Lecture 3

 Specific heat &Thermal conductivity

 Heat Capacity & Thermal diffusivity
 Convection Heat Transfer

Dr. Sharu B K
Asst. Professor
Dept. of Thermal and Energy Engineering
SMEC
Office: SJT 116 A06
Email: sharu.bk@vit.ac.in
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Specific heats
 It takes different amounts of energy to raise the temperature of
different substances by the same amount

 It is desirable to have a property

that will enable us to compare the
energy storage capabilities of
various substances

 Specific heat: The energy required to raise the temperature of a

unit mass of a substance by one degree

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 Specific heats…contd.
 Specific heat value depends on how the process is executed.
Two kinds of specific heats:
 Specific heat at constant volume (cv): energy required to raise
the temperature of the unit mass of a substance by 1 °C as the
volume is maintained constant
 Specific heat at constant pressure (cp): The energy required to
raise the temperature of the unit mass of a substance by 1 °C
as the pressure is maintained constant

because at constant pressure the system is

allowed to expand and the energy for this
expansion work must also be supplied to the
system

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Unit of specific heat: kJ/kg K
Specific heat…contd.

 Specific heat is a measure of a material’s ability to store thermal

energy.

 For eg: 𝒑 𝒘𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒓 4.18 kJ/kg K &

𝒑 𝒊𝒓𝒐𝒏 kJ/kg K

which indicates that water can store almost 10 times the energy that
iron can per unit mass.

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Thermal Conductivity ( )
 Thermal conductivity (k) It is a measure of the ability of the
material to conduct heat
 of a material can be defined as the rate of heat transfer through
a unit thickness of the material per unit area per unit temperature
difference.

 Thermal conductivity determines the quantity of heat flowing per

unit time through the unit area with a temperature drop of 1 °C (K)
per unit length
 A high value for good heat conductor
 A low value for poor heat conductor or insulator
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Unit of k : W/m K
Specific heat & Thermal conductivity
 We have , k = 0.608 W/m · °C for water
k = 80.2 W/m · °C for iron
 which indicates that iron conducts heat more than 100 times faster
than water can.
 Also we have : 𝐩 𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 4.18 kJ/kg K &

𝐩 𝐢𝐫𝐨𝐧 kJ/kg K

 which indicates that water can store almost 10 times the energy
that iron can per unit mass.

 Thus water is a poor heat conductor relative to iron, although

water is an excellent medium to store thermal energy.

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The thermal conductivities of some
materials at room temperature

 Note that materials such as copper and

silver that are good electric conductors
are also good heat conductors, and have
high values of thermal conductivity
 Materials such as rubber and wood are
poor conductors of heat and have low
conductivity values.

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A simple experimental setup to determine the thermal
conductivity of a material

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The range of thermal conductivity of various materials at room temperature

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NOTE:
 Temperature is a measure of the kinetic energies of the particles
such as the molecules or atoms of a substance
 In a liquid or gas, the kinetic energy of the molecules is due to their
random translational motion as well as their vibrational and
rotational motions
 The higher the temperature, the faster the molecules move and the
higher the number of such collisions, and the better the heat
transfer

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Gases

 Thermal conductivity of gases is:

 proportional to the square root of the absolute temperature T

 inversely proportional to the square root of the molar mass M

 Hence, the thermal conductivity of a gas increases with increasing

temperature and decreasing molar mass
 Thermal conductivity of gases is independent of pressure in a wide
range of pressures encountered in practice

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Liquids
 The mechanism of heat conduction in a liquid is complicated by
the fact that the molecules are more closely spaced, and they
exert a stronger intermolecular force field.
 The thermal conductivities of liquids usually lie between those of
solids and gases
 The thermal conductivity of a substance is normally highest in the
solid phase and lowest in the gas phase.
 Unlike gases, the thermal conductivities of most liquids decrease
with increasing temperature, with water being a notable
exception.
 Like gases, the conductivity of liquids decreases with increasing
molar mass.
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Solids
 In solids, heat conduction is due to two effects: the lattice
vibrational waves & the energy transported via the free flow of
electrons in the solid
 Lattice vibrational waves are induced by the vibrational motions of
the molecules positioned at relatively fixed positions in a periodic
manner (i.e. the lattice)
 The thermal conductivity of a solid is obtained by adding the lattice
and electronic components.
 The relatively high thermal conductivities of pure metals are
primarily due to the electronic component
 The lattice component of thermal conductivity strongly depends on
the way the molecules are arranged.
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Heat Capacity & Thermal Diffusivity

Heat capacity

 Both the specific heat ) and the heat capacity ) represent

the heat storage capability of a material.
 𝒑 expresses it per unit mass whereas 𝒑 expresses it per unit
volume, as can be noticed from their units J/kg K and J/m3 K,
respectively.
 Thermal diffusivity represents how fast heat diffuses through a
material

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Thermal Diffusivity…contd.

 The thermal diffusivity of a material can be viewed as the ratio of

the heat conducted through the material to the heat stored per
unit volume
 A material that has a high thermal conductivity or a low heat
capacity will obviously have a large thermal diffusivity
 The larger the thermal diffusivity, the faster the propagation of
heat into the medium
 A small value of thermal diffusivity means that heat is mostly
absorbed by the material and a small amount of heat will be
conducted further.

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CONVECTION
 Convection is the mode of energy transfer between a solid surface
and the adjacent liquid or gas that is in motion
 The convection heat transfer mode is comprised of two
mechanisms:
 Energy transfer due to random molecular motion (diffusion)
 Energy transfer due to the bulk or macroscopic motion of the
fluid
 Thus, convection involves the combined effects of conduction and
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 54
 Consider the cooling of a hot block by blowing cool air over its top surface

 Energy is first transferred to the air layer adjacent to the block by

conduction.
 This energy is then carried away from the surface by the combined
effects of random motion of air molecules and the bulk motion of
the air 55
Boundary layer development in convection heat transfer

 Hydrodynamic or velocity
boundary layer
 Thermal boundary layer

 The contribution due to random molecular motion (diffusion)

dominates near the surface where the fluid velocity is low
 Appreciation of boundary layer phenomena is essential to
understand the convection heat transfer
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Forced convection & Natural (free) convection
 Convection heat transfer may be classified according to the nature
of the flow
 Forced convection: when the flow is caused by external means,
such as by a fan, a pump, or atmospheric winds
 Natural convection: flow is induced by buoyancy forces, which
are due to density differences caused by temperature
variations in the fluid.

Natural
Forced
(free)
convection
convection

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 Mixed convection..?
Boiling and condensation
 These are the convection processes that involve latent heat
exchange
 In boiling, convection heat transfer results from fluid motion
induced by rise of vapour bubbles generated at the bottom of
a pan of boiling water
 In condensation, convection heat transfer results from the
liquid droplets on the outer surface of a cold pipe

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