SARDAR VALLABHBHAI ATEL INSTITUTE OF

TECHNOLOGY

ALA – BOUNDARY LAYER THEORY

TOPIC – THERMAL PRESENTED BY:-

BOUNDARY LAYER
Shivam prajapati (150410101045)
Introduction

• Thermal boundary layer formed by a heated (or cooled) fluid moving

along a heated (or cooled) wall.
• The thermal boundary layer description parallels the velocity
(momentum) boundary layer description first conceptualized by
Ludwig Prandtl.
• The Thermal Boundary Layer is a region of a fluid flow, near a solid
surface, where the fluid temperatures are directly influenced by
heating or cooling from the surface wall.
Thermal Boundary layer Thickness
• The thickness of the thermal boundary layer t at any location along
the surface is defined as the distance from the surface at which the
temperature difference T - Ts equals 0.99(T∞ - Ts).
• The thickness of the thermal boundary layer increases in the flow
direction, since the effects of heat transfer are felt at greater
distances from the surface further down stream.
• The shape of the temperature profile in the thermal boundary layer
dictates the convection heat transfer between a solid surface and the
fluid flowing over it.
Laminar Flow

• For laminar flow over a flat plate a zero incidence, the thermal
boundary layer thickness is given by
Turbulent Flow

• the turbulent thermal boundary layer thickness is given

approximately by the turbulent velocity boundary layer thickness
expression given by
• For turbulent flow over a flat plate, the thickness of the thermal
boundary layer that is formed is not determined by thermal diffusion,
but instead, it is random fluctuations in the outer region of the
boundary layer of the fluid that is the driving force determining
thermal boundary layer thickness.

• Thus the thermal boundary layer thickness for turbulent flow does
not depend on the Prandtl number but instead on the Reynolds
number
Prandtl Number
• The relative thickness of the velocity and the thermal boundary layers
is best described by the dimensionless parameter Prandtl number.
• Prandtl number is defined as ratio of molecular diffusivity of
momentum to molecular diffusivity of heat.
Effect of Prandtl Number on Boundary Layer