The extended Graetz problem at low Peclet numbers

The temperature profile in a circular tube of infinite extent through which a fluid is moving under conditions of small Péclet numbersε is determined by means of an asymptotic analysis inε. The walls of the tube are heated forx>0 and are insulated whenx<0. It is shown that the heated region extends anO(ε ⁻¹) distance — relative to the radius of the tube — upstream of the pointx=0, and that convective effects remain important even whenε→0. These results apply to a wider class of problems in which the Péclet number is small.