Where h is the convective heat transfer coefficient (units Wm-2 K-1) which depends on the shape and orientation of the object. ∆T is the temperature difference between the surface of the object and the surrounding fluid.
Convection is an enhanced form of conduction, since the movement of the fluid helps carry heat transferred by conduction, so one would expect some relation between h and k. If the temperature of the cylinder is not much above that of the surrounding air, the moving fluid can be approximated as a stationary layer having some characteristic thickness L. Comparing equations (1) and (2), one immediately has the relation h = k/L. In fact, as the temperature of the cylinder increases, fluid motion increases and becomes turbulent, whereupon the fluid becomes more efficient at carrying heat, and h can turn out to be 102 – 104 times k/L.The proportionality between h and k/L is called the Nusselt number N,