ME 303 Heat Transfer
Tutorial -5
IIT Mandi
May 13, 2025
These problems are from Fundamentals of Heat Transfer, 6th edition, In-
cropera and Dewitt. Corresponding problem numbers are given at the beginning of
the problem.
1. Water at the rate of 75 kg/min is heated from 30 ◦ C to 70 ◦ C by an oil having
specific heat of 1.9 kJ/kg-K. the fluids are used in counter flow double pipe. Oil
enters at 110 ◦ C & leaves at 75 ◦ C. Overall heat transfer coefficient is 320 W/m2 -K.
Calculate the required heat transfer area.
2. Repeat the problem assuming one shell pass and two tube passes.
3. In a fire-tube boiler, hot products of combustion flowing through an array of thin-
walled tubes are used to boil water flowing over the tubes. At the time of installa-
tion, the overall heat transfer coefficient was 400 W/m2 -K. After 1 year of use, the
′′
inner and outer tube surfaces are fouled, with corresponding fouling factors of Rf,i
′′
= 0.0015 and Rf,o = 0.0005 m2 -K/W, respectively. Should the boiler be scheduled
for cleaning of the tube surfaces? 11.1
4. A shell-and-tube heat exchanger is to heat an acidic liquid that flows in unfinned
tubes of inside and outside diameters Di = 10 mm and Do = 11 mm, respectively.
A hot gas flows on the shell side. To avoid corrosion of the tube material, the
engineer may specify either a Ni-Cr-Mo corrosion-resistant metal alloy (ρm = 8900
kg/m3 , km = 8 W/m- K) or a polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) plastic (ρp = 1780
kg/m3 , kp = 0.17 W/m- K). The inner and outer heat transfer coefficients are hi
= 1500 W/m2 -K and ho = 200 W/m2 -K, respectively. (a) Determine the ratio of
plastic to metal tube surface areas needed to transfer the same amount of heat. (b)
Determine the ratio of plastic to metal mass associated with the two heat exchanger
designs. (c) The cost of the metal alloy per unit mass is three times that of the
plastic. Determine which tube material should be specified on the basis of cost.
11.3
5. A shell-and-tube exchanger (two shells, four tube passes) is used to heat 10,000 kg/h
of pressurized water from 35 to 120 ◦ C with 5000 kg/h pressurized water entering
the exchanger at 300 ◦ C. If the overall heat transfer coefficient is 1500 W/m2 -K,
determine the required heat exchanger area. Consider the same heat exchanger.
After several years of operation, it is observed that the outlet temperature of the
cold water reaches only 95 ◦ C rather than the desired 120 ◦ C for the same flow rates
1
and inlet temperatures of the fluids. Determine the cumulative (inner and outer
surface) fouling factor that is the cause of the poorer performance. 11.14, 15
6. A shell-and-tube heat exchanger must be designed to heat 2.5 kg/s of water from
15 to 85 ◦ C. The heating is to be accomplished by passing hot engine oil, which is
available at 160 ◦ C, through the shell side of the exchanger. The oil is known to
provide an average convection coefficient of ho = 400 W/m2 -K on the outside of
the tubes. Ten tubes pass the water through the shell. Each tube is thin walled, of
diameter D = 25 mm, and makes eight passes through the shell. If the oil leaves
the exchanger at 100 ◦ C, what is its flow rate? How long must the tubes be to
accomplish the desired heating? 11.22
7. Hot water for an industrial washing operation is produced by recovering heat from
the flue gases of a furnace. A cross-flow heat exchanger is used, with the gases
passing over the tubes and the water making a single pass through the tubes.
The steel tubes (k = 60 W/m-K) have inner and outer diameters of Di =15 mm
and Do = 20 mm, while the staggered tube array has longitudinal and transverse
pitches of ST = SL = 40 mm. The plenum in which the array is installed has a
width (corresponding to the tube length) of W = 2 m and a height (normal to the
tube axis) of H = 1.2 m. The number of tubes in the transverse plane is therefore
NT = H/ST = 30. The gas properties may be approximated as those of atmospheric
air, and the convection coefficient associated with water flow in the tubes may be
approximated as 3000 W/m2 -K. If 50 kg/s of water are to be heated from 290 to
350 K by 40 kg/s of flue gases entering the exchanger at 700 K, what is the gas
outlet temperature and how many tube rows NL are required? 11.31
8. A cross-flow heat exchanger used in a cardiopulmonary bypass procedure cools
blood flowing at 5 L/min from a body temperature of 37 ◦ C to 25 ◦ C in order
to induce body hypothermia, which reduces metabolic and oxygen requirements.
The coolant is ice water at 0 ◦ C, and its flow rate is adjusted to provide an outlet
temperature of 15 ◦ C. The heat exchanger operates with both fluids unmixed, and
the overall heat transfer coefficient is 750 W/m2 -K. The density and specific heat of
the blood are 1050 kg/m3 and 3740 J/kg–K, respectively. (a) Determine the heat
transfer rate for the exchanger. (b) Calculate the water flow rate. (c) What is the
surface area of the heat exchanger? 11.34
9. The counter flow heat exchanger has a heat transfer area of 10 m2 and a corre-
sponding overall heat transfer coefficient 500 W/m2 -K. it is used to cool 1.5 kg/s
of hot oil initially at 110 ◦ C by contact with a 0.5 kg/s stream of cold water whose
inlet temperature is 15 ◦ C. The respective cp values of oil and water are 4.2 and 2.25
kJ/kg–K respectively. Calculate the outlet temperatures and heat transfer rate.
10. Derive an expression for LMTD (∆Tlm ) for counter flow heat exchanger.
11. Derive an expression for ε − N T U relation for the counter flow heat exchanger.
