G. Wozniak et al., On the motion of a solid sphere through a viscous medium with a vertical temperature gradient, HEAT MASS T, 36(5), 2000, pp. 423-432
In this payer, we report experiments conducted on the temperature distribut
ion around a solid sphere that settles slowly in a thermally stratified vis
cous fluid. The temperature field has been obtained using interferometry. I
n some cases thermochromic liquid crystal tracers have been used to simulta
neously obtain the velocity and the temperature fields. We also describe a
theoretical analysis of the problem and compare experimental and theoretica
l findings and discuss the results. we find that natural convection has a s
ignificant influence in determining the nature of the temperature field awa
y from the sphere.