid motion.
➢ Solving these problems involved the mathematics via
analytical analysis which is complicated.
➢ Empirical approach is widely used as an alternative way
to determine the rate of convective heat transfer.
➢ A drawback of the empirical approach is that it requires a
large number of experiments to obtain the required data.
➢ However, dimensionless numbers correlations are used to
keep the data analysis manageable.
➢ The required dimensionless numbers: Reynolds number,
Re, Nusselt number, Nu, & Prandtl number, Pr .
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 ESTIMATION OF CONVECTIVE HEAT-TRANSFER COEFFICIENT
▪ Reynolds number (Re):
➢ Reynolds number provides an indication of the inertial &
viscous forces present in a fluid.
𝑰𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒂 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒄𝒆 𝝆𝒗𝑫
𝑹𝒆 = =
𝒗𝒊𝒔𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒄𝒆 𝝁
▪ Nusselt number (Nu):
➢ Nusselt number is the dimensionless form of convective
heat transfer coefficient, h.
➢ Nusselt number is the ratio of convective to conductive
heat transfer across a boundary.
𝑪𝒐𝒏𝒗𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒔𝒇𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝑳
𝑵𝒖 = =
𝑪𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒖𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒔𝒇𝒆𝒓 𝒌𝒇
ESTIMATION OF CONVECTIVE HEAT-TRANSFER COEFFICIENT
➢ Consider a fluid layer of thickness l, as
shown in Fig. 5.
➢ The temperature difference between the
top and bottom of the layer is Δ T.
➢ If the fluid is stationary, then the rate of
heat transfer will be due to conduction: Fig. 5: Heat
∆𝑻 transfer through
ሶ
𝑸 = -kA a fluid layer.
𝒍
➢ However, if the fluid layer is moving,
then the heat transfer will be due to
convection, and the rate of heat transfer
using Newton’s law of cooling will be:
𝑸ሶ = 𝒉𝑨 ∆𝑻
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 ESTIMATION OF CONVECTIVE HEAT-TRANSFER COEFFICIENT
▪ The thickness l can be replaced with pipe diameter D,
𝒉𝑨 ∆𝑻 𝒉𝑫
𝑵𝒖 = =
𝒌𝑨 ∆𝑻Τ𝑫 𝒌
➢ The fact that by blowing air over a hot surface, it can be
cooled faster due to increased Nusselt number and
consequently to an increased rate of heat transfer.
▪ Prandtl number (Pr):
➢ Prandtl number describes the thickness of
the hydrodynamic boundary layer
compared with the thermal boundary layer.
➢ It is the ratio between the molecular
diffusivity of momentum to the molecular
diffusivity of heat.
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ESTIMATION OF CONVECTIVE HEAT-TRANSFER COEFFICIENT
𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑟 𝑑𝑖𝑓𝑓𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑢𝑚
𝑃𝑟 =
𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑟 𝑑𝑖𝑓𝑓𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑜𝑓 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑡
𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑐 𝑣𝑖𝑠𝑐𝑜𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑣 𝜇𝑐𝑝
= = =
𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑙 𝑑𝑖𝑓𝑓𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝛼 𝑘
➢where cp is specific heat, & k is thermal conductivity.
➢If Pr = 1, the thickness of the hydrodynamic and thermal
boundary layers is exactly the same.
➢If Pr << 1, the molecular diffusivity of heat will be much
larger than that of momentum.
➢The heat will dissipate much faster, as in the case of a
liquid metal flowing in a pipe.
➢Pr is about 0.7 for gasses, & Pr is around 10 for water.
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ESTIMATION OF CONVECTIVE HEAT-TRANSFER COEFFICIENT
▪ The Nusselt number for heat
transfer of a flat heated plate as a
function of the Reynolds number
for different values of the Prandtl
number is plotted in Fig. 6.
➢ This type of graphical relationship
is conveniently expressed with
reasonable accuracy by a simple
power-law relation of the form:
Nu = C Rem Pr n
where m & n are constant Fig. 6: The convective heat transfer of
exponents, & the value of the a flat plat (L = 1m) in different flow
constant C depends on geometry regimes for Nusselt number and
and flow. Prandtl number of different fluids
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RADIATION
▪ Radiation is the energy emitted by matter in the form of
electromagnetic waves (or photons) as a result of the
changes in the electronic configurations of the atoms or
molecules.
➢ Unlike conduction and convection, the transfer of heat by
radiation does not require the presence of an intervening
medium.
➢ In fact, heat transfer by radiation is fastest (at the speed of
light) and it suffers no attenuation
in a vacuum.
➢ This is how the energy of
the sun reaches the earth.
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RADIATION
▪ In heat transfer studies, thermal radiation is interested , which
is the form of radiation emitted by bodies because of their
temperature.
➢It differs from other forms of electromagnetic radiation
such as x-rays, gamma rays, microwaves, radio waves, and
television waves that are not related to temperature.
➢All bodies at a temperature above absolute zero emit
thermal radiation.
▪ Radiation is a volumetric phenomenon, and all solids,
liquids, and gases emit, absorb, or transmit radiation to
varying degrees.

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RADIATION
➢However, radiation is usually considered to be a
surface phenomenon for solids that are opaque
to thermal radiation such as metals, wood, &
rocks since the radiation emitted by the interior
regions of such material can never reach the
surface.
➢ the radiation incident on such bodies is usually absorbed
within a few microns from the surface.
▪ The maximum rate of radiation that can be emitted from a
surface at a thermodynamic temperature Ts (in K or R) is
given by the Stefan–Boltzmann law as:

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RADIATION
➢ where σ = 5.670 x 10-8 W/m2 · K4 or 0.1714 x 10-8 Btu/h · ft2 ·
R4 is the Stefan–Boltzmann constant.
➢ The idealized surface that emits radiation at this
maximum rate is called a blackbody, and the radiation
emitted by a blackbody is called blackbody radiation.
➢ The radiation emitted by all real surfaces is less than the
radiation emitted by a blackbody at the same temperature,
and is expressed as:
➢ where ε is the emissivity of the surface.
➢ The property emissivity, whose value is in the range 0 ≤ ε ≤
1, is a measure of how closely a surface approximates a
blackbody for which ε ≤ 1.
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RADIATION Table 2:
▪ Another important radiation property of a Emissivities of
surface is its absorptivity α, which is the some materials
fraction of the radiation energy incident on a
surface that is absorbed by the surface. at 300 K
➢ Like emissivity, its value is in the range 0 ≤ α
≤ 1.
➢ A blackbody absorbs the entire radiation
incident on it.
➢ That is, a blackbody is a perfect absorber (α
≤ 1) as it is a perfect emitter.
➢ In general, both ε and α of a surface depend
on the temperature and the wavelength of
the radiation.
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RADIATION
▪ Kirchhoff’s law of radiation states that the emissivity and
the absorptivity of a surface at a given temperature and
wavelength are equal.
➢In many practical applications, the surface temperature and
the temperature of the source of incident radiation are of
the same order of magnitude, & the average absorptivity
of a surface is taken to be equal to its average emissivity.
➢The rate at which a surface absorbs radiation is calculated
from:

Fig.6: The absorption of radiation incident

on an opaque surface of absorptivity α. bblee@unimap.edu.my
RADIATION
➢ where 𝑄ሶ 𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑡 is the rate at which radiation is incident on
the surface and α is the absorptivity of the surface.
➢ For opaque (nontransparent) surfaces, the portion of
incident radiation not absorbed by the surface is reflected
back.
▪ The difference between the rates of radiation emitted by
the surface and the radiation absorbed is the net radiation
heat transfer.
➢If the rate of radiation absorption is greater than the rate
of radiation emission, the surface is said to be gaining
energy by radiation.
➢Otherwise, the surface is said to be losing energy by
radiation.
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 RADIATION
▪ In general, the determination of the net rate of
heat transfer by radiation between two
surfaces is a complicated matter since it
depends on the properties of the surfaces, their
orientation relative to each other, and the
interaction of the medium between the
surfaces with radiation. Fig. 7: Radiation
▪ When a surface of emissivity ε and surface heat transfer
area As at a thermodynamic temperature Ts is between a
completely enclosed by a much larger (or surface and the
black) surface at thermodynamic
temperature Tsurr separated by a gas (such as surfaces
air) that does not intervene with radiation, the surrounding it
net rate of radiation heat transfer between
these two surfaces is given by:
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RADIATION
▪ Radiation heat transfer to or from a surface surrounded
by a gas such as air occurs parallel to conduction (or
convection, if there is bulk gas motion) between the surface
and the gas.
➢Thus the total heat transfer is determined by adding the
contributions of both heat transfer mechanisms.
➢For simplicity and convenience, this is often done by
defining a combined heat transfer coefficient hcombined
that includes the effects of both convection and radiation.
➢Then the total heat transfer rate to or from a surface by
convection and radiation is expressed as:

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RADIATION
▪ Note that the combined heat
transfer coefficient is essentially
a convection heat transfer
coefficient modified to include
the effects of radiation.

➢ Radiation is usually significant relative to conduction or

natural convection, but negligible relative to forced
convection.
➢ Thus radiation in forced convection applications is usually
disregarded, especially when the surfaces involved have
low emissivities and low to moderate temperatures.
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RADIATION
EXAMPLE 3:
▪ Calculate the rate of heat energy emitted by
100 m2 of a polished iron surface (emissivity, ε
= 0.06). The temperature of the surface is 37°C.
SOLUTION:
➢ Use the Stefan–Boltzmann law equation to Heat transfer
calculate the rate of heat transfer due to from a plate
radiation.

➢ The total energy emitted by the polished iron

surface is 3141 W. bblee@unimap.edu.my
RADIATION
EXAMPLE 4:
▪ Consider a person standing in a breezy
room at 20°C.
➢Determine the total rate of heat transfer
from this person if the exposed surface
area and the average outer surface
temperature of the person are 1.6 m2 and
29°C, respectively,.
➢It is given that the convection heat Heat transfer
transfer coefficient is 6 W/m2 · K, from the person
emissivity, ε = 0.95, the Stefan-Boltzmann
constant, σ = 5.670 x 10-8 W/m2 · K4
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RADIATION
SOLUTION:
➢The heat transfer between the person and the air in the
room is by convection (instead of conduction) since it is
conceivable that the air in the vicinity of the skin or clothing
warms up and rises as a result of heat transfer from the body,
initiating natural convection currents.
➢It appears that the experimentally determined value for the
rate of convection heat transfer in this case is 6 W per unit
surface area (m2) per unit temperature difference (in K or
°C) between the person and the air away from the person.
➢Thus, the rate of convection heat transfer from the person
to the air in the room is:
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RADIATION

➢ The person also loses heat by radiation to the surrounding

wall surfaces.
➢ Taking the temperature of the surfaces of the walls, ceiling, and
floor to be equal to the air temperature in this case for
simplicity, but this does not need to be the case.
➢ These surfaces may be at a higher or lower temperature than
the average temperature of the room air, depending on the
outdoor conditions and the structure of the walls.
➢ Considering that air does not intervene with radiation and
the person is completely enclosed by the surrounding surfaces,
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 RADIATION
➢ the net rate of radiation heat transfer from the person to
the surrounding walls, ceiling, and floor is:

➢ Thermodynamic temperatures is used in radiation

calculations.
➢ The emissivity value for the skin and clothing at room
temperature since the emissivity is not expected to
change significantly at a slightly higher temperature.
➢ The rate of total heat transfer from the body is determined
by adding these two quantities:
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RADIATION
EXAMPLE 5:
➢ A thin metal plate is insulated on the back and
exposed to solar radiation at the front surface.
➢ The exposed surface of the plate has an
absorptivity of 0.6 for solar radiation.
➢ If solar radiation is incident on the plate at a rate
of 700 W/m2 and the surrounding air temperature
is 25°C, determine the surface temperature of the
plate when the heat loss by convection and
radiation equals the solar energy absorbed by
the plate.
➢ Assume the combined convection and radiation
heat transfer coefficient to be 50 W/m2 · °C.
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 RADIATION
▪ SOLUTION:
➢ The back side of the thin metal plate is insulated and the front
side is exposed to solar radiation.
➢ The absorptivity of the plate is 0.6, and thus 60 percent of the
solar radiation incident on the plate is absorbed continuously.
➢ As a result, the temperature of the plate rises, & the temperature
difference between the plate & the surroundings increases.
➢ This increasing temperature difference causes the rate of heat
loss from the plate to the surroundings to increase.
➢ At some point, the rate of heat loss from the plate equals the rate
of solar energy absorbed, and the temperature of the plate no
longer changes.
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RADIATION
➢ The temperature of the plate when steady operation is
established is determined from:

➢ Solving for Ts and substituting, the plate surface temperature is

determined to be:

➢ Note that the heat losses prevent the plate temperature from
rising above 33.4°C.
➢ Also, the combined heat transfer coefficient accounts for the
effects of both convection and radiation. bblee@unimap.edu.my