A Variational Method for Fully Developed Laminar Heat Transfer in Ducts

Abstract
A variational method is presented for determining fully developed velocity and temperature distributions for laminar flow in noncircular ducts. The heat addition to the fluid is taken to be uniform in the axial direction, but a variety of thermal boundary conditions are considered around the periphery of the duct cross section. Several illustrative examples are given, and comparisons are made which show good agreement with available exact solutions. These examples include ducts of rectangular and circular-sector cross sections.