Abstract
We apply a new analytic technique, namely the homotopy analysis method, to give an
analytic approximation of temperature distributions for a laminar viscous flow over
a semi-infinite plate. An explicit analytic solution of the temperature distributions
is obtained in general cases and recurrence formulae of the corresponding constant
coefficients are given. In the cases of constant plate temperature distribution and
constant plate heat flux, the first-order derivative of the temperature on the plate
at the 30th order of approximation is given. The convergence regions of these two
formulae are greatly enlarged by the Padé technique. They agree well with numerical
results in a very large region of Prandtl number 1[les ]Pr[les ]50 and therefore can be
applied without interpolations.