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Stability of vertical natural convection boundary layers: expansions at large Prandtl number

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 March 2006

C. A. Hiebert  and
B. Gebhart
C. A. Hiebert
Affiliation:
Department of Thermal Engineering, Cornell University Present address: Clarkson College of Technology, Potsdam, New York.
B. Gebhart
Affiliation:
Department of Thermal Engineering, Cornell University
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Abstract

Expansions are obtained for the large Prandtl number structure of the laminar natural convection boundary layer, together with its linear stability characteristics, for the case of a uniform-heat-flux semi-infinite vertical plate. The primary source of instability is shown to arise from a temperature-coupling effect associated with the inner heated region of the boundary layer. Based upon an empirical correlation between the results of linear stability theory and experimentally determined regimes of the turbulent-transition process, it is shown that the flow can be expected to become turbulent before the outer vorticity region of the laminar boundary layer is fully established. The results are generalized to the isothermal plate case.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Fluid Mechanics , Volume 49 , Issue 3 , 15 October 1971 , pp. 577 - 591
Copyright
© 1971 Cambridge University Press

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References

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