Laminar forced convection at low Péclet number

Abstract

This work is concerned with the forced convection of heat in a circular tube. The fluid flow is assumed to be laminar Poiseuille flow, and the physical parameters; viscosity, density, conductivity; are assumed to be independent of temperature changes. Viscous dissipation terms are also ignored, and there are no heat sources in the fluid. The problem is treated for the case of a step change in the wall temperature, and the eigenvalues have been obtained as an expansion in powers of the Péclet number for the smaller values, and in an asymptotic form for the larger values. The temperature distribution in the fluid in the neighbourhood of the temperature jump has been calculated for two values of the Péclet number, as have the Nusselt numbers.