Heat Transfer at a Solid-Fluid Interface

Heat Transfer at a Solid-Fluid Interface

 

The transfer of heat between the surface of a solid and an adjacent heat-transfer medium, which may be a liquid or a gas, can occur through convection, conduction, and radiation. A distinction is made between transfer where the motion of the fluid is free and transfer where the motion of the fluid is forced. In some cases, the state of aggregation of the heat-transfer medium may change.

The intensity of the heat transfer between the surface and the fluid is characterized by the heat-transfer coefficient, which is the quantity of heat transferred through a unit area of the surface in a unit time when the temperature difference between the surface and the fluid is 1°K. Such heat transfer can be regarded as part of the more general process of heat transmission between heattransfer fluids.