Numerical simulation of inertial flow of heated and cooled viscoelastic fluids inside a planar sudden expansion channel: investigation of stresses effects on the total dissipation

In this paper, the inertial and non-isothermal flow of viscoelastic fluids in a planar channel with 1:3 sudden expansion has been simulated for Brinkman numbers in the range ( - ,20 le Br le 20 ). The mass, momentum and energy conservation equations with the non-linear form of Phan-Thien–Tanner constitutive equation are used to describe the behavior of heated and cooled viscoelastic fluids flow. The properties of fluid are assumed temperature-dependent and the viscous dissipation terms are considered in the energy equation. The object of the current paper is to investigate the stresses and their effects on heat generation via the viscous dissipation terms in the energy equation for inertial flow of heated and cooled viscoelastic fluids. Therefore, plots of streamlines, isothermal lines, normal stress (( tau_{xx} )), normal-transverse stress (( tau_{yy} )) and shear stress (( tau_{xy} )), total dissipation, temperature and local Nusselt numbers have been drawn and examined in the channel expansion. The results show that for the asymmetric flow of heated and cooled viscoelastic fluids, the maximum values of total dissipation are located adjacent to the lower wall and at the centerline of the channel expansion. Also, by incrementing the Brinkman number in the hydrodynamically and thermally developing and fully developed zones, the values of total dissipation are increased.