Course syllabus for Heat transfer

Course syllabus adopted 2023-02-12 by Head of Programme (or corresponding).

Overview

  • Swedish nameVärmeöverföring
  • CodeMTF115
  • Credits7.5 Credits
  • OwnerTKMAS
  • Education cycleFirst-cycle
  • Main field of studyEnergy and Environmental Systems and Technology, Mechanical Engineering
  • DepartmentMECHANICS AND MARITIME SCIENCES
  • GradingTH - Pass with distinction (5), Pass with credit (4), Pass (3), Fail

Course round 1

  • Teaching language English
  • Application code 55155
  • Block schedule
  • Open for exchange studentsYes
  • Only students with the course round in the programme overview.

Credit distribution

0117 Examination 4.5 c
Grading: TH		 4.5 c
0217 Design exercise + laboratory 3 c
Grading: UG		 3 c

In programmes

Examiner

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Eligibility

General entry requirements for bachelor's level (first cycle)
Applicants enrolled in a programme at Chalmers where the course is included in the study programme are exempted from fulfilling the requirements above.

Specific entry requirements

The same as for the programme that owns the course.
Applicants enrolled in a programme at Chalmers where the course is included in the study programme are exempted from fulfilling the requirements above.

Course specific prerequisites

Calculus in several variables

Aim

The course will give a general knowledge and physical understanding of heat transfer. The theory of heat transfer is presented at the lectures, and is used in the exercises to solve general problems in heat transfer. The physical understanding of heat transfer is improved through project works using a CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) code that is used in industry. At the same time the participants gain practice and skills in how to apply the theory in a general way. The participants will develop skills in project work, oral and written presentations, and the use of a CFD code.

Learning outcomes (after completion of the course the student should be able to)

  • Physically describe how heat transfer by conduction, convection and radiation takes place in 1D, 2D and 3D, and to give a qualitative description of temperature (and velocity) distributions for general cases.
  • Use energy conservation to couple heat transfer by conduction, convection and radiation.
  • Derive equations for heat transfer by conduction, convection and radiation.
  • Discretize the equations for problem solving by hand, and understand the foundations of the numerical tools that solve general heat transfer problems.
  • Specify initial and boundary conditions and solve the equations by hand, and with the help of a CFD tool that is used in industry, and compare the results from the different solution methods.
  • Derive simplified equations for boundary layers, and understand how the boundary layers affect the heat transfer and near-wall fluid friction.
  • Explain how turbulence affects the convective heat transfer.
  • List what dimensionless numbers are relevant for different kinds of heat transfer, and explain their physical interpretations.
  • Describe what the dimensionless equations say about how heat transfer occurs and, specifically, relate the energy equation (temperature) to those for momentum (velocity).
  • Realize that solving convection problems is all about finding the distribution of the convection coefficient (or the Nusselt number), and describe which different methods that can be used to find this distribution.
  • Derive simplified relations for heat transfer by conduction, convection and radiation.
  • Solve engineering problems using the simplified relations, and understand the underlying physics and the assumptions made.
  • Come up with engineering ideas on how to improve heat transfer characteristics, and verify them.
  • Use the fundamental knowledge when doing engineering studies of complicated applications, such as heat exchangers.
  • Describe and simplify real problems so that they can be solved using engineering or numerical methods.
  • Use basic functionality in the industrially used CFD tool, and understand the basics on how to get accurate results.
  • Find and use correlations and tables for heat transfer.
  • Do project work.
  • Write a good project report.
  • Give a good oral project presentation.

Content

The course comprises heat transfer through conduction, convection and radiation. Heat transfer in heat exchangers is part of the course as an example of an important industrial application. Energy conservation is also a central issue, both when using engineering methods and when deriving the governing equations. Energy conservation is the 'tool' that is used to couple different heat transfer modes, or heat transfer in different spatial regions.
The heat conduction part of the course comprises one- and two-dimensional steady and transient heat conduction. We study both simple cases where analytical solutions may quite easily be derived, and more complicated cases where empirical correlations or numerical methods must be used.
Heat transfer through convection (both forced and natural) is a big subject. We derive and study the energy equation both for laminar and turbulent flows. A number of external configurations - like convective heat transfer for a flat plate, a cylinder, and tube bundles - are studied. We also study convective heat transfer for internal configurations such as pipes and channels.
Heat exchangers are the most common industrial heat transfer devices. Specific applications may be found in air-conditioning, power production, cooling of the water and oil in a car etc. The course comprises Parallel-Flow, Counter-Flow, Cross-Flow and Compact heat exchangers.
In the end of the course there is a thorough treatment of thermal radiation. We define emission, absorption, radiosity etc. Thermal radiation from grey surfaces, black body radiation, view factors, radiation, absorption and reflection are some of the phenomena that are treated.
For industrially applied problems in heat transfer one must in general use numerical methods. A CFD code (Computational Fluid Dynamics) that is used in the industry is used in the exercises and in a project work to study conduction and convection. The results are compared with analytical and empirical correlations.
See the course homepage for more, and updated information.

Organisation

The theory of heat transfer is presented at the lectures, and is used in the exercises to solve general problems in heat transfer. There are two lectures and two exercises each week. In one of the exercises we use both engineering methods (by hand), and numerical methods to solve the same heat transfer problems. The aim of this is to give the students a deeper understanding of the assumptions made in the engineering methods, skills in using a CFD code, and a 'feeling' for how heat transfer occurs. The results from the computer exercises should be reported in simple written reports that help the student practice the learning outcomes. At the end of the course the physical understanding of heat transfer is improved through an extended computer project work, where the students work in groups of two. The extended project work should be reported both orally and in a written report.
The written language is English. Lectures are given in English if there are any participants that do not understand Swedish. The project works are supervised both in Swedish and English.

Literature

  • Principles of Heat and Mass Transfer, latest edition, Incropera / DeWitt / Bergman / Lavine
  • The manual of the CFD tool
  • Supplementary material on the course homepage and on the Wiley homepage
  • Instructions on project work and writing reports from the Bachelor thesis (kandidatarbete) general directives

Examination including compulsory elements

Written examination. Alternatively, collecting bonus credits during the lectures and exercises. Written and oral presentation of the computer project and written presentation of the computer exercises are also part of the examination. It is compulsory to attend to the presentations.
See the updated course info at the course homepage for detailed and updated information regarding the examination!

The course examiner may assess individual students in other ways than what is stated above if there are special reasons for doing so, for example if a student has a decision from Chalmers on educational support due to disability.