Chapter 3 - Free and mixed convection boundary-layer flow past inclined and horizontal plates

Abstract

Free and mixed convection flow adjacent to inclined and horizontal surfaces bounded by an extensive body of fluid are important in micrometeorological and industrial applications., If the experimental plate is sufficiently wide, the gravitationally unstable layer separates from the heated plate and gives rise to typical eddying convection well ahead of this axis of symmetry. Another type of important convective heat transfer problem is the free and mixed convection boundary-layer flow near a flat plate which is inclined at a small arbitrary angle to the horizontal or vertical. When the inclination of the plate is positive, both the mechanisms driving the flow, produce favorable effective pressure gradients, so that the fluid continues to be accelerated along the plate to a final state, far from the leading edge. This is described by the classical free convection boundary-layer solution over a vertical flat plate. For negative inclinations, although the pressure gradient associated with the processes remains favorable, separation of the boundary-layer from the plate eventually occurs, since the buoyancy force now opposes the motion.