Evaluation of heat conduction through truncated conical shells

Technical realisation and experimentation in the field of high-temperature processes like combustion for instance, can be proven quite demanding in terms of minimising heat losses. The application of proper insulating techniques and materials is of course a common practise in this context; however, it can often be a challenging task, especially when it comes to geometries other than pipes or rectangular ducts, such as conical sections. In the present paper, heat transfer by conduction through a truncated conical shell (with 50≤α ≤ 750), has been solved for two different cone geometries by employing two different methods. The first method is based on semi-analytical treatment while in the second method the conduction heat transfer through the conical shell has been numerically obtained. Both the dimensionless inner radius at the smaller end of the cone and the shell thickness have been varied between 0.1 and 2, covering a wide range of geometric parameters. From the heat transfer results, the inner radius of an equivalent cylindrical shell of same thickness (Req∗) has been evaluated. Finally, for both the cases correlations for Req∗ have been obtained for quick and accurate calculation of heat transfer.

► Conduction heat transfer through truncated conical shells has been considered. ► Two different geometries have been considered for analysis. ► Approximate analytical solution has been obtained for Case-I. ► Numerical solutions have been obtained for both Case-I and II. ► Accurate correlations have been proposed for both the cases.