Laminar free-convection in glycerol with variable physical properties adjacent to a vertical plate with uniform heat flux

The steady laminar boundary layer flow of glycerol along a vertical stationary plate with uniform heat flux is studied in this paper. The density, thermal conductivity and heat capacity of this liquid are linear functions of temperature but dynamic viscosity is a strong, almost exponential, function of temperature. The results are obtained with the numerical solution of the boundary layer equations. Both upward flow (plate heating) and downward flow (plate cooling) is considered. The variation of (mu)with temperature has significant influence on wall heat transfer and much stronger influence on wall shear stress. It was also found that the similarity exponent, which is equal to 0.20 for the classical problem with constant properties, is lower than 0.20 in the upward flow and higher than 0.20 in the downward flow.