Introduction:

To determine the heat transfer coefficient of a tubular duct

Procedure:
1.
2.
3.
4.

The outlet valve of the ventilator was fully shut before running the pump.
The pump was switched on.
The operating and display unit for the thermocouple on the rear were switched on.
The outlet valve was gradually open fully while ensuring there is no manometer

fluids entering into the air channel.

5. The heater control unit and the heater were switched on.
6. The heater output was set to 200W on the operating and display panel.
7. The pressure gage connection for the measuring nozzle at the air inlet was
connected to the inclined tube manometer to obtain the differential pressure of the
measuring nozzle.
8. The moving Pitot tube was connected to inclined tube manometer in order to
obtain the differentiate pressure.
9. A table with the measurements needed for the computation of heat transfer
coefficient was created.
Shutdown procedure:
1. The output of the heater was turned to 0 on the operating and display unit.
2. The heater and heater control unit were turned off.
3. The operating and display unit for the thermocouple on the rear was turned
off.
4. The pump was turned off.
5. The main switch was turned off.
6. The outlet valve was shuttled off.

Apparatus and Set Up:

Figure 1 shows the experiment set up

Result:
For pitot tube position at 10mm
Parameters

Values
st

p, kPa*
T1, C
T2, C
T3, C
T4, C
T5, C
T6, C
T7, C**
T8, C

1 reading
0.31
29.3
53.2
60.2
65.1
66.8
62.6
31.5
33.6

nd

2 reading
0.29
29.2
53.2
60.2
65.2
66.9
62.6
33.1
33.6

3rd reading
0.30
29.3
53.3
60.3
65.3
66.9
62.6
31.3
33.8

Average
0.30
29.27
53.23
60.23
65.20
66.87
62.60
31.97
33.67

3rd reading
0.30
28.4
52.6
60.1
65.3
67.0
62.7
31.4
33.2

Average
0.303
28.50
52.60
60.07
65.10
66.80
62.60
31.27
33.2

*p is actually fluctuated between 0.25-0.29kPa

** T7 is actually fluctuated between 30.9-33.4C

For pitot tube position at 12.5mm

Parameters

Values
st

p, kPa*
T1, C
T2, C
T3, C
T4, C
T5, C
T6, C
T7, C**
T8, C

1 reading
0.31
28.6
52.6
60.0
65.0
66.7
62.5
31.3
33.2

*p is actually fluctuated between 0.23-0.28kPa

** T7 is actually fluctuated between 29.7-34.0C

nd

2 reading
0.30
28.5
52.6
60.1
65.0
66.7
62.6
31.1
33.2

For pitot tube position at 15mm

Parameters
p, kPa*
T1, C
T2, C
T3, C
T4, C
T5, C
T6, C
T7, C**
T8, C

Values
1st reading
0.33
29.0
52.8
59.8
64.8
66.4
62.2
32.2
33.5

2nd reading
0.32
29.1
53.0
59.8
64.8
66.4
62.2
30.3
33.5

3rd reading
0.29
29.3
52.9
59.9
64.9
66.5
62.2
32.4
33.6

Average
0.313
29.13
52.90
59.83
64.83
66.43
62.20
31.63
33.53

3rd reading
0.23
28.2
52.3
59.9
59.9
66.7
62.5
30.5
33.1

Average
0.24
28.13
52.27
59.97
63.33
66.77
62.57
29.73
33.07

*p is actually fluctuated between 0.23-0.30kPa

** T7 is actually fluctuated between 29.9-32.5C

For pitot tube position at 17.5mm

Parameters

Values
st

p, kPa*
T1, C
T2, C
T3, C
T4, C
T5, C
T6, C
T7, C**
T8, C

1 reading
0.25
28.2
52.3
60.0
65.1
66.9
62.7
29.3
33.1

*p is actually fluctuated between 0.17-0.25kPa

** T7 is actually fluctuated between 29.3-31.0C

nd

2 reading
0.24
28.0
52.2
60.0
65.0
66.7
62.5
29.4
33.0

For pitot tube position at 20mm

Parameters
p, kPa*
T1, C
T2, C
T3, C
T4, C
T5, C
T6, C
T7, C**
T8, C

Values
1st reading
0.34
28.9
52.6
59.5
64.3
65.9
61.9
31.9
33.5

2nd reading
0.32
29.1
52.7
59.6
64.5
66.1
61.9
31.1
33.4

3rd reading
0.34
29.0
52.6
59.6
64.5
66.1
61.9
30.2
33.4

Average
0.333
29.00
52.63
59.57
64.43
66.03
61.90
31.07
33.43

3rd reading
0.32
28.4
52.3
59.7
64.7
66.4
62.2
31.1
33.2

Average
0.32
28.43
52.27
59.70
64.63
66.30
62.13
30.73
33.23

*p is actually fluctuated between 0.25-0.30kPa

** T7 is actually fluctuated between 29.8-32.0C

For pitot tube position at 22.5mm

Parameters

Values
st

p, kPa*
T1, C
T2, C
T3, C
T4, C
T5, C
T6, C
T7, C**
T8, C

1 reading
0.31
28.4
52.3
59.7
64.6
66.3
62.2
30.7
33.3

*p is actually fluctuated between 0.26-0.31kPa

** T7 is actually fluctuated between 29.1-32.0C

nd

2 reading
0.33
28.5
52.2
59.7
64.6
66.2
62.0
30.4
33.2

For pitot tube position at 25mm

Parameters
p, kPa*
T1, C
T2, C
T3, C
T4, C
T5, C
T6, C
T7, C**
T8, C

Values
1st reading
0.34
28.5
52.7
59.7
64.6
66.3
61.8
30.1
33.1

2nd reading
0.31
28.7
52.7
59.6
65.2
66.2
62.0
33.0
33.5

3rd reading
0.31
28.9
52.8
59.6
64.5
66.1
61.9
32.2
33.4

Average
0.32
28.70
52.73
59.63
64.77
66.20
61.90
31.77
33.33

3rd reading
0.30
28.2
52.2
59.6
64.6
66.4
62.2
34.1
33.1

Average
0.307
28.27
52.13
59.60
64.63
66.40
62.33
33.23
33.13

*p is actually fluctuated between 0.25-0.31kPa

** T7 is actually fluctuated between 30.0-33.5C

For pitot tube position at 27.5mm

Parameters

Values
st

p, kPa*
T1, C
T2, C
T3, C
T4, C
T5, C
T6, C
T7, C**
T8, C

1 reading
0.30
28.4
52.1
59.6
64.7
66.4
62.4
33.0
33.2

*p is actually fluctuated between 0.24-0.29kPa

** T7 is actually fluctuated between 31.3-38.0C

nd

2 reading
0.32
28.2
52.1
59.6
64.6
66.4
62.4
32.6
33.1

For pitot tube position at 30mm

Parameters
p, kPa*
T1, C
T2, C
T3, C
T4, C
T5, C
T6, C
T7, C**
T8, C

Values
1st reading
0.25
28.8
52.0
58.8
64.0
65.5
60.9
34.2
32.8

*p is actually fluctuated between 0.19-0.24kPa

** T7 is actually fluctuated between 31.6-38.0C

2nd reading
0.26
28.6
52.1
58.8
64.0
65.7
61.0
35.5
32.8

3rd reading
0.26
28.6
52.2
58.9
63.8
65.7
60.8
33.2
32.7

Average
0.257
28.67
52.10
58.83
63.93
65.63
60.90
34.30
32.77

Analysis:

Figure 2 shows the theoretical velocity profile of turbulent flow

From the graph of position versus velocity drawn, the velocity is flustuating at every
position. The air at 20mm reaches its maximum velocity, and the minimum velocity is
reached at position of 17.5mm. Other than these two points, the velocity of the air
decreases from 15mm to 10 mm and 22.5mm to 30mm. This means the closer the air to
the walll, the smaller the velocity of the air. This is bacuase the fluid that is in contact
with the wall will attach to the wall due to the viscosity of the fluid, and the effect of
viscosity becomes less dominant when the air is away from the wall and thus the fluid
velocity begins to increase. The figure shown above is the theoretical velocity profile of
the turbulent flow in a duct. By comparing the figure above and the graph drawn, it is
obvious that the point at the position of 17.5mm is an error point. By right, the point at
17.5mm should has a velocity which is near to the point at 20mm. The factors causing
these distortions will be discussed in the discussion.

Figure 3 shows the theoretical graph of position versus temperature at turbulent

flow

From the experimental graph of position versus temperature, temperature decreases as the
position is closer to the center of the duct and a minimum temperature is attained at the
center of the duct. The reason for the maximum temperature happens at the position near
to the wall is due to the air at 30mm contact directly with the wall and the velocity of the
air near the wall is small. Thus, large amount of heat is able to be transferred into the
same parcel of air due to the low velocity of the air near the wall. On the other hand, the
temperature decrease as the position is closer to the center. This is because before more
heat can be transferred into a particular air parcel to further raises its temperature, that
parcel of air is already swept away as the air has higher velocity compare to the air which
is near to the wall, thus the temperature of the air is not raised as much when compared to
the air adjacent to wall. As compare to theoretical plot, the experimental plot agree to the
theoretical plot with distortion happened in between the wall (30mm) and center (15mm).
The factors causing these distortions will be discussed in the discussion.

Method 1: Experimental method:

Position
(mm)
Tfluid,

10.0

12.5

15.0

17.5

20.0

22.5

25.0

27.5

30.0

31.47

30.85

31.33

30.6

31.215

30.83

31.015

30.7

30.72

68.02

67.688

67.564

66.928

67.126

67.152

67.4

67.664

67.138

Twall,

The average heat transfer coefficient, h:

h

Tfluid
with

Q
A Twall Tfluid

Ttemp 1 Ttemp 8
2

Twall

Ttemp 2 Ttemp 3 Ttemp 4 Ttemp 5 Ttemp 6

and

Q=200 W

T fluid ,avg =

31.47+ 30.85+31.33+30.6+31.215+30.83+31.015+30.7+ 30.72

9
30.97

T wall ,avg=

68.02+67.688+67.564+ 66.928+67.152+67.4+67.664 +67.138

9
67.41 C

A=2 rl=2 0.015 0.5=0.047124 m2

Thus, the average convection heat transfer coefficient is:
havg =

200
W
=116.47
( 0.047124 ) (67.4130.97)
K . m2

Method 2: Theoretical Method

The heat transfer coefficient can be calculated from Nu number

h Nu d

k
d

Thus firstly, it is important to check whether the flow is turbulent by calculating the
Reynolds number,
d =

v d

Same with the discussion above, vin can be obtained by using the Bernoulli equation.
2

v
Patm P =
2

v ,avg =

2(Patm P )avg
2(0.2992 1000)
=
=22.8481 m/s

1.1464

The Reynolds number is calculated as:

d ,avg =

avg v , avg d ( 1.1464 )( 22.8481 ) (0.03)

=
=4.2623 10 4 >104
6
avg
18.435 10

Thus, the flow is turbulent flow.

The Nusselt number is calculated as follow:

30.97
67.409

3=
f
4
Nu d= ( 0.0235 ) ( ( 4.2623 10 )

f 6 1+(

0.8

0.03 32
) =1.1533
0.5

) ( 0.69450.48 ) ( 1.1533 )( 0.7047 )=81.0437

Finally, the convection heat transfer coefficient is computed from the following:
h=( 81.0437 )

0.026831
W
=72. 4823
0.03
K . m2

Note that the value of Pr, thermal conductivity,k, and dynamic viscosity, , used in the
calculation above is interpolated from the table provided in the lab sheet when
T fluid=30.97

Discussion:
From experiment evaluation, the convection heat transfer coefficient is 116.48W/m 2.
. However, the convection heat transfer coefficient found from theoretical
evaluation is 72.4823 W/m2. . Based on the result obtained, the experimental value
is 60.9% more than the theoretical value, or it means the data obtain during experiment
has an error of 60.9%. For the theoretical evaluation, the convection heat transfer
coefficient found is for the thermally fully developed region, while for the experimental
evaluation, the convection heat transfer coefficient found is an average of both entrance
and thermally fully developed region. . Thus, taking the average of convection heat
transfer coefficient for the two regions is inaccurate. Besides, the entrance where the air
is sucked into the machine is near to the motor of other machine that is operating during
the experiment. Thus, the heat generated by the motor may be suck into the machine,
causing the fluid temperature is higher than it supposed to be. This situation can be
noticed that the T1 temperature is always higher than the surrounding temperature (room
temperature). In addition, the machine we are using for this experiment has been used for
a long time. Thus, the connection between Pitot tube and monometer may be loose out.
This will lead to an inaccurate reading of differential pressure which is an important
parameter to determine convection heat transfer coefficient by theoretical method. Other
possible factors causing the difference between experimental and theoretical evaluation
of convection heat transfer coefficient are the heater distribution in the experiment is not
uniform enough, loss in power during the conversion from electrical energy to heat
energy, and condition of experiment environment such as ventilation.

Conclusion:
In this experiment, the convection heat transfer coefficient is determined by two methods
which are experimental evaluation and theoretical evaluation. However, the convection
heat transfer coefficients found by these two methods have huge difference. The errors
causing this huge percentage of difference have been discussed. Besides, for the
experimental evaluation, the convection heat transfer coefficient found is an average of
both entrance and thermally fully developed region. However, for theoretical evaluation,
it considers the convection heat transfer coefficient at thermally fully developed region
only.

References

http://hydropowerstation.com/?p=460
Incropera, DeWitt, Bergman, Lavine, Introduction to Heat Transfer, 5th edition,
John Willey & Sons