Observation of Temperature Peaks due to Strong Viscous Heating in a Dusty Plasma Flow

Profound temperature peaks are observed in regions of high velocity shear in a 2D dusty plasma experiment with laser-driven flow. These are attributed to viscous heating, which occurs due to collisional scattering in a shear flow. Using measurements of viscosity, thermal conductivity, and spatial profiles of flow velocity and temperature, we determine three dimensionless numbers: Brinkman, Br = 0.5; Prandtl, Pr = 0.09; and Eckert, Ec = 5.7. The large value of Br indicates significant viscous heating that is consistent with the observed temperature peaks.