On the similarity solutions to laminar natural convection boundary layers

In dimensional analysis of parameters, incorporating buoyancy and the weighted contributions of both inertial and viscous effects into the correlation of heat transfer, the reduction of the number of independent variables by one for a problem governed by partial differential equations requires the search for a similarity variable which appropriately combines two of the independent variables.

Among the several methods available for this search, that of dimensional analysis may be extended by a judicious account of the physical similitude of governing equations.