Small Reynolds Number Flow around Flat Plate

uby

Hello,

I have a problem I am trying to model analytically (please note: I am NOT a fluid mechanics expert -- I come from a chemistry background):

A semi-infinite plate is oriented axially in the direction of flow.

Please refer to the following page for an illustration of my problem:
http://www.ecourses.ou.edu/cgi-bin/e....3&page=theory

The third picture is the Blasius solution, which does not apply at small Reynolds numbers. I am looking for an expression to tell me the thickness of the shaded viscous region from the top two pictures (i.e. - for small Reynolds numbers!) as function of position from the leading edge.

Any references would be appreciated.

Thanks!!

RTW69

What is the fluid, it's velocity and the size of the plate?

uby

hi RTW:

the fluid is argon at 1100 degrees celsius (kinematic viscosity 1.6 cm^2/sec) , traveling at 10 cm/s over a square rod (0.635x0.635cm, ~10cm length)

based on these values, i expect the reynolds number to vary from < 1 near the leading edge to ~60 far from the leading edge.

the blasius solution is only valid for reynolds numbers greater than about 1000, so i feel safe in assuming that it doesn't apply.