Thermodynamics & Heat Transfer · The dimensionless crew
Five numbers, five jobs
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Five numbers, five jobs

Nobody measures a film coefficient in the field. They correlate it — and every correlation is written in dimensionless groups, because a group that carries no units carries across scales, fluids and unit systems without being re-fitted. Five run this chapter, and the exam skill is telling them apart by what they COMPARE.

Reynolds, Re=ρvDμ\mathrm{Re} = \dfrac{\rho v D}{\mu} — density ρ\rho (say rho) in kg/m3\mathrm{kg/m^3}, speed vv in m/s, a characteristic length DD in metres, viscosity μ\mu (mu) in Pas\mathrm{Pa \cdot s}. It weighs a fluid's inertia against its stickiness and decides laminar or turbulent. It knows nothing about heat.

Prandtl, Pr=μcpk\mathrm{Pr} = \dfrac{\mu c_p}{k} — viscosity, specific heat cpc_p in J/(kgK)\mathrm{J/(kg \cdot K)}, and the FLUID's conductivity kk in W/(mK)\mathrm{W/(m \cdot K)}. Nothing about speed, size or temperature difference appears: Pr is a property of the fluid alone, and it says whether momentum or heat spreads faster. Air ≈ 0.7, water ≈ 7, oil in the hundreds.

Nusselt, Nu=hLk\mathrm{Nu} = \dfrac{hL}{k} — the answer, not a question. It is the film coefficient made dimensionless, measured against what the same fluid would conduct sitting perfectly still, so Nu=1\mathrm{Nu} = 1 is the honest floor.

Grashof, Gr=gβΔTL3ν2\mathrm{Gr} = \dfrac{g \beta \, \Delta T \, L^{3}}{\nu^{2}} — gravity gg, the expansion coefficient β\beta (beta) in 1/K1/\mathrm{K}, the surface-to-fluid ΔT\Delta T, the length LL, and the kinematic viscosity ν\nu (nu) in m2/s\mathrm{m^2/s}. It is the still-air twin of Reynolds: buoyancy over viscosity, for fluid nothing is pumping. And Rayleigh, Ra=GrPr\mathrm{Ra} = \mathrm{Gr} \cdot \mathrm{Pr}, is the product natural convection actually depends on — a finding about the physics, not merely a definition.