In this project we implement a 4th order Runge-Kutta integration scheme to solve the Blasius equation for laminar flow over a flat plate. Since one of the three boundary conditions is given out at the freestream (η = ∞), a shooting method based on the half-interval method is implemented. Once the solution for the flow is in hand, those results are used in solving the temperature distribution for two cases: (1) With a fixed wall temperature and no viscous dissipation (2) With viscous dissipation included and the wall kept adiabatic. A tridiagonal system for the temperature distribution arises in both cases. For the latter scenario, the final temperature distributions look as seen below:
Note that a much more versatile and highly interactive forced convection boundary layer virtual laboratory is available as part of the Heat Transfer Today collection as a Visual Studio executable.