Conduction lumped-capacity method

A very low value of the Biot modulus means that internal-conduction resistance is negligible in comparison with surface-convection resistance. This in turn implies that the temperature will be nearly uniform throughout the solid, and its behavior may be approximated by the lumped-capacity method of analysis. It is interesting to note that the exponent of Gq. (4-5) may be expressed in terms of the Biot and Fourier numbers if one takes the ratio VIA as the characteristic dimension 5. Then,... 

Two identical 7.5-cm cubes of copper at 425 and 90°C are brought into contact. Assuming that the blocks exchange heat only with each other and that there is no resistance to heat flow as a result of the contact of the blocks, plot the temperature of each block as a function of time, using the lumped-capacity method of analysis. That is, assume the resistance to heat transfer is the conduction resistance of the two blocks. Assume that all surfaces are insulated except those in contact. 

We continue our discussion of transient heat conduction by analyzing systems which may be considered uniform in temperature. This type of analysis is called the lumped-heat-capacity method. Such systems are obviously idealized because a temperature gradient must exist in a material if heat is to be conducted into or out of the material. In general, the smaller the physical size of the body, the more realistic the assumption of a uniform temperature throughout in the limit a differential volume could be employed as in the derivation of the general heat-conduction equation. 

If a hot steel ball were immersed in a cool pan of water, the lumped-heat-capacity method of analysis might be used if we could justify an assumption of uniform ball temperature during the cooling process. Clearly, the temperature distribution in the ball would depend on the thermal conductivity of the ball material and the heat-transfer conditions from the surface of the ball to the surrounding fluid, i.e., the surface-convection heat-transfer coefficient. We should obtain a reasonably uniform temperature distribution in the ball if the resistance to heat transfer by conduction were small compared with the convection resistance at the surface, so that the major temperature gradient would occur through the fluid layer at the surface. The lumped-heat-capacity analysis, then, is one which assumes that the internal resistance of the body is negligible in comparison with the external resistance. 

---