Heat and mass transfer from a flowing fluid to a wall is one of the fundamental problems of transport phenomena, whose precise mathematical description is considerably challenging due to the complexity of physical processes in the boundary layer. An exact theoretical understanding of these phenomena represents a powerful tool for addressing specific engineering, environmental, and biotechnological questions. In this work, a new analytical relationship was derived that connects the description of the transfer of a general scalar quantity to a reactive surface with its transport in the laminar wake behind this surface. The main tools were the Laplace transform and the associated convolution identities, which enabled the solution of the governing partial differential equation. The result represents a comprehensive theory that can be used for more accurate design of devices requiring knowledge of heat or mass transfer, or as a reference model for the development and verification of numerical schemes.
This study was carried out in collaboration between the Research Group of Multiphase Reactors at ICPF, the Faculty of Science at Jan Evangelista Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem, and Université Gustave Eiffel in France.
- Harrandt V., Bazaikin Y., Huchet F., Tihon J., Havlica J.: Analytical solution for the laminar wake behind a finite heat/mass sink. J. Fluid Mech. 2026, 1027, A20. doi.org/10.1017/jfm.2025.11081