Gazi University

Department of Chemical Engineering

PROBLEM SET 1

1. One face of a copper plate, which is 3 cm thick, is maintained at 400oC and the other face
is maintained at 100oC. How much heat is transferred through the plate?
2. Air at 20oC blows over a hot plate 50 by 75 cm maintained at 250oC. The convection heat
transfer coefficient is 25 W/m2-K. Calculate the heat transfer rate.
3. An electric current is passed thorough a wire 1 mm in diameter and 10 cm long. The wire
is submerged in liquid water at atmospheric pressure and the current is increased until
the water boils. For this situation h=5000 W/m2-K, and the water temperature will be
100oC. How much electric power must be supplied to the wire to maintain the wire
surface at 114oC?
4. An industrial furnace has walls made up of fireclay bricks. The inside surface temperature
of the wall is 800oC and the temperature of the outside surface, exposed to the
atmosphere, is 200oC. The thickness of the wall is 40 cm. Find the heat loss through unit
area of the wall.
5. The wall of a building is a composite consisting of a 100mm layer of common brick, a
100mm layer of glass fiber (paper faced, 28 kg/m3), a 10mm layer of gypsum plaster
(vermiculate), and a 6mm layer of pine panel. If the inside convection coefficient is 10
W/m2-K and the outside convection coefficient is 70 W/m2-K, what are the total
resistance and the overall coefficient for heat transfer?
6. A steam pipe of 0.12m outside diameter is insulated with a layer of calcium silicate. If the
insulation is 20 mm thick and its inner and outer surfaces are maintained at 800 and 490
K, respectively, what is the heat loss per unit length of the pipe?
7. Steam at a temperature of 250oC flows through a steel pipe of 60 mm inside diameter
and 75 mm outside diameter. The convection coefficient between steam and inner
surface of the pipe is 500 W/m2-K, while that between the outer surface of the
pipe and the surroundings is 25 W/m2-K. The pipe emissivity is 0.8, and the temperature
of the air and the surroundings is 20oC. What is the heat loss per unit length of pipe?
8. It is desired to determine the effect of adding a layer of magnesia insulation to the steam
pipe of the 8th problem of the previous problem set. The convection coefficient at the
outer surface of the insulation may be assumed to remain at 25 W/m2-K. Radiation effect
can be ignored. Determine and plot the heat loss per unit length of the pipe and the outer
surface temperature as a function of insulation thickness. If the cost of generating the
steam is $4/109 J and the steam line operates 7000 h/yr, recommend an insulation
thickness and determine the corresponding annual savings in energy costs.
9. A hollow aluminum sphere, with an electrical heater in the center, is used in tests to
determine the thermal conductivity of insulating materials. The inner and outer radii of
 the sphere are 0.15 and 0.18 m, respectively, and testing is done under steady-state
conditions with the inner surface of the aluminum maintained at 250oC. In a particular
test, a spherical shell of insulation is cast on the outer surface of the sphere to a thickness
of 0.12 m. The system is in a room for which the air temperature is 20oC and the
convection coefficient at the outer surface of the insulation is 30 W/m2-K. If 80 W are
dissipated by the heater under steady-state conditions, what is the thermal conductivity
of the insulation?
10. A copper cable of 30-mm diameter has an electrical resistance of 5x10-3 Ω/m and is used
to carry an electrical current of 250 A. The cable is exposed to ambient air at 20oC, and
the associated convection coefficient is 25 W/m2-K. What are the surface and the
centerline temperatures of the copper?
11. Consider the use of straight, stainless steel (304) fins of rectangular and triangular profiles
on a plane wall whose temperature is 100oC. The adjoining fluid is at 20oC, and the
associated convection coefficient is 75 W/m2-K. Each fin is 6 mm thick and 20 mm long.
Compare the efficiency and the heat loss per unit width associated with the two kinds of
fins.
12. An annular aluminum fin of rectangular profile is attached to a circular tube having an
outside diameter of 25 mm and a surface temperature of 250oC. The fin is 1 mm thick
and 10 mm long, and the temperature and the convection coefficient associated
with the adjoining fluid are 25oC and 25 W/m2-K, respectively.
a) What is the heat loss per fin?
b) If 200 such fins are spaced at 5-mm increments along the tube length, what is the heat
loss per meter of the tube length?
13. Pr. 4-37 (Holman-10th Ed.) A large slab of aluminum has a thickness of 10 cm and is
initially uniform in temperature at 400◦C. Suddenly it is exposed to a convection
environment at 90◦C with h=1400 W/m2◦C. How long does it take the centerline
temperature to drop to 180◦C?
14. Pr. 4-41 (Holman-10th Ed.) A steel cylinder 10 cm in diameter and 10 cm long is initially
at 300◦C. It is suddenly immersed in an oil bath that is maintained at 40◦C, with h=280
W/m2◦C. Find
(a) the temperature at the center of the solid after 2 min and
(b) the temperature at the center of one of the regular faces after 2 min.