Slow Compressible Flow past a Circular Cylinder

The low Reynolds number flow of a gas past an infinite heated circular cylinder is studied for the case of variable property flow when the temperature difference between the cylinder and free stream is small. The perturbation to the corresponding incompressible velocity field is calculated by the method of matched asymptotic expansions developed by Kaplun, and Proudman and Pearson. When the temperature difference between the cylinder and free stream is appreciable, a solution for the velocity field is found on the assumption that the viscosity and thermal conductivity of the gas are invariant. This solution possesses the interesting property that the zero‐order solution for the velocity field near the cylinder is a uniformly valid solution of the problem.