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Question : Heat Conduction in a Plane Wall Consider a large plane
wall ...
Heat Transfer – A Practical Approach [EXP-6586] ([Link]
practical-approach-exp-6586/)
Heat Conduction in a Plane Wall
Consider a large plane wall of thickness L = 0.2 m, thermal conductivity k = 1.2 W /m ⋅ ∘ C ,
and surface area A = 15 m2 The two sides of the wall are maintained at constant
temperatures of T1 = 120∘ C and T2 = 50∘ C , respectively, as shown in Figure. Determine
(a) the variation of temperature within the wall and the value of temperature at x = 0.1 m
and (b) the rate of heat conduction through the wall under steady conditions.
Verified Answer
SOLUTION A plane wall with specified surface temperatures is given. The variation of
temperature and the rate of heat transfer are to be determined.
Assumptions 1 Heat conduction is steady. 2 Heat conduction is onedimensional since the
wall is large relative to its thickness and the thermal conditions on both sides are uniform. 3
Thermal conductivity is constant. 4 There is no heat generation.
Properties The thermal conductivity is given to be k = 1.2 W /m ⋅ ∘ C
Analysis (a) Taking the direction normal to the surface of the wall to be the x-direction, the
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differential equation for this problem can be expressed as
d2 T
dx2 =0
with boundary conditions
T (0) = T1 = 120∘ C
T (L) = T2 = 50∘ C
The differential equation is linear and second order, and a quick inspection of it reveals that
it has a single term involving derivatives and no terms involving the unknown function T as
a factor. Thus, it can be solved by direct integration. Noting that an integration reduces the
order of a derivative by one, the general solution of the differential equation above can be
obtained by two simple successive integrations, each of which introduces an integration
constant. Integrating the differential equation once with respect to x yields
dT
dx
= C1
where C1 is an arbitrary constant. Notice that the order of the derivative went down by one
as a result of integration. As a check, if we take the derivative of this equation, we will obtain
the original differential equation. This equation is not the solution yet since it involves a
derivative.
Integrating one more time, we obtain
T (x) = C1 x + C2
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which is the general solution of the differential equation (Fig). The general solution in this
case resembles the general formula of a straight line whose slope is C1 and whose value at
x = 0 is C2 . This is not surprising since the second derivative represents the change in the
slope of a function, and a zero second derivative indicates that the slope of the function
remains constant. Therefore, any straight line is a solution of this differential equation. The
general solution contains two unknown constants C1 and C2 , and thus we need two
equations to determine them uniquely and obtain the specific solution. These equations
are obtained by forcing the general solution to satisfy the specified boundary conditions.
The application of each condition yields one equation, and thus we need to specify two
conditions to determine the constants C1 and C2 . When applying a boundary condition to
an equation, all occurrences of the dependent and independent variables and any
derivatives are replaced by the specified values. Thus the only unknowns in the resulting
equations are the arbitrary constants. The first boundary condition can be interpreted as in
the general solution, replace
all the x’s by zero and T (x ) by T1 . That is (Fig),
T (0) = C1 × 0 + C2 → C2 = T1
The second boundary condition can be interpreted as in the general solution, replace all the
x’s by L and T (x ) by T2 . That is,
T2 –T1
T (L) = C1 L + C2 → T2 = C1 L + T1 → C1 =
L
Substituting the C1 and C2 expressions into the general solution, we obtain
T2 – T1
T (x) =
L
x
+ T1
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which is the desired solution since it satisfies not only the differential equation but also the
T2 –T1
two specified boundary conditions. That is, differentiating Eq. T (x) = L x
+ T1 with
respect to x twice will give d2 T /dx2 , which is the given differential equation, and
T2 –T1
substituting x = 0 and x = L into Eq. T (x) = L x
+ T1 gives T (0) = T1 and T (L) = T2 ,
respectively, which are the specified conditions at the boundaries. Substituting the given
information, the value of the temperature at x = 0.1 m is determined to be
(50–120)∘ C
T (0.1 m) = 0.2 m (0.1
m) + 120∘ C = 85∘ C
(b) The rate of heat conduction anywhere in the wall is determined from Fourier’s law to be
T2 – T1
Q̇wall = –kA
dT
dx
= –kAC1 = –k A
L
= k A T1L–T2
The numerical value of the rate of heat conduction through the wall is determined by
substituting the given values to be
∘
Q̇ = k A
T1 − T2
L
= (1.2 W /m ⋅ ∘ C ) (15m2 ) (120–50)
0.2 m
C
= 6300 W
Discussion Note that under steady conditions, the rate of heat conduction through a plane
wall is constant.
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