Forced Convection in External Flows

Forced convection heat transfer refers to a process in which fluid flow generated by external means, such as a fan or an externally imposed pressure gradient, extracts or imparts heat from or to objects at temperatures different from the flow temperatures. Forced convection is commonly used in applications such as cooling of electronic components by fans, heating of homes using forced air blowers, cooling of oil and coolants in vehicles using externally forced air, etc. In this course, we will first look at some fundamental aspects of forced convection and then go on to discuss the finer details regarding the velocity and thermal boundary layers. Finally, we will analyze the forced convection heat transfer in certain external flows such as flow over a flat plate, cross-flow over a cylinder, cross-flow over a tube bank, and impinging jet flow.