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Steady-state Heat Conduction in Planar Walls: Screencast

Shows how to write a thermal circuit for a composite wall with two different materials in series and parallel.

We suggest that after watching this screencast, you list the important points as a way to increase retention.

Important Equations:

For a composite wall with no heat generation:

The equation for heat flux is:

\[ q=\frac{T_0\, -\, T_4}{R_{total}}\]

where \(T_0\) = temperature of the left side of the left wall 

\(T_4\) = temperature on the right side of the right wall

\(R_{total}\) = total resistance to heat transfer

\[R_{total} = \sum_{i=1}^{4} \frac{x_i}{k_i}\]

where \(x_i\) = thickness of each wall segment (cm) 

\(k_i\) = thermal conductivity of the wall’s material (W/[cm K])

The wall temperatures can be calculated from left to right according to:

\[T_i = T_{i-1}\, -\, qR_i = T_{i-1}\, -\, q\frac{x_i}{k_i}\]

where \(R_i\) = thermal resistance

\(T_i\) = temperature