External heating of a flat plate in a convective flow

Abstract

The steady-state and íransient processes of the exteinal heating of a flat píate under a convective flow is studied in thís paper, with inclusión of the axial heat conduction tíirough the píate. The balance equations reduce to a single integro-differential equation with only one parameter, a, denoting the ratio of the ability of the píate tocarry heat inthestreamwisedirectionto the abilityof the gas tocarry heat outof the píate. The two Iímits of a good conducting plate ([alpha]-»[infinite]) and a bad conducting plate ([alpha]-»[infinite]) are analised through the application of a regular perturbation procedure for the first case and a singular perturbation technique for the latter. The existence of two boundary layers at both edges of the píate is shown and their structure are analysed. The evolution of the temperature of the píate is then obtained for a constant external energy flux input.