A similarity solution for laminar thermal boundary layer over a flat plate with a convective surface boundary condition

This paper considers the classical problem of hydrodynamic and thermal boundary layers over a flat plate in a uniform stream of fluid. It is well known that similarity solutions of the energy equation are possible for the boundary conditions of constant surface temperature and constant heat flux. However, no such solution has been attempted for the convective surface boundary condition. The paper demonstrates that a similarity solution is possible if the convective heat transfer associated with the hot fluid on the lower surface of the plate is proportional to x−1/2. Numerical solutions of the resulting similarity energy equation are provided for representative Prandtl numbers of 0.1, 0.72, and 10 and a range of values of the parameter characterizing the hot fluid convection process. For the case of constant heat transfer coefficient, the same data provide local similarity solutions.