Convective Heat Transfer: Fundamentals and Some Applications

By Prof. Arunkumar Sridharan, Prof. Shankar Krishnan, Prof. S.V. Prabhu | IIT Bombay

Learners enrolled: 336 | Exam registration: 65

ABOUT THE COURSE:

Convective heat transfer is a mode of heat transfer having a wide range of practical applications from the area of heat exchangers, boiling and condensation, nuclear reactor thermal hydraulics and electronic cooling. This course covers the basics of convection from fundamentals, emphasizing on the Fluid mechanics basics in the process. Scaling analysis which gives a physical feel for the various terms is introduced. Similarity and Integral method solutions are explored for obtaining Nusselt number for various situations. Natural convection is also studied in detail with emphasis on fundamentals and scaling approaches covered. Lastly, some applications in the area of boiling and condensation, electronic cooling and heat pipes are considered.

INTENDED AUDIENCE: BE/B.Tech (Final year as elective), ME/M.Tech Elective

PREREQUISITES: Completed UG course on Heat Transfer or equivalent.

INDUSTRY SUPPORT: BARC, NPCIL, AERB, IGCAR, NTPC, ISRO, DRDO, L&T and other organizations doing work in the area of heat transfer

Summary

Course Status :	Ongoing
Course Type :	Elective
Language for course content :	English
Duration :	12 weeks
Category :	Mechanical Engineering Energy Systems Computational Thermo Fluids
Credit Points :	3
Level :	Undergraduate/Postgraduate
Start Date :	19 Jan 2026
End Date :	10 Apr 2026
Enrollment Ends :	02 Feb 2026
Exam Registration Ends :	20 Feb 2026
Exam Date :	26 Apr 2026 IST
NCrF Level	4.5 — 8.0

Note: This exam date is subject to change based on seat availability. You can check final exam date on your hall ticket.

Page Visits

Course layout

Week 1: Convection – Types of convection, Newton’s law of cooling, Definition of heat transfer coefficient, Nusselt number, understanding of terms – internal and external flows, laminar and turbulent flows, one, two and three dimensional flows, Turbulent flow – Turbulent viscosity, Turbulent thermal conductivity, velocity boundary layer, thermal boundary layer, Prandtl number
Differential analysis of fluid flow, linear motion and deformation, Translation, linear deformation, angular motion and deformation

Week 2: Fluid acceleration, Reynolds Transport Theorem, Conservation of Mass and Momentum Equation derivation

Week 3: Energy equation derivation, Scale Analysis

Week 4: Non-dimensionalization and Dimensional Similarity, Reynolds analogy. Introduction to Similarity Method and Blasius Solution for flow over flat plate. Similarity Method for Energy equation

Week 5: Introduction to various thicknesses, Integral method

Week 6: Introduction to turbulence, Reynolds averaging, Eddy diffusivity of momentum and heat, Universal velocity distribution, friction factor for hydraulically smooth and rough pipes

Week 7: Velocity distribution in turbulent flow, Internal flow – mean velocity, bulk mean temperature, hydraulic diameter, developing and fully developed flows (hydrodynamic and thermal) for fluids with Pr < 1 and Pr > 1, General thermal analysis for heat fluid flow in a pipe with constant surface heat flux

Week 8: General thermal analysis for heat fluid flow in a pipe with constant wall temperature, concept of NTU. Introduction to Natural Convection, Scaling analysis, Prandtl number less than and greater than 1 cases, Richardson number

Week 9: Natural convection in a vertical channel at constant wall temperatures, Optimal cooling of stack of vertical plates, Effect of viscous dissipation on Nusselt number in forced convection. Introduction of two – phase flow and heat transfer, Pool boiling curve, Flow boiling

Week 10: Basics of Flow boiling, Critical heat flux, Introduction to film boiling, condensation, Introduction to electronics cooling

Week 11: Convective heat transfer in electronics, adiabatic heat transfer coefficient, heat sinks design, natural convection

Week 12: Heat Pipes, Thermal design of electronic equipment

Books and references

● Kays W.M. and Crawford M. E., Convective Heat and Mass Transfer, McGraw-Hill, Third Edition, 1993

● Burmeister L.C, Convective Heat Transfer, John Wiley and Sons, 1993

● Bejan, A, Convective Heat Transfer, Wiley India Pvt. Ltd., Third Edition, 2004

● Kakac, S., Yener, Y., and Pramuanjaroenkij, A., Convective Heat Transfer, CRC Press, Third Edition, 2014

● Incropera F. P and Dewitt, Fundamentals of Heat and Mass Transfer, John Wiley and Sons (Asia) Private Limited, Indian Edition.

Instructor bio

Prof. Arunkumar Sridharan

IIT Bombay

Prof. Arunkumar Sridharan is a Professor in the Dept. of Mechanical Engg. at IIT Bombay. His work is primarily in the areas of nuclear reactor thermal hydraulics and safety, single and two phase heat transfer, both numerical and experimental. He has taught courses in the areas of Fluid mechanics, heat transfer, two phase flow and heat transfer, basic thermodynamics, applied thermodynamics, convective heat transfer, reactor thermal hydraulics and safety etc. He is the author of over 60 research papers and has guided 7 PhD students.

Prof. Shankar Krishnan

Prof. Shankar Krishnan is an Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at IIT Bombay. His interests are in the areas of heat transfer and multifunctional porous materials with applications in thermal management and desalination technologies. He has taught courses in the areas of heat transfer, applied thermodynamics, thermal management of electronics, and porous media. He is the author of over 60 journal papers, 23 patents, and has guided 11 PhD students.

Prof. S.V. Prabhu

Prof. S.V. Prabhu is a Professor in the Dept. of Mechanical Engg. at IIT Bombay. His work is primarily experimental focussing in the areas of gas turbine cooling, single and two phase heat transfer, fire dynamics etc. He has taught courses in the areas of Fluid mechanics, mechanical measurements, heat transfer, fire dynamics, applied thermodynamics, convective heat transfer etc. He is the author of over 250 research papers and has guided over dozen PhD students in his career spanning over 25 years.

Course certificate

The course is free to enroll and learn from. But if you want a certificate, you have to register and write the proctored exam conducted by us in person at any of the designated exam centres.

The exam is optional for a fee of Rs 1000/- (Rupees one thousand only).

Date and Time of Exams: April 26, 2026 Morning session 9am to 12 noon; Afternoon Session 2pm to 5pm.

Registration url: Announcements will be made when the registration form is open for registrations.

The online registration form has to be filled and the certification exam fee needs to be paid. More details will be made available when the exam registration form is published. If there are any changes, it will be mentioned then.

Please check the form for more details on the cities where the exams will be held, the conditions you agree to when you fill the form etc.

CRITERIA TO GET A CERTIFICATE

Average assignment score = 25% of average of best 8 assignments out of the total 12 assignments given in the course.
Exam score = 75% of the proctored certification exam score out of 100

Final score = Average assignment score + Exam score

Please note that assignments encompass all types (including quizzes, programming tasks, and essay submissions) available in the specific week.

YOU WILL BE ELIGIBLE FOR A CERTIFICATE ONLY IF AVERAGE ASSIGNMENT SCORE >=10/25 AND EXAM SCORE >= 30/75. If one of the 2 criteria is not met, you will not get the certificate even if the Final score >= 40/100.

Certificate will have your name, photograph and the score in the final exam with the breakup.It will have the logos of NPTEL and IIT Bombay. It will be e-verifiable at nptel.ac.in/noc.

Only the e-certificate will be made available. Hard copies will not be dispatched.

Once again, thanks for your interest in our online courses and certification. Happy learning.

- NPTEL team