Numerical Simulation of Laminar Boundary Layer Flow Over a Horizontal Flat Plate in External Incompressible Viscous Fluid

Abstract

In this paper, steady laminar boundary layer flow of a Newtonian fluid over a flat plate in a uniform free stream was investigated numerically when the surface plate is heated by forced convection from the hot fluid. This flow is a good model of many situations involving flow over fins that are relatively widely spaced. All the solutions given here were with constant fluid properties and negligible viscous dissipation for two-dimensional, steady, incompressible laminar flow with zero pressure gradient. The similarity solution has shown its efficiency here to transform the governing equations of the thermal boundary layer into a nonlinear, third-order ordinary differential equation and solved numerically by using 4th-order Runge-Kutta method which in turn was programmed in FORTRAN language. The dimensionless temperature, velocity, and all boundary layer functions profiles were obtained and plotted in figures for different parameters entering into the problem. Several results of best approximations and expressions of important correlations relating to heat transfer rates were drawn in this study of which Prandtl’s number to the plate for physical interest was also discussed across the tables. The same case of solution procedure was made for a plane plate subjected to other thermal boundary conditions in a laminar flow. Finally, for the validation of the treated numerical model, the results obtained are in good agreement with those of the specialized literature, and comparison with available results in certain cases is excellent.