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Heat transfer coefficient
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The heat transfer coefficient is used in calculating the convection heat transfer between a moving fluid and a solid in thermodynamics. The heat transfer coefficient is often calculated from the Nusselt number (a dimensionless number). Below is an example where it is used to find the heat lost from a hot tube to the surrounding area.
where
- Q = power input or heat lost
- h = overall heat transfer coefficient
- A = outside solid-fluid contact surface area
- ΔT = difference in temperature between the solid surface and surrounding fluid area
There are different heat transfer relations for different liquids, flow regimes, and thermodynamic conditions. A common example pertinent to many of the necessary power plant efficiency and thermal hydraulic calculations is the Dittus-Boelter heat transfer correlation, valid for water in a circular pipe with Reynolds numbers between 10 000 and 120 000 (in the turbulent pipe flow range) and Prandtl numbers between 0.7 and 120. An example is shown below where it is used to calculate the heat transfer from a tubing wall to water.
where
- kw = thermal conductivity of water
- Nu = Nusselt number
- =
=> Dittus-Boelter correlation for pipe flow with fluid heated by wall - Pr = Prandtl number =
- Re = Reynolds number =
- DH = Hydraulic diameter
= mass flow rate- μ = water viscosity
- Cp = heat capacity at constant pressure
- A = cross-sectional area of flow
The heat transfer coefficient has SI units in watts per meter squared-kelvin. Often it can be estimated by dividing the thermal conductivity of the convection fluid by a length scale. Heat transfer coefficients add inversely, like resistances. It can be thought of as a thermal resistance. Consider again a pipe of fluid, the rate of heat transfer between the bulk of the fluid and the pipe surface is given by:
where
- Q = heat transfer rate (W)
- h = heat transfer coefficient (W/m2.K)
- t = wall thickness (m)
- k = wall thermal conductivity (W/m.K)
- A = area (m2)
- ΔT = difference in temperature