Stagnation Flow and Heat Transfer From a Finite Disk Situated Perpendicular to a Uniform Stream

Abstract The stagnation flow and heat transfer from the blunt surface of a finite circular disk subjected to a uniform stream of an incompressible fluid is revisited in this paper. A laminar boundary layer analyses were carried out employing the method developed by Frössling. The involved auxiliary functions were calculated for several Prandtl numbers. It was found that the exact knowledge of the velocity at the outer edge of the boundary layer was essential to achieve an accurate velocity solution. In addition to the analytical work, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations and a detailed experimental study were conducted including heat transfer measurements in a wind tunnel and a large water towing tank. The analytical treatment enabled a clear discussion of the effect of the Prandtl number on convective heat transfer from a blunt disk. A primary effect and a secondary effect were distinguished based on the analytical treatment. The boundary layer theory offered a rather efficient calculation method, and its results were in an excellent agreement with experimental data.