[en] The development of fuels for gas-cooled reactors has resulted in a number of 'gas loop' experiments in materials-testing research reactors. In these experiments, efforts are made to reproduce the conditions expected in gas-cooled power reactors. Constant surface temperatures are sought over a short (300 mm) fuelled length, and because of entrance effects, an accelerating flow is required to increase the heat transfer down-stream from the entrance. Strong acceleration of a gas stream will laminarise the flow even at Reynolds Numbers up to 50000, far above values normally associated with laminar flow. A method of predicting heat transfer in this situation is presented here. An integral method is used to find the velocity profile; this profile is then used in an explicit finite-difference solution of the energy equation to give a temperature profile and resultant heat-transfer coefficient values. The Kline criterion, which compares viscous and disruptive forces, is used to predict whether the flow will be laminar. Experimental results are compared with predictions, and good agreement is found to exist. (author)