Numerical study of the effects of variable fluid property and internal heat generation on flat-plate thermometer

A numerical study is presented for the steady-state temperature field and the heat transfer characteristics. The results are obtained by solving the highly nonlinear energy equation using the fourth-order Runge-Kutta method. Two cases including the constant fluid property (CFP) and the variable fluid property (VFP) are discussed. It is found that the values of the temperature field in the VFP case are larger than those in the CFP case. Further, the temperature field is more prominent in the presence of heat sources than in their absence. Numerical results indicate that the wall heat transfer coefficient (or the Nusselt number) in the VFP case is about 35 percent higher than in the CFP case. This suggests further investigation of the effects of the variable fluid property on the heat transfer characteristics.