PROBLEM 5.

148
KNOWN: Cubic-shaped furnace, with prescribed operating temperature and convection heat transfer on the exterior surfaces. FIND: Time required for the furnace to cool to a safe working temperature corresponding to an inner wall temperature of 35C considering convection cooling on (a) the exterior surfaces and (b) on both the exterior and interior surfaces. SCHEMATIC:
y (m) 1 T(x,y,t) 0 0 T(x,0,0) = 900oC 8 9 x (m) Too , h T(x,0,0) = 900oC Too = 25oC h = 20 W/m2-K Furnace wall = 2600 kg/m3 c = 960 J/kg-K k = 1 W/m-K Too , h

(a) Adiabatic inner surface

(b) Cooled inner surface

ASSUMPTIONS: (1) Two-dimensional conduction through the furnace walls and (2) Constant properties. ANALYSIS: Assuming two-dimensional conduction through the walls and taking advantage of symmetry for the cubical shape, the analysis considers the quarter section shown in the schematic above. For part (a), with no cooling on the interior during the cool-down process, the inner surface boundary condition is adiabatic. For part (b), with cooling on both the exterior and interior, the boundary conditions are prescribed by the convection process. The boundaries through the centerline of the wall and the diagonal through the corner are symmetry planes and considered as adiabatic. We have chosen to use the finite-element software FEHT as the solution tool. Using FEHT, an outline of the symmetrical wall section is drawn, and the material properties are specified. To determine the initial conditions for the cool-down process, we will first find the temperature distribution for steady-state operation. As such, specify the boundary condition for the inner surface as a constant temperature of 900C; the other boundaries are as earlier described. In the Setup menu, click on Steady-State, and then Run to obtain the steady-state temperature distribution. This distribution represents the initial temperature distribution, Ti (x, y, 0), for the wall at the onset of the cool-down process. Next, in the Setup menu, click on Transient; for the nodes on the inner surface, in the Specify | Boundary Conditions menu, deselect the Temperature box (900C) and set the Flux box to zero for the adiabatic condition (part (a)); and, in the Run command, click on Continue (not Calculate). Be sure to change the integration time scale from seconds to hours. Because of the high ratio of wall section width (nearly 8.5 m) to the thickness (1 m), the conduction heat transfer through the section is nearly one-dimensional. We chose the x,y-section 1 m to the right of the centerline (1 m, y) as the location for examining the temperature-time history, and determining the cool-down time for the inner surface to reach the safe working temperature of 35C. Continued

PROBLEM 5.148 (Cont.)

Time-to-cool, Part (a), Adiabatic inner surface. From the above temperature history, the cool-down time, ta, corresponds to the condition when Ta (1 m, 0, ta) = 35C. As seen from the history, this location is the last to cool. From the View | Tabular Output, find that

t a 1306 h 54 days

<

Continued

PROBLEM 5.148 (Cont.)

Time-to-cool, Part (b), Cooled inner surface. From the above temperature history, note that the center portion of the wall, and not the inner surface, is the last to cool. The inner surface cools to 35C in approximately 175 h or 7 days. However, if the cooling process on the inner surface were discontinued, its temperature would increase and eventually exceed the desired safe working temperature. To assure the safe condition will be met, estimate the cool down time as, tb, corresponding to the condition when Tb (1 m, 0.75 m, tb) = 35C. From the View | Tabular Output, find that

t b 311 h 13 days

<

COMMENTS: (1) Assuming the furnace can be approximated by a two-dimensional symmetrical section greatly simplifies our analysis by not having to deal with three-dimensional corner effects. We justify this assumption on the basis that the corners represent a much shorter heat path than the straight wall section. Considering corner effects would reduce the cool-down time estimates; hence, our analysis provides a conservative estimate. (2) For background information on the Continue option, see the Run menu in the FEHT Help section. Using the Run | Calculate command, the steady-state temperature distribution was determined for the normal operating condition of the furnace. Using the Run | Continue command (after clicking on Setup | Transient), this steady-state distribution automatically becomes the initial temperature distribution for the cool-down transient process. This feature allows for conveniently prescribing a non-uniform initial temperature distribution for a transient analysis (rather than specifying values on a node-by-node basis.