Commun Nonlinear Sci Numer Simulat 15 (2010) 573–580

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Commun Nonlinear Sci Numer Simulat

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/cnsns

Hydrodynamic and thermal slip flow boundary layers over a flat plate
with constant heat flux boundary condition
Abdul Aziz *
Department of Mechanical Engineering, School of Engineering & Applied Science Gonzaga University, Spokane, WA 99258, USA

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: In this paper the boundary layer flow over a flat plat with slip flow and constant heat flux
Received 19 November 2008 surface condition is studied. Because the plate surface temperature varies along the x direc-
Received in revised form 11 April 2009 tion, the momentum and energy equations are coupled due to the presence of the temper-
Accepted 11 April 2009
ature gradient along the plate surface. This coupling, which is due to the presence of the
Available online 3 May 2009
thermal jump term in Maxwell slip condition, renders the momentum and energy equa-
tions non-similar. As a preliminary study, this paper ignores this coupling due to thermal
PACS:
jump condition so that the self-similar nature of the equations is preserved. Even this fun-
44.20.+b
47.45.Gx
damental problem for the case of a constant heat flux boundary condition has remained
unexplored in the literature. It was therefore chosen for study in this paper. For the hydro-
Keywords: dynamic boundary layer, velocity and shear stress distributions are presented for a range of
Flat plate values of the parameter characterizing the slip flow. This slip parameter is a function of the
Hydrodynamic and thermal boundary layers local Reynolds number, the local Knudsen number, and the tangential momentum accom-
Slip flow modation coefficient representing the fraction of the molecules reflected diffusively at the
Constant heat flux surface. As the slip parameter increases, the slip velocity increases and the wall shear stress
decreases. These results confirm the conclusions reached in other recent studies. The
energy equation is solved to determine the temperature distribution in the thermal bound-
ary layer for a range of values for both the slip parameter as well as the fluid Prandtl num-
ber. The increase in Prandtl number and/or the slip parameter reduces the dimensionless
surface temperature. The actual surface temperature at any location of x is a function of
the local Knudsen number, the local Reynolds number, the momentum accommodation
coefficient, Prandtl number, other flow properties, and the applied heat flux.
Ó 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction

The boundary layer flow over a flat plate in a uniform stream of fluid has been studied extensively in fluid mechanics.
When fluid flows in micro electro mechanical systems or MEMS are encountered, the no slip condition at the solid–fluid
interface is abandoned in favor of a slip flow model which represents more accurately the non-equilibrium region near
the interface. The first-order slip flow model proposes a relationship between the tangential component of the velocity at
the surface, the velocity gradient normal to the surface, the mean free path, and the tangential momentum accommodation
coefficient [1]. The effect of slip flow on the hydrodynamic boundary layer over a stationary flat plate has been studied by
Martin and Boyd [2] who employed the Maxwell slip condition. The same problem has been studied by Vedantam [3] with
three different models for the slip flow. The stationary plate model was extended by Fang and Lee [4] to a moving flat plate

* Tel.: +1 509 323 3540; fax: +1 509 323 5871.

E-mail address: aziz@gonzaga.edu

1007-5704/$ - see front matter Ó 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.cnsns.2009.04.026
574 A. Aziz / Commun Nonlinear Sci Numer Simulat 15 (2010) 573–580

and by Anderson [5] to a stretching surface. For a stationary plate, the general conclusion from these investigations is that as
the slip (rarefaction) parameter increases, the slip velocity increases and the wall shear stress decreases. For the moving
plate, however, the momentum equation has two solutions and the location of the maximum shear stress which occurs
on the plate surface for a stationary plate moves out into the fluid at a certain distance from the plate when the plate is mov-
ing. This distance depends on the ratio of the plate velocity and the free stream velocity [4].
The effect of slip flow on the flat plate thermal boundary layer characteristics has received limited attention. In a recent
paper, Martin and Boyd [6] considered the thermal boundary layer over an isothermal flat plate in the presence of slip flow.
In this analysis they took into account the effect of slip parameter K (a function of x, direction along the plate) in transform-
ing the momentum equation and found that the stream function and consequently the y (direction normal to the plate) com-
ponent of the velocity (v) also depends on the variation of the similarity variable f with respect to K. They neglected this in
their earlier work [2].
With this modification, the similarity equation for the hydrodynamic boundary layer became a partial differential equa-
tion instead of the classical Blasius ordinary differential equation. With the introduction of temperature jump condition, the
transformed energy equation also became a partial differential equation. They solved both equations numerically using cen-
ter-difference approximation. With the neglect of temperature jump condition, the heat transfer was found to increase as the
slip velocity increased. However, when the temperature jump condition was retained the heat transfer decreased as the slip
velocity increased.
Other papers that are relevant to the present work are those of Wang [7], Anderson [8]. Abel and Mahesha [9,10]. Wang
[7] considered the analysis of viscous flow due to stretching sheet with surface slip and suction, while Anderson [8] provided
an exact solution of the Navier–Stokes equations describing the flow past a stretching boundary with partial slip. The papers
by Abel and Mahesha [9,10] are important contributions because they included effect of variable thermal conductivity, heat
source, radiation, buoyancy, magneto-hydrodynamic effects, and viscoelastic behavior of the fluid.
This paper considers the effect of slip flow on the thermal boundary layer over a flat plate with a constant heat flux
boundary condition instead of a constant temperature boundary condition used by Martin and Boyd [6]. This situation arises
in a MEM condensation application where a fixed heat dissipation (constant heat flux) due to condensation on lower surface
of the plate is be removed by the gas flowing over the top surface. As a preliminary study the temperature jump condition
will be neglected. As noted in [6], this is a reasonable assumption for the flow of liquids at the micro scale level particularly
because of the lack of data on the thermal accommodation coefficient.

2. Momentum and energy equations

The continuity and momentum equations for the laminar hydrodynamic boundary layer over a flat plate in a uniform
stream of fluid can be reduced to the Blasius differential equation.
00
2f 000 þ ff ¼ 0 ð1Þ

where the dependent variable f(g) and the independent variable g are defined as

wðx; yÞ
f ðgÞ ¼pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi ð2Þ
U 1 mx=U 1
 1=2
U
g¼y 1 ð3Þ
mx
In Eq. (2), w(x,y) is the stream function, U1 is the free stream velocity, x is the coordinate along the plate, y is the coordinate
normal to the plate, and m is the kinematic viscosity of the fluid. The x component of the velocity, u(x,y) is given by
uðx; yÞ
f 0 ðgÞ ¼ ð4Þ
U1
and the y component of the velocity, v(x,y), is given by
1 pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi 0
v ðx; yÞ ¼ mU1=xðgf  f Þ ð5Þ
2
The boundary condition at large normal distance from the plate is
f 0 ð1Þ ¼ 1 ð6Þ
For rarefied flow, the slip condition of the form given Martin and Boyd [2] is used.

ð2  rÞ ou
uy¼0 ¼ k  ð7Þ
r oy y¼0

where k is the mean free path and r is the tangential momentum accommodation coefficient. Eq. (7) may be expressed in
dimensionless form as
 A. Aziz / Commun Nonlinear Sci Numer Simulat 15 (2010) 573–580 575

2r 00
f 0 ð0Þ ¼ Knx Re1=2 00
x f ð0Þ ¼ Kf ð0Þ ð8Þ
r
where the local Knudsen number Knx and the local Reynolds number Rex are defined as
Knx ¼ k=x ð9Þ
U1 x
Rex ¼ ð10Þ
m
and
2r
K¼ Knx Re1=2
x ð11Þ
r
It should be noted that the slip (rarefaction) parameter K is a function of x and as a consequence the solutions of Eq. (1) sub-
ject to the boundary conditions (6) and (8) for fixed values of K would be locally similar.
00
For the thermal boundary layer without viscous dissipation, the energy equation for constant q may be written as

oT oT o2 T
u þv ¼a 2 ð12Þ
ox oy oy
oT
 k ðx; 0Þ ¼ q00 ð13Þ
oy
Tðx; 1Þ ¼ T 1 ð14Þ
Following Bejan [11], we introduce the following dimensionless variable for the temperature

T  T1
h¼  1=2 ð15Þ
q00 mx
k U1

and use the other variables defined previously. The energy equation reduces to the following ordinary differential equation.
1
h00 þ Prðf h0  f 0 hÞ ¼ 0 ð16Þ
2
h0 ð0Þ ¼ 1 ð17Þ
hð1Þ ¼ 0 ð18Þ

3. Numerical solutions

Hydrodynamic results

The numerical solution of Eq. (1) subject to the boundary conditions (6) and (8) was obtained using the symbolic algebra
software Maple 11. The dimensionless stream function f as a function of g is shown in Fig. 1 for K = 0 (no slip), 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5.
For any location in the boundary layer (i.e. for any value of g), the stream function f increases as the flow becomes more rar-
efied, that is, as K increases. This is consistent with the results shown in Fig. 2 of Martin and Boyd [6] but perhaps the authors
mistakenly use the wording ‘‘f decreases” in the text. The results for the dimensionless x component of the velocity f0 (g) ap-
pear in Fig. 2. As the flow becomes more rarefied, the slip velocity f0 (0) increases and so does the x component of the velocity
for any value of g. However, the dimensionless y component of the velocity, (gf0  f), decreases as K increases as illustrated in
Fig. 3. Some of the results for the stream function and the two components of the velocity read from Martin and Boyd [6]
were checked against the present results and found to be close despite the fact that Martin and Boyd [6] took into account
the variation of the stream function with parameter K which was neglected in the present analysis. Though precise, this
refinement does not appear to have a significant effect on the y component of the velocity.
Fig. 4 shows the effect of increasing rarefaction on the slip velocity and the wall shear. As noted earlier, the slip velocity
increases as the flow becomes more rarefied. The wall shear, however, decreases with the increase in rarefaction. The shear
which is given by the initial slope of the curves in Fig. 2 is a maximum when K = 0 (no slip). These conclusions are consistent
with those reported by Martin and Boyd [2]. It is interesting to point the same authors in a later paper [6] found that the
maximum shear occurs at K 0.5 and not at K = 0. Similarly, they found that the y component of the velocity exhibited a local
peak for K < 1. They attributed these anomalies to the ‘‘loss of self-similarity in the flow”.

Thermal results

The solution of the thermal Eqs. (16)–(18) was also obtained using Maple 11. Fig. 5 shows the temperature distribution in
the thermal boundary layer for Prandtl number of 0.72 for K = 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. As the flow rarefaction increases, tem-
peratures in the thermal boundary layer are progressively lowered. The effect becomes less pronounced beyond K = 2 when
576 A. Aziz / Commun Nonlinear Sci Numer Simulat 15 (2010) 573–580

Fig. 1. Stream function as a function of g for different values of K.

Fig. 2. Effect of flow rarefaction on the dimensionless x component of the velocity, f 0 .

the curves become very close to each other. Because of the constant heat flux boundary condition, the initial slope of each
curve is the same and is equal to 1. It can also be seen that the thickness of the thermal boundary decreases as the flow
becomes more rarefied.
The effect of Prandtl number on the temperature distribution in the thermal boundary layer at K = 1 is illustrated in Fig. 6.
As Prandtl number increases, the temperature at every location in the thermal boundary layer decreases. The thickness and
the Reynolds of the boundary layer decreases as Prandtl number increases as in the classical case of an isothermal flat plate
with no slip.
 A. Aziz / Commun Nonlinear Sci Numer Simulat 15 (2010) 573–580 577

Fig. 3. Effect of flow rarefaction on the dimensionless y component of the velocity, (gf 0  f ).

1
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4 f´´(0)
f´(0)
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
K

Fig. 4. Slip velocity and wall shear as a function of K.

Fig. 7 shows the effect of rarefaction on the surface temperature for Prandtl numbers of 0.72, 10, and 100. As Prandtl num-
ber increases, the surface temperature decreases. For a given Prandtl number, the surface temperature decreases as the flow
becomes more rarefied.
Using Eq. (15), the actual surface temperature is
 1=2
q00 mx
Ts ¼ T1 þ hð0Þ ð19Þ
k U1
In view of Eqs. (11) and (19), h(0) is a function of the Prandtl number, the local Knudsen number, the local Reynolds number
and the tangential momentum accommodation coefficient. To evaluate the local surface temperature at any value of x, the
accommodation coefficient must be known. Then the local Knudsen number needs to be calculated to determine the value of
K. The values of K and Prandtl number then determine the value of h(0). Finally q00 ,k,m,U1 must be known to determine the
value of Ts.
Fig. 8 illustrates the variation of the temperature gradient in the thermal boundary layer. At any location in the boundary
layer the gradient, h0 , decreases as the flow rarefaction parameter increases. However, beyond K = 2, the curves tend to coa-
lesce into a single curve indicating that the effect of K on the temperature gradient is diminished considerably.
578 A. Aziz / Commun Nonlinear Sci Numer Simulat 15 (2010) 573–580

Fig. 5. Temperature distribution in the thermal boundary at Pr = 0.72 for different flow rarefactions.

Fig. 6. Effect of Prandtl number on the temperature distribution in the thermal boundary layer at K = 1.

The hydrodynamic and thermal characteristics of the boundary flow over a flat plate with slip and constant heat flux have
been obtained numerically. With the use of the classical similarity variables, the continuity and energy equations can be re-
duced to a similarity equation that is locally valid. As the fluid becomes more rarefied, the x component of the velocity in-
creases but the y component of the velocity and the wall shear decrease. At any location in the hydrodynamic boundary
layer, the stream function increases as the slip increases.
The non-similarity arising as a result of the slip affects the otherwise similar energy equation. As the flow rarefaction in-
creases, temperatures in the thermal boundary layer are progressively lowered. However, the effect diminishes as the flow
becomes further rarefied. The local surface temperature decreases as Prandtl number and the flow rarefaction increase. The
actual surface temperature at any location of x is a function of the local Knudsen number, the local Reynolds number, the
momentum accommodation coefficient, Prandtl number, other flow and fluid properties, and the applied heat flux.
 A. Aziz / Commun Nonlinear Sci Numer Simulat 15 (2010) 573–580 579

2.5

Pr = 0.72
2 Pr = 10
Pr = 100

1.5
θ (0)
1

0.5

0
0 1 2 3 4 5
K

Fig. 7. Surface temperature as a function of Prandtl number and the flow rarefaction.

Fig. 8. Temperature gradient variation in the thermal boundary layer for different flow rarefactions.

4. Conclusions

The hydrodynamic and thermal characteristics of the boundary flow over a flat plate with slip and constant heat flux have
been obtained numerically. With the use of the classical similarity variables, the continuity and energy equations can be re-
duced to a similarity equation that is locally valid. As the fluid becomes more rarefied, the x component of the velocity in-
creases but the y component of the velocity and the wall shear decrease. At any location in the hydrodynamic boundary
layer, the stream function increases as the slip increases.
The non-similarity arising as a result of the slip affects the otherwise similar energy equation. As the flow rarefaction
increases, temperatures in the thermal boundary layer are progressively lowered. However, the effect diminishes as the
flow becomes further rarefied. The local surface temperature decreases as Prandtl number and the flow rarefaction in-
crease. The actual surface temperature at any location of x is a function of the local Knudsen number, the local Reynolds
number, the momentum accommodation coefficient, Prandtl number, other flow and fluid properties, and the applied heat
flux.
580 A. Aziz / Commun Nonlinear Sci Numer Simulat 15 (2010) 573–580

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[3] Vedantam NK. Effects of slip on the flow characteristics of a laminar flat plate boundary layer. In: Proceedings of ASME fluids engineering summer
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[4] Fang T, Lee CF. A moving wall boundary layer flow of a slightly rarefied gas free stream over a moving flat plate. Appl Math Lett 2005;18:487–95.
[5] Anderson HI. Slip flow past a stretching surface. Acta Mech 2002;158:121–5.
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[8] Anderson HI. Slip flow past a stretching boundary with partial slip-an exact solution of the Navier–Stokes equations. Chem Eng Sci 2002;57:3745–7.
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[11] Bejan A. Convection heat transfer. 3rd ed. New York: John Wiley; 2004. p. 84.