NUMERICAL SIMULATION ON LAMINAR FREE-CONVECTION FLOW AND HEAT TRANSFER OVER AN ISOTHERMAL VERTICAL PLATE

In the present numerical study, laminar free-convection flow and heat transfer over an isothermal vertical plate is presented. By means of similarity transformation, the original nonlinear coupled partial differential equations of flow are transformed to a pair of simultaneous nonlinear ordinary differential equations. Then, they are reduced to first order system. Finally, NewtonRaphson method and adaptive Runge-Kutta method are used for their integration. The computer codes are developed for this numerical analysis in Matlab environment. Velocity and temperature profiles for various Prandtl number are illustrated graphically. Flow and heat transfer parameters are derived as functions of Prandtl number alone. The results of the present simulation are then compared with experimental data published in literature and find a good agreement.