Concept
Heat transfer
Related concepts (72)
Temperature gradient
A temperature gradient is a physical quantity that describes in which direction and at what rate the temperature changes the most rapidly around a particular location. The temperature gradient is a dimensional quantity expressed in units of degrees (on a particular temperature scale) per unit length. The SI unit is kelvin per meter (K/m). Temperature gradients in the atmosphere are important in the atmospheric sciences (meteorology, climatology and related fields). Assuming that the temperature T is an intensive quantity, i.
Logarithmic mean temperature difference
In thermal engineering, the logarithmic mean temperature difference (LMTD) is used to determine the temperature driving force for heat transfer in flow systems, most notably in heat exchangers. The LMTD is a logarithmic average of the temperature difference between the hot and cold feeds at each end of the double pipe exchanger. For a given heat exchanger with constant area and heat transfer coefficient, the larger the LMTD, the more heat is transferred.