
438     Fundamentals of Fluid Mechanics and Transport Phenomena 
 
thermal flux density is unusable and we thus have recourse to expression [8.44] 
which is equivalent to the sum of the series [8.42] in these conditions. 
We are thus led to search for a formula which contains the two different 
asymptotic expressions f
1
(t) and f
2
(t) of the function f(t), which are valid for small 
and large values of t respectively following the time value. This can be obtained by 
means of a matching formula or a weight between the two temporal domains which 
gives exact values for the function f and its temporal derivative at the origin, and 
which respects the asymptotic behavior at infinity. A simple means consists of 
weighting the two formulae by a suitable auxiliary function 
M
(t) close to 1 for small t 
and tending quite quickly to zero for t equal to infinity. The expression: 
   
tfttfttf
21
1
 
 
satisfies these conditions if the function 
M
(t) at least satisfies the relations 
   
00',10  f  
 and if 
M
'(t) tends at infinity faster to zero than 
tf
2
; we 
have: 
           
f ff f  
'
2
'
2
'
11
00'00 ffffffff  
The simplest weighting function is the Gaussian 
2
t
et
D
M
 
. 
It remains to write a matching condition which can be defined at a point where 
the two approximations differ very little and where we require that the value of the 
function 
M
(t) is equal to 0.5 (here, the function f(t) is the mean of the values f
1
(t) and 
f
2
(t)). 
Let us apply this procedure to obtain a quite simple expression of the solution 
valid all over the interval [-
A,+A]. We take as our asymptotic expression at infinity 
the modal solution limited to the first mode
, and for small t, the boundary layer 
solution. We will choose the mean temperature in order to determine the matching 
condition. A simple numerical calculation shows that the difference between the 
values of expression [8.41] limited to the first mode and formula [8.45] is minimal 
in the vicinity of 
20.0
 t . Taking as a weighting function the Gaussian 
2
t
et
D
M
 
 and taking 
M
(0.2) equal to 0.5, we find 
D
 = 7.5. 
The mixed representation thus obtained for the first mode of the temperature 
T
m
 
can be written: