Problem 12.

35
The power delivered to the wheels of a vehicle ( w ) as a function of vehicle speed (V) is given
 hp   hp  2
by: w  0.3937  hp   0.6300   V  0.01417  2 
V where power is in horsepower and
 mph   mph 
velocity is in mph. The amount of heat rejected from the engine block ( qb ) is approximately
equal to the amount of power delivered to the wheel (the rest of the energy from the fuel leaves
with the exhaust gas). The heat is removed from the engine by pumping water through the
engine block with a mass flow rate of m = 0.80 kg/s. The thermal communication between the
engine block and the cooling water is very good, therefore you may assume that the water will
exit the engine block at the engine block temperature (Tb). For the purpose of this problem you
may model the water as having constant properties that are consistent with liquid water at 70°C.
The heat is rejected from the water to the surrounding air using a radiator. When the car is
moving, air is forced through the radiator due to the dynamic pressure associated with the
relative motion of the car with respect to the air. That is, the air is forced through the radiator by
a pressure difference that is equal to equal to a V2/2 where a is the density of air. Assume that
the temperature of the ambient air is T∞ = 35°C and model the air in the radiator assuming that it
has constant properties consistent with this temperature.

m  0.8 kg/s
water exits at Tb

L = 10 cm qb
W = 50 cm

engine block

radiator
pf = 1.2 mm

air at T  35C

The radiator has a plate-fin geometry. There are a series of tubes installed in closely spaced
metal plates that serve as fins. The fin pitch is pf = 1.2 mm and therefore there are W/pf plates
available for heat transfer. The heat exchanger core has overall width W = 50 cm, height H = 30
cm (into the page), and length (in the flow direction) of L = 10 cm. For the purpose of modeling
the air-side of the core you may assume that the air flow is consistent with an internal flow
through rectangular ducts with dimension H x pf. Assume that the fins are 100% efficient and
neglect the thermal resistance between the fluid and the internal surface of the tubes. Also
neglect convection from the external surfaces of the tubes as well as the reduction in the area of
the plates associated with the presence of the tubes.
a.) Using the information above, develop an EES model that will allow you to predict the engine
block temperature as a function of vehicle velocity. Prepare a plot showing Tb vs V and
explain the shape of the plot (if necessary, produce additional plots to help with your
explanation). If the maximum allowable temperature for the engine block is 100°C (in order
 to prevent vaporization of the water) then what range of vehicle speeds are allowed? You
should see both a minimum and maximum limit.

The inputs are entered in EES:

$UnitSystem SI MASS RAD PA K J

$Tabstops 0.2 0.4 0.6 3.5 in

V_mph=10 [mph] "Vehicle velocity (mph)"

V=V_mph*convert(mph,m/s) "velocity in m/s"
a_0=-0.3937 [hp]*convert(hp,W) "coefficients for power curve"
a_1=0.63 [hp/mph]*convert(hp/mph,W-s/m)
a_2=0.01417 [hp/mph^2]*convert(hp/mph^2,W-s^2/m^2)
m_dot_w=0.8 [kg/s] "mass flow rate of water"
W=0.50 [m] "width of radiator (m)"
H=0.30 [m] "
L=0.10 [m] "length of radiator (m)"
p_f=0.0012 [m] "fin pitch (m)"
t_f=0.0002 [m] "fin thickness (m)"
T_infinity=converttemp(C,K,35 [C]) "ambient temperature"

The wheel power is computed according to the equation given in the problem statement and set
equal to the heat transfer.

w_dot=a_0+a_1*V+a_2*V^2 "power curve"

q_dot=w_dot "heat removed from engine"

The specific heat capacity of the water (cw) and the properties of the air (ca, a, a, ka, a, a, and
Pra) are computed:

T_w=converttemp(C,K,70 [C]) "temperature for properties of water"

P_w=100000 [Pa] "atmospheric pressure"
c_w=cp(Water,T=T_w,P=P_w) "specific heat"

P_a=100000 [Pa] "air pressure"

c_a=cP(Air,T=T_infinity) "specific heat of air"
rho_a=density(Air,T=T_infinity,P=P_a) "density of air"
mu_a=viscosity(Air,T=T_infinity) "viscosity of air"
k_a=conductivity(Air,T=T_infinity) "thermal conductivity of air"
alpha_a=k_a/(rho_a*c_a) "thermal diffusivity of air"
nu_a=mu_a/rho_a "kinematic viscosity of air"
Pr_a=nu_a/alpha_a "Prandtl number of air"

The mass flow rate of the air ( m a ) is assumed. The hydraulic diameter and cross-sectional area
of the air passages are computed according to:

Dhyd  2  p f  t f  (1)

Ac  W H
p f tf  (2)
pf
The mean velocity of the air in the duct is:

m a
ua  (3)
 a Ac

The Reynolds number is:

ua  a Dhyd
Re  (4)
a

The DuctFlow_N procedure in EES is used to obtain the average Nusselt number, Nu , and
average friction factor, f .

m_dot_a=0.5 [kg/s] "guess for mass flow rate of air"

D_hyd=2*(p_f-t_f) "hydraulic diameter"
A_c=W*H*(p_f-t_f)/p_f "cross sectional area"
u_a=m_dot_a/(rho_a*A_c) "air velocity"
Re_a=u_a*rho_a*D_hyd/mu_a "Reynolds number for air"
call DuctFlow_N(Re_a,Pr_a,L/D_hyd, p_f/H,0 [-]: Nusselt_T_bar, Nusselt_H_bar, f_bar)

The pressure drop across the heat exchanger is computed according to:

f  a ua2 L
pa  (5)
2 Dhyd

The dynamic pressure rise created by the vehicle motion is:

a V 2
pdyn  (6)
2

DELTAP_a=0.5*f_bar*rho_a*u_a^2*(L/D_hyd) "pressure drop for air"

DELTAP_dyn=0.5*rho_a*V^2 "dynamic pressure produced by vehicle motion"

The problem is solved and the guess values are updated. The assumed value of m a is
commented out and the pressure drop across the heat exchanger is set equal to the dynamic
pressure rise.

{m_dot_a=0.5 [kg/s]} "guess for mass flow rate of air"

DELTAP_a=DELTAP_dyn "set dynamic pressure rise and pressure drop equal"

The average air-side heat transfer coefficient is computed according to:

 ka
ha  Nu (7)
Dhyd

The conductance of the heat exchanger is:

W
UA  ha 2H L (8)
pf

h_bar_a=Nusselt_T_bar*k_a/D_hyd "heat transfer coefficient"

UA=h_bar_a*(W/p_f)*H*L*2 "conductance on the heat exchanger"

The capacitance rate of the air and water are computed according to:

C w  m w cw (9)

C a  m a ca (10)

The minimum capacitance rate ( C min ) is identified and the number of transfer units is computed:

UA
NTU   (11)
Cmin

The effectiveness of the radiator () is computed using the HX function. The engine block
temperature is computed according to:

q   C min Tb  T  (12)

h_bar_a=Nusselt_T_bar*k_a/D_hyd "heat transfer coefficient"

UA=h_bar_a*(W/p_f)*H*L*2 "conductance on the heat exchanger"
C_dot_w=m_dot_w*c_w "capacitance rate of the water"
C_dot_a=m_dot_a*c_a "capacitance rate of the air"
C_dot_min=Min(C_dot_w,C_dot_a) "minimum capacitance rate"
NTU=UA/C_dot_min "number of transfer units"
eff=HX('crossflow_both_unmixed', NTU, C_dot_a, C_dot_w, 'epsilon') "effectiveness"
q_dot=eff*C_dot_min*(T_b-T_infinity) "solve for engine block temperature"
T_b_C=converttemp(K,C,T_b) "in C"

Figure 2 illustrates the engine block temperature as a function of vehicle speed and shows both a
lower speed limit where the dynamic pressure is insufficient to force a sufficient air flow through
the radiator as well as an upper speed limit where the heat transfer to the radiator is too high.
 115
110

Engine block temperature (°C)

105
100
95
90
85
80
75
70
65
60
55
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Vehicle velocity (mile/hr)
Figure 2: Engine block temperature as a function of vehicle velocity.

Its not easy to overcome the maximum speed limit identified (a); however, to overcome the
minimum speed limit (so that you can pull up to a stop sign without your car overheating) you
decide to add a fan. The fan can provide at most 500 cfm ( Vo - the open circuit flow) and can
produce at most 2.0 inch H2O (pdh - the dead-head pressure). The transition from open circuit to
 V 
dead-head is linear. The fan curve is given by: p fan  pdh 1  

 Vo 
b.) Modify your code to simulate the situation where the air is provided by the fan rather than
the vehicle motion. Overlay a plot showing Tb vs V for this configuration on the one from
(a); have you successfully overcome the lower speed limitation?

The fan characteristics are entered:

"air provided by fan"

V_dot_o_cfm=500 [cfm] "maximum velocity of fan"
V_dot_o=V_dot_o_cfm*convert(ft^3/min,m^3/s) "convert to SI"
DELTAP_dh_inH2O=2 [inH2O] "maximum pressure drop"
DELTAp_dh=DELTAP_dh_inH2O*convert(inH2O,Pa) "convert to SI"

The volumetric flow rate of air is computed:

m
Va  (13)
a

and the equation in the problem statement is used to compute the pressure rise caused by the fan:

V_dot_a=m_dot_a/rho_a "volumetric flow rate of air"

DELTAP_f=DELTAP_dh*(1-V_dot_a/V_dot_o) "fan curve"

The pressure drop across the heat exchanger is set equal to the pressure rise produce by the fan
rather than the dynamic pressure rise:
{DELTAP_a=DELTAP_dyn} "set dynamic pressure rise and pressure drop equal"
DELTAP_a=DELTAP_f "set equal to the pressure drop of the air"

Figure 3 illustrates the engine block temperature as a function of vehicle speed using the fan
overlaid onto Figure 2. Note that the addition of the fan maintains the engine at a reasonable
temperature even at very low speed.
115
110
Engine block temperature (°C)

105
100
95
90
85 without fan
80
75 with fan
70
65
60
55
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Vehicle velocity (mile/hr)
Figure 3: Engine block temperature as a function of vehicle velocity with fan and without fan.