Summary
The purpose of this honors thesis is to create an experiment for the CHEG Lab I course. This is a
continuation of work done by Alexa Moreno. She created an experiment to model free
convection of a horizontal plate. In this report, free and forced convection of a vertical and
horizontal plate, respectively are modeled. This report explains the motivation for creating this
heat convection experiment, the results of performing the experiment, and provides
recommendations for future work on this experiment.
Introduction
Undergraduate students pursuing a chemical engineering degree must successfully complete the
chemical engineering Lab I and Lab II courses. The purpose of this honors thesis is to create an
experiment for the Lab I course.
Previous work performed by Alexa Moreno modeled free convection of a horizontal plate. Over
the course of nine experiments, she produced data with an average error of 13.05% as compared
to a theoretical model. The same equipment was used for the experiments discussed here, with
some additions for the forced convection experiment.
Students will be tasked to study free convective heat transfer by monitoring temperature changes
over time for an aluminum plate that has been heated and allowed to cool in an insulated stand
with the vertical face being exposed to atmospheric temperature and pressure. Forced convective
heat transfer is studied by monitoring temperature changes over time for an aluminum plate that
has been heated and allowed to cool in an insulated stand with the vertical face being exposed to
forced convection via a set of fans blowing over the surface. The students will record
experimental data and determine a best fit experimental heat transfer coefficient by using
MATLAB to solve a differential equation for the heat balance. In addition, a theoretical heat
transfer coefficient will be determined from empirical correlations (Cengel 2007, Table 9-1, p.
511). The experimental and theoretical heat transfer coefficients will be compared and discussed.
Recommendations for further improvement include a more rigorous calculations approach that
does not assume constant film properties.
Experimental Approach
The aluminum plate was painted black on the face that is to be exposed to air because the
emissivity coefficient of black paint is known. The emissivity coefficient is used in the
calculations for the experimental heat transfer coefficient. An insulated stand was built to prevent
heat loss on all other sides of the plate aside from the face painted black. The stand was
constructed with PVC material and built with enough room to have thermal insulation
underneath the plate and around the sides of the plate. A hole was drilled in the stand, insulation,
and plate large enough for a thermocouple wire to fit to monitor temperature changes over time.
An oven, already owned by the chemical engineering department, was used to heat the aluminum
plate as displayed in Figure 1.