Mathematical model of heat transfer in a fluid with account for its relaxation properties

Abstract

Using the terms that take account for the temporal and spatial nonlocality (time variation of the heat flux and the temperature gradient) in the formula of Fourier’s law for the heat flux a differential equation for a fluid in motion is derived that contains the second time derivative and themixed derivative with respect to the spatial and temporal variables. Numerical solution of the problem of heat transfer in the laminar fluid flow in a plane channel demonstrates that, in view of the lag in the time variation of the heat flux from zero to a certain maximum value, the boundary condition of the first kind (thermal shock) cannot be instantaneously realized. The process of its stabilization on the wall is characterized by a certain time interval, whose duration is determined by the relaxation properties of the fluid. At large values of the dimensionless coefficients of the heat flux relaxation and the temperature gradient the boundary condition of the first kind can be realized only as the steady state is attainted, as Fo→∞. In this case, the flow does not contain temperature jumps and negative temperature values.