The examination of exergy transfer characteristics caused by forced convective heat transfer through a duct with constant wall heat flux for thermally and hydrodynamic fully developed laminar and turbulent flows has been presented. The exergy transfer Nusselt number is put forward and the dependence relationships of the exergy transfer Nusselt number on the heat transfer Nusselt number, Reynolds number and Prandtl number are obtained. Expressions involving relevant variables for the local and mean convective exergy transfer coefficient, non-dimensional exergy flux and exergy transfer rate, etc. have been derived. By reference to a smooth duct, the numerical results of exergy transfer characteristics for fluids with different Prandtl number are obtained and the effect of the Reynolds number and non-dimensional cross-sectional position on exergy transfer characteristics is analyzed. In addition, the results corresponding to the exergy transfer and energy transfer are compared. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.