Integration of Numerical and Experimental Studies in a Heat Transfer Course to Enhance Students’ Concept

The primary objective of a heat transfer course is to provide the fundamental knowledge necessary to understand the behavior of thermal systems. This course provides a detailed calculus-based analysis, including the application of differential equations, of heat transfer through solids, fluids, and vacuum. Convection, conduction, and radiation heat transfer in oneand two dimensional steady and unsteady systems are examined. Covering all of these topics in a one quarter course is very challenging to complete in a satisfactory manner. There is very little time for instructors to incorporate thorough experimental study of each educational item covered in the class. Therefore, the authors use a combination of numerical and experimental studies to strengthen the students’ conceptual understanding beyond the classroom lectures. The learning process starts with a one-dimensional heat transfer problem using a straight fin. First, students will learn how to solve for the temperature distribution and heat loss using the standard differential equations. Then, students will solve the same problem numerically using the finite element approach (FEA). In this case, students will solve the problem using both matrix algebra and the ANSYS finite element package. Finally, students will perform the experiment and compare the experimental outcomes with analytical and numerical results. Similar learning strategies are used for heat transfer from a sphere, a cylinder and a more complex shape will be discussed in other papers. Problems will be solved for temperature distribution and heat loss using both the lumped capacitance model and numerical method using ANSYS with final experimental validation. Several parametric analyses, using ANSYS, will also be conducted to extend the students’ understanding into more complex systems. The learning methodology is a great experience for students to learn numerous heat transfer concepts in the limited time available in a one quarter course. The purpose of this paper is to explain the details of this teaching methodology and discuss the educational outcomes obtained in our heat transfer curriculum.