Applications of a Computer Program to Heat-Transfer Problems

Abstract

Sections 13.4 and 13.5 described the numerical method and computer program used to obtain the boundary-layer flow results of Chapters 4 to 12. The following four sections of this chapter describe the steps required to obtain results for four new problems, in sufficient detail that a reader may reproduce earlier results for him- or herself and make use of the program to solve new problems. It should be remembered that the program is limited to steady two-dimensional boundary-layer equations; it can, however, be extended to steady axisymmetric flows, and also to unsteady flows using the procedures described, for example, by Bradshaw et al. [1]. The accuracy of solutions can only be as good as the numerical approximations and physical assumptions; the Box scheme, with a reasonable choice of net spacing, guarantees second-order numerical accuracy, and the well-tested Cebeci-Smith model of turbulence has been shown to be adequate for a wide range of turbulent boundary-layer flows [2], though in difficult cases (for example, with turbulent buoyant flows) it may only give qualitatively correct results.