ANALYTICAL METHOD FOR FORCED-CONVECTION FROM FLAT PLATES, CIRCULAR-CYLINDERS, AND SPHERES

A simple general method is developed to predict forced convection heat transfer from isothermal body shapes such as flat plates, infinite circular cylinders, and spheres for a wide range of both Reynolds number and Prandtl number. The proposed method is based on linearization of the thermal energy equation that is accomplished by the introduction of an effective velocity that is related to the freestream velocity. Next, the linear energy equation is transformed to an equivalent transient heat conduction equation that has existing solutions. These solutions are retransformed to the final expression as a function of the effective velocity that is defined in the limits of Pr --> infinity and Pr --> 0 using scaling analysis. The approximate analytic solutions are in closed form, they are simple and quite accurate when compared with previous experimental and analytical studies.