• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.1304-1312
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• 1993

The buoyancy effects on mixed convection heat transfer over a flat plate surface with unheated starting length is reported. The governing equations are solved by a finite difference method using Patankar scheme and the solution was numerically obtained for various mixed convection parametr $Gr_{x}/Re_{x}^3$, and Prandtl number of 0.7 Local heat flux was measured by using Schilieren Interferometer. The local heat transfer results show that the presence of the unheated starting length can significantly accentuate the effects of buoyancy. The degree of accentuation of the buoyancy effects is strongly influenced by the magnitude of $Gr_{x}/Re_{x}^3$. When the parameter is larger than the order of $10^{-3}$, the contribution of natural convection to the heat transfer coefficients increased significantly due to the unheated starting length. In contrast, when $Gr_{x}/Re_{x}^3$ is smaller then about $10^{-5}$ , the buoyancy contribution is essentially unaffected by the unheated starting length. The shape of the velocity profile is also found to be highly responsive to the interaction between the buoyancy and the starting length.