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FLUID MECHANICS - CASE STUDY

    Introduction


Problem Description

 

On a winter night, the heater unit in George's apartment broke. He woke up because of the coldness, and he wondered how much heat was being lost through the large glass window in his bedroom. The inner surface temperature of the glass window is 20oC while the outer surface temperature is 5oC. The window glass has a thickness of 2 cm.

   
  Questions

 

Obtain the temperature profile of the glass window, and determine the amount of heat conducted (per unit area) through it using Fourier's law.

     

Temperature Boundary Conditions
  Approach

 
  • Fourier's law of conduction is given by:
         q = -kA dT/dx
  • Take the thermal conductivity of the glass (k) as 0.8 W/m-K.
  • Assume the temperature varies across the glass only (i.e., one-dimensional), and is steady-state.
     
   
 
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