Jay_ said:
Hi Chet,
I just read the chapter. Well, hln is the heat transfer coefficient based on the log mean temperature, and he mentions its used in most calculations. Since the h values depend on the geometry as well as the fluid properties, I would have to get that from Toyota's literature, if they have it that is.
It's good that your area of expertise is circuits and electronics, since that can help you greatly with your understanding of heat transfer. I assume that you are familiar with the concept of resistors in series. This is what you are dealing with in your problem. There is a resistance to heat flow from the bulk gas flow to the tube wall, and there is a second resistance to heat flow from the tube wall to the ambient air.
In the analogy between heat transfer and electronics, the temperature is analogous to voltage and the heat flux (W/m^2) is analogous to current density. The heat transfer coefficient gives the ratio of the heat flux to the temperature difference. So, it's like the reciprocal of resistance.
Do you remember studying heat conduction in freshman physics. For heat conduction through a wall, the heat flux is equal to the temperature difference times the thermal conductivity divided by the thickness of the wall. In convective heat transfer, the thickness of the wall is replaced by the thickness of the "thermal boundary layer." The heat transfer coefficient is equal to the thermal conductivity of the gas divided by the thermal boundary layer thickness (which is typically very thin).
You need to determine the two series heat transfer resistances (inside and outside the pipe wall) so that you can determine the temperature at the wall, knowing the temperature of the exhaust gas and the air temperature. This is where the correlations in BSL chapter 14 come in.
But the Fig. 14.3-2 in Bird's book is still hard to understand. You mentioned that the gas flow in my case is turbulent, so Re > 8000. Would that be correct?
Yes.
So in that case I need to be looking at the right side of the graph.
Yes.
On that side the Re seems to be increase for decreasing value heat transfer coefficient, because the line has a negative slope (and is not perfectly straight though). Does this go to give me a relation between the heat transfer coefficient and the flow rate, because he mentions flow rate is the Reynold's number.
You have to look at the total relationship. Actually, the heat transfer coefficient increases with the Reynolds number (as the flow rate increases, the thermal boundary layer gets thinner). Look at the full definition of the ordinate on the graph.
To use this correlation, you are going to have to estimate the physical properties of the gas: thermal conductivity, heat capacity, viscosity, density. You know the composition of the exhaust gas from the chemical reaction mass balance on the combustion. BSL gives relationships for estimating the thermal properties of a gas or gas mixture. You are going to be dealing primarily with a mixture of carbon dioxide, water vapor, and nitrogen. On the air side of the tailpipe, you are going to be dealing with air (a mixture of oxygen and nitrogen).
Start working on trying to estimate the heat transfer coefficient on the gas side of the wall.
Chet