Periodic laminar forced convection: solution via symbolic computation and integral transforms

Transient laminar forced convection within the thermal entrance region of p arallel-plate channels is analytically solved for by making use of the Gene ralized Integral Transform Technique (GITT) and mixed symbolic-numerical co mputation (Mathematica 3.0 system). The physical situation involves a perio dic variation in time of the fluid inlet temperature, together with a fifth kind boundary condition at the channel walls that includes external convec tion and wall thermal capacitance effects. A mixed symbolic-numeric algorit hm is constructed, which provides fully automatic derivation of all the ana lytical steps and offers a straightforward visualization of the numerical r esults, in both tabular and graphical forms. Amplitudes and phase lags of t he system thermal response are then presented and interpreted, while critic ally compared with previously reported results. (C) Elsevier, Paris.