Natural and Forced

Convection and Radiation

Heat Transfer
from a Circular Cylinder
Experiment #9
Kemal Koksal, Mike Kelly, Matt Reginski, and Robert Ellenberg
OBJECTIVES
The purpose of this lab is to
understand natural and forced
convection on a cylinder by
measuring surface and ambient
temperatures and relating the data
to convection heat transfer
equations.
THEORY
Natural Convection: Heat transfer
through circulation of fluid due solely to
gravity
Forced Convection: Heat transfer through
circulation of fluid due to forced fluid
movement (fan, pump, etc.)
Radiation: Heat transferred by surface
photon emission, typically only significant
at T>>Room Temp.
q
c
is the rate of heat transfer by convection

h
c
is the convective heat transfer coefficient

A is the surface area available

T
s
is the average surface temperature

T
a
is the ambient temperature
) (
a s c cf cn c
T T A h q q q = + =

Natural Convection Newtons Law of

Cooling

q
r
is the rate of heat transfer by radiation

is the Stefan-Boltzmann constant*

is the emissivity of the surface

F
s-a
is the view factor of the surface
) (
4 4
a s a s r
T T A F q =

o

* 5.67x10
-8
W/m
2
K
4
Radiation Heat Transfer Equation
) (
4 4
a s a s r
T T A F q =

o

Can also be written as

) (
a s r r
T T A h q =

Radiation Equation - Simplifications

Where h
r
is the average radiation
heat transfer coefficient.
Using the previous two equations we can
determine h:
) (
) (
4 4
a s
a s
a s r
T T
T T
F h

=

o
Radiation Equation - Simplifications
Total Heat Transfer
The total rate at which heat is lost from
the cylinder in this experiment will be:
r c total
q q q

+ =
The total heat transfer correlates to the
sum of convection and radiation.
In this experiment a cylinder is heated
electrically so the amount of energy
supplied to the cylinder can be
calculated using the equation:
VI q
total
=

Energy Balance
Nusselt Number
Convective heat transfer coefficient ,h
c

is generally expressed as a non-
dimensional parameter called the
Nusselt number, Nu, defined as:
k
L h
Nu
c
=
is the average heat transfer
Coefficient

is the thermal conductivity

is the length of the object
r
h
k
L
For natural convection, Nu depends on
the Rayleigh number, Ra. The Rayleigh
number can be written in terms of the
Grashof and Prandtl numbers, Gr and Pr.
Pr Ra Gr =
2
3
) (
v
D T T g
Gr
a

=
|
k
Cp v
o
= = Pr
Nusselt Number Relations
Grashof and Prandtl numbers are given by
Nusselt Number Correlations
Nusselt number, Nu, for natural
convection as a function of the
Rayleigh number
n
Ra c Nu ) ( =
Constants c and n are
obtained from the table
Ra C a
10
-9
to 10
-2
0.0675 0.058
10
-2
to 10
2
1.02 0.148
10
2
to 10
4
0.850 0.188
10
4
to 10
7
0.480 0.250
10
7
to 10
12
0.125 0.333
Film Temperature
The properties k and are functions of
temperature and should be evaluated at
the film temperature, T
film
for calculating
the values, Nu, Gr, and Pr where:
2
a s
film
T T
T
+
=
g gravitational acceleration ( 9.81 m/s )

volume expansion coefficient, ( 1/ T
film
)( K-1 )

v kinematic viscosity ( / )( m
2
/s )

cp specific heat ( J/kg K )

density ( kg / m
3
)
Relevant Fluid Properties
Equipment
Armfield HT10X Heat
transfer Unit
Armfield HT14
Combined Convection
and Radiation
Accessory.
controls the power
input to the cylinder
and measurea the
temperatures of the
upstream air in the
tube and the surface of
the cylinder.
Set-Up
The fan at the base of the
tube provided forced air,
which cooled the cylinder
at the top of the tube.
Fan is off during natural
convection
Data collected: input
voltage and current,
upstream air temperature,
and cylinder surface
temperature.
Procedure
Natural Convection
Voltage set to 5 V
Cylinder temperature allowed to reach
steady state.
After data was recorded, voltage was
quickly increased to next voltage
setting, and repeated for 8, 12, 15, and
20 V.
Procedure Cont.
Forced Convection
Throttle plate to 50% of the total
opening, giving air velocity of 7.03 m/s
Input Voltage set to 10 volts
Temperature was allowed to reach
steady state, data values recorded.
Process repeated with throttle plate
80% open, tube air velocity of 7.74 m/s
Results
Natural Convection
Input
Voltage
qcn, kJ/kg
qdottheo,
kJ/kg
%Error
hbarcn,
W/m^2
hbarcn theoretical,
W/m
2
K

% Error
5 2.7 2.03 32.80% 16.34 12.29
32.90%
8 6.03 5.21 15.80% 17.17 14.84
15.70%
12 10.9 10.28 6.10% 18.03 17.00
6.10%
15 14.08 14.32 1.70% 17.85 18.16
1.70%
20 18.59 20.76 10.50% 17.52 19.56
10.40%
Forced Convection
Throttle
pos
hbarcf,
W/m
2
K
hcftheo,
W/m
2
K
% Error
qcf,
kJ/kg qdottheo, KJ/kg % error
50% 114.524 82.36
39.00%
15.26 10.98 39.00%
80% 132.563 88.11
50.40%
15.42 10.25 50.40%
Surface Temperature Vs. Power Input
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
0.00 10.00 20.00 30.00 40.00 50.00 60.00 70.00
Power Input
S
u
r
f
a
c
e

T
e
m
p
e
r
a
t
u
r
e
Results - Plots
Hbarcn vs. Surface Temperature
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
0 100 200 300 400 500 600
Surface Temperature, C
H
b
a
r
,

W
/
m
^
2
/
K
hbarcn
hr
Results cont.
Nusselt Number vs. Rayleigh Number
6.10E+00
6.20E+00
6.30E+00
6.40E+00
6.50E+00
6.60E+00
6.70E+00
6.80E+00
6.90E+00
7.00E+00
7.10E+00
7.20E+00
0.00 10000.00 20000.00 30000.00 40000.00 50000.00 60000.00
Rayleigh Number
N
u
s
s
e
l
t

N
u
m
b
e
r
Nu
Nutheo
Results cont.
Conclusions
Natural convection is more prevalent at
lower temperatures whereas radiation is
more prevalent at higher temperatures
Possible Sources of error:
conduction from the heated cylinder to its
housing tube
possible changes in ambient temperature
Variations in surface temperature
Appendix NC Calculations
Natural Convection
Heater voltage, V 5 8 12 15 20
Heater Current, A 0.82 1.3 1.92 2.38 3.14
Upstream Air Temp, C 27.8 28.4 29.1 29.4 30.4
Surface Temp of Cylinder, C 103 188 304 388 513
Tfilm, C 65.4 108.2 166.55 208.7 271.7
Beta 0.02 0.01 0.01 0.00 0.00
v, m^2/s 1.58E-05 1.59E-05 1.59E-05 1.60E-05 1.61E-05
Pr 7.12E-01 7.12E-01 7.12E-01 7.12E-01 7.12E-01
Gr 4.498E+04 5.729E+04 6.359E+04 6.597E+04 6.741E+04
Ra 32033.14 40802.31 45282.01 46973.27 47991.67
qin, W/kg/s 4.10 10.40 23.04 35.70 62.80
qrad, W/kg/s 1.398E+00 4.373E+00 1.214E+01 2.162E+01 4.421E+01
hr, W/m^2/K 8.45 12.46 20.09 27.42 41.65
qcn, W/kg/s 2.70 6.03 10.90 14.08 18.59
hbarcn, W/m^2/K 16.34 17.17 18.03 17.85 17.52
k, W/m/K 2.62E-02 2.63E-02 2.63E-02 2.64E-02 2.64E-02
Nu 6.23E+00 6.53E+00 6.84E+00 6.77E+00 6.63E+00
hbarcn theoretical, W/m^2/K 12.29 14.84 17.00 18.16 19.56
Nutheo 6.42 6.82 7.00 7.07 7.10
qdottheo 2.03 5.21 10.28 14.32 20.76
Appendix FC Calculations
Throttle Position 50% 80%
distance (in) 13/32 21/32
Heater voltage, V 10 10
Heater Current, A 1.63 1.63
Upstream Air Temp, C 26.4 27.1
Surface Temp of Cylinder, C 87 80
Tfilm, C 56.7 53.55
Beta 0.02 0.02
v, m^2/s 2.31E-05 2.31E-05
Pr 0.70 0.70
Gr 1.9697E+04 1.8206E+04
Ra 13787.80 12743.88
qin, W/kg/s 16.30 16.30
qrad, W/kg/s 1.038E+00 8.785E-01
hbarr, W/m^2K 7.787106485 7.551890799
qcf, W/kg/s 15.26 15.42
hbarcf,W/m^2K 114.5243302 132.5629119
k, W/m/K 2.61E-02 2.62E-02
V, m/s 6.84 7.63
Re 2.97E+03 3.31E+03
Nu 3.15E+01 3.36E+01
hcftheo, W/m^2/K 82.36 88.11
qdottheo 10.97616028 10.25008894