Stretchable hydrophobic surfaces and droplet heating

Silicon elastomer surface is treated towards achieving the hydrophobic state. Functionalized nano-silica units are coated onto elastomer surface and resulting texture characteristics are examined prior to stretching, stretched and after stretching. The droplet heating of the hydrophobic elastomer surface is carried out when the surface is subjected to unstretching, stretching and stretch releasing conditions. The thermal-flow field in the liquid is simulated and validated incorporating high speed recording system. Nano-size silica units coated elastomer surface demonstrates the hydrophobic wetting state. The hydrophobic wetting state changes slightly for stretched and stretched released surface. The contact angle is about 154° ± 2° for unstretched surface while it is 152° ± 2° for the stretched released surface; hence, stretch relaxing provides reversible change of the surface wetting state of the elastomer surface. The contact angle reduces to 142° ± 2° when surface is under stretched, which is related to increased pillar spacing on the surface. The droplet heating results in development of Marangoni current in the fluid, which significantly affects the flow and temperature fields and it becomes more apparent for the large size droplets. The maximum flow velocity increases almost 9% in 45 µL as the surface is stretched. The Nusselt number increases with droplet size and the Bond number has the values less than unity; hence, stretching increases the Nusselt number by 60% for droplet of 45 µL.     

A Hybrid Boundary/Finite Element Method for Simulating Viscous Flows and Shapes of Droplets in Electric Fields

A mixed boundary element and finite element numerical algorithm for the simultaneous prediction of the electric fields, viscous flow fields, thermal fields and surface deformation of electrically conducting droplets in an electrostatic field is described in this paper. The boundary element method is used for the computation of the electric potential distribution. This allows the boundary conditions at infinity to be directly incorporated into the boundary integral formulation, thereby obviating the need for discretization at infinity. The surface deformation is determined by solving the normal stress balance equation using the weighted residuals method. The fluid flow and thermal fields are calculated using the mixed finite element method. The computational algorithm for the simultaneous prediction of surface deformation and fluid flow involves two iterative loops, one for the electric field and surface deformation and the other for the surface tension driven viscous flows. The two loops are coupled through the droplet surface shapes for viscous fluid flow calculations and viscous stresses for updating the droplet shapes. Computing the surface deformation in a separate loop permits the freedom of applying different types of elements without complicating procedures for the internal flow and thermal calculations. Tests indicate that the quadratic, cubic spline and spectral boundary elements all give approximately the same accuracy for free surface calculations; however, the quadratic elements are preferred as they are easier to implement and also require less computing time. Linear elements, however, are less accurate. Numerical simulations are carried out for the simultaneous solution of free surface shapes and internal fluid flow and temperature distributions in droplets in electric fields under both microgravity and earthbound conditions. Results show that laser heating may induce a non-uniform temperature distribution in the droplets. This non-uniform thermal field results in a variation of surface tension along the surface of the droplet, which in turn produces a recirculating fluid flow in the droplet. The viscous stresses cause additional surface deformation by squeezing the surface areas above and below the equator plane.     

Droplet heat transfer on micro-post arrays: Effect of droplet size on droplet thermal characteristics

Heat transfer towards a water droplet from hydrophobic micro-post array surface is considered while mimicking the environmental temperatures. Micro-post arrays are created on a silicon wafer surface via lithography technique. The textured surfaces are replicated by polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) to achieve an optical transmittance. The droplet adhesion on micro-post array surface is presented and the influence of droplet size on the heat transfer and droplet internal flow characteristics is examined. The flow predictions are validated via the particle image velocimetry data. It is found that adhesion force between the water droplet and the micro-post arrays surface depends on the geometric size and the orientation of the micro-post arrays on the surface. Temperature and flow fields are influenced by the droplet size. The Nusselt and the Bond numbers increase with the droplet volume; however, the Bond number remains less than unity indicating that the Marangoni current dominates over the buoyancy current in the droplet. The Nusselt number attains larger values for micro-post array surface than that of the plain surface. This is because of temperature and velocity oscillations along the contact lines at the droplet bottom due to the pitches of the micro-post arrays.     

Influence of thermal radiation and Joule heating in the Eyring–Powell fluid flow with the Soret and Dufour effects

A two-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic boundary layer flow of the Eyring–Powell fluid on a stretching surface in the presence of thermal radiation and Joule heating is analyzed. The Soret and Dufour effects are taken into account. Partial differential equations are reduced to a system of ordinary differential equations, and series solutions of the resulting system are derived. Velocity, temperature, and concentration profiles are obtained. The skin friction coefficient and the local Nusselt and Sherwood numbers are computed and analyzed.     

Temperature dependent viscosity and thermal conductivity effects on combined heat and mass transfer in MHD three-dimensional flow over a stretching surface with Ohmic heating

An analysis has been carried out to obtain the flow, heat and mass transfer characteristics of a viscous electrically conducting fluid having temperature dependent viscosity and thermal conductivity past a continuously stretching surface, taking into account the effect of Ohmic heating. The flow is subjected to a uniform transverse magnetic field normal to the plate. The resulting governing three-dimensional equations are transformed using suitable three-dimensional transformations and then solved numerically by using fifth order Runge–Kutta–Fehlberg scheme with a modified version of the Newton–Raphson shooting method. Favorable comparisons with previously published work are obtained. The effects of the various parameters such as magnetic parameter M, the viscosity/temperature parameter θ _r , the thermal conductivity parameter S and the Eckert number Ec on the velocity, temperature, and concentration profiles, as well as the local skin-friction coefficient, local Nusselt number, and the local Sherwood number are presented graphically and in tabulated form.     

Steady mixed convection flow of Maxwell fluid over an exponentially stretching vertical surface with magnetic field and viscous dissipation

The steady mixed convection flow and heat transfer from an exponentially stretching vertical surface in a quiescent Maxwell fluid in the presence of magnetic field, viscous dissipation and Joule heating have been studied. The stretching velocity, surface temperature and magnetic field are assumed to have specific exponential function forms for the existence of the local similarity solution. The coupled nonlinear ordinary differential equations governing the local similarity flow and heat transfer have been solved numerically by Chebyshev finite difference method. The influence of the buoyancy parameter, viscous dissipation, relaxation parameter of Maxwell fluid, magnetic field and Prandtl number on the flow and heat transfer has been considered in detail. The Nusselt number increases significantly with the Prandtl number, but the skin friction coefficient decreases. The Nusselt number slightly decreases with increasing viscous dissipation parameter, but the skin friction coefficient slightly increases. Maxwell fluid reduces both skin friction coefficient and Nusselt number, whereas buoyancy force enhances them.     

On a magnetohydrodynamic flow of the Casson fluid with partial slip and thermal radiation

A magnetohydrodynamic flow of the Casson fluid over a stretching surface in the presence of the slip condition, heat transfer, and thermal radiation is considered. The effects of the skin friction coefficient and local Nusselt number on flow parameters are analyzed numerically. The present results are compared with the existing limiting solution.     

Hydromagnetic thin film flow of Casson fluid in non-Darcy porous medium with Joule dissipation and Navier's partial slip

In this paper, the effects of viscous and Ohmic heating and heat generation/absorption on magnetohydrodynamic flow of an electrically conducting Casson thin film fluid over an unsteady horizontal stretching sheet in a non-Darcy porous medium are investigated. The fluid is assumed to slip along the boundary of the sheet. Similarity transformation is used to translate the governing partial differential equations into ordinary differential equations. A shooting technique in conjunction with the 4 th order Runge-Kutta method is used to solve the transformed equations. Computations are carried out for velocity and temperature of the fluid thin film along with local skin friction coefficient and local Nusselt number for a range of values of pertinent flow parameters. It is observed that the Casson parameter has the ability to enhance free surface velocity and film thickness, whereas the Forchheimer parameter, which is responsible for the inertial drag has an adverse effect on the fluid velocity inside the film. The velocity slip along the boundary tends to decrease the fluid velocity. This investigation has various applications in engineering and in practical problems such as very large scale integration(VLSI) of electronic chips and film coating.     

Radiative mixed convection flow of an Oldroyd-B fluid over an inclined stretching surface

A mixed convection flow of an Oldroyd-B fluid in the presence of thermal radiation is investigated. The flow is induced by an inclined stretching surface. The boundary layer equations of the Oldroyd-B fluid in the presence of heat transfer are used. Appropriate transformations reduce partial differential equations to ordinary differential equations. A computational analysis is performed for convergent series solutions. The values of the local Nusselt number are numerically analyzed. The effects of various parameters on velocity and temperature are discussed.     

Three-dimensional flow of a viscoelastic fluid on an exponentially stretching surface

An analysis of a three-dimensional viscoelastic fluid flow over an exponentially stretching surface is carried out in the presence of heat transfer. Constitutive equations of a second-grade fluid are employed. The governing boundary layer equations are reduced by appropriate transformations to ordinary differential equations. Series solutions of these equations are found, and their convergence is discussed. The influence of the prominent parameters involved in the heat transfer process is analyzed. It is found that the effects of the Prandtl number, viscoelastic parameter, velocity ratio parameter, and temperature exponent on the Nusselt number are qualitatively similar.     

Flow of Casson fluid with nanoparticles

The boundary layer flow of a Casson fluid due to a stretching cylinder is discussed in the presence of nanoparticles and thermal radiation. All physical properties of the Casson fluid except the thermal conductivity are taken constant. Appropriate transformations yield the nonlinear ordinary differential systems. Convergent series solutions are developed and analyzed. The numerical results for the local Nusselt and Sherwood numbers are demonstrated. It is found that an increase in the strength of the Brownian motion decays the temperature noticeably. However, the rate of heat transfer and the concentration of the nanoparticles at the surface increase for larger Brownian motion parameters.     

Flow and heat transfer in a second grade fluid over a stretching sheet

An analysis is carried out to study the flow and heat transfer characteristics in a second grade fluid over a stretching sheet with prescribed surface temperature including the effects of frictional heating, internal heat generation or absorption, and work due to deformation. In order to solve the fourth-order non-linear differential equation, associated with the flow problem, a fourth boundary condition is augmented and a proper sign for the normal stress modulus is used. It is observed that for a physical flow problem the solution is unique. The solutions for the temperature and the heat transfer characteristics are obtained numerically and presented by a table and graphs. Furthermore, it is shown that the heat flow is always from the stretching sheet to the fluid.     

Darcy-Forchheimer flows of copper and silver water nanofluids between two rotating stretchable disks

This investigation describes the nanofluid flow in a non-Darcy porous medium between two stretching and rotating disks. A nanofluid comprises of nanoparticles of silver and copper. Water is used as a base fluid. Heat is being transferred with thermal radiation and the Joule heating. A system of ordinary differential equations is obtained by appropriate transformations. Convergent series solutions are obtained. Effects of various parameters are analyzed for the velocity and temperature. Numerical values of the skin friction coefficient and the Nusselt number are tabulated and examined. It can be seen that the radial velocity is affected in the same manner with both porous and local inertial parameters. A skin friction coefficient depicts the same impact on both disks for both nanofluids with larger stretching parameters.     

Mixed convection boundary layers in the stagnation-point flow toward a stretching vertical sheet

An analysis is made for the steady mixed convection boundary layer flow near the two-dimensional stagnation-point flow of an incompressible viscous fluid over a stretching vertical sheet in its own plane. The stretching velocity and the surface temperature are assumed to vary linearly with the distance from the stagnation-point. Two equal and opposite forces are impulsively applied along the x-axis so that the wall is stretched, keeping the origin fixed in a viscous fluid of constant ambient temperature. The transformed ordinary differential equations are solved numerically for some values of the parameters involved using a very efficient numerical scheme known as the Keller-box method. The features of the flow and heat transfer characteristics are analyzed and discussed in detail. Both cases of assisting and opposing flows are considered. It is observed that, for assisting flow, both the skin friction coefficient and the local Nusselt number increase as the buoyancy parameter increases, while only the local Nusselt number increases but the skin friction coefficient decreases as the Prandtl number increases. For opposing flow, both the skin friction coefficient and the local Nusselt number decrease as the buoyancy parameter increases, but both increase as Pr increases. Comparison with known results is excellent.     

Mixed convection cooling of a heated, continuously stretching surface

 An numerical study of the flow and heat transfer characteristics associated with a heated, continuously stretching surface being cooled by a mixed convection flow has been carried out. The relevant heat transfer mechanisms are of interest in a wide variety of practical applications, such as hot rolling, continuous casting, extrusion, and drawing. The surface velocity of the continuously stretching sheet was assumed to vary according to a power-law form, that is, u _w (x)=Cx ^p . Two conditions of surface heating were considered, a variable wall temperature (VWT) in the form T _w (x)−T _∞=Ax ⁿ and a variable surface heat flux (VHF) in the form q _w (x)=Bx ^m . The governing differential equations are transformed by introducing proper nonsimilarity variables and solved numerically using a procedure based on finite difference approximations. Results for the local Nusselt number and the local friction coefficient are obtained for a wide range of governing parameters, such as the surface velocity parameter p, the wall temperature exponent n, the surface heat flux exponent m, the buoyancy force parameters (ξ for the VWT case and χ for the VHF case), and Prandtl number of the fluid. It is found that the local Nusselt number is increased with increasing the velocity exponent parameter p for the VWT case, while the opposite trend is observed for the VHF case. The local friction coefficient is increased for a decelerated stretching surface, while it is decreased for an accelerated stretching surface. Also, appreciable effects of the buoyancy force on the local Nusselt number and the local friction coefficient are observed for both VWT and VHF cases, as expected. Received on 11 January 1999     

Steady and transient liquid sphere heating in a convective gas stream

 A finite-difference scheme has been developed to solve the equations governing the laminar forced convection heat transfer around and inside a spherical fluid droplet moving steadily in another immiscible fluid for both steady and transient thermal conditions. For large values of the external flow Reynolds number (Re), results not available in the literature have been obtained for circulating droplets at intermediate and high interior-to-exterior viscosity ratios (μ^*). Detailed results over a wide range of viscosity ratio (μ^*) and for 200≤Re≤1000 are presented for the temperature profiles outside and inside the sphere, Nusselt number, the time required to attain a uniform surface temperature and the time required to reach the steady-state temperature. Results show that convective heating is dependent on the external flow Reynolds number (Re) and the interior-to-exterior viscosity ratio (μ^*) where increasing Re or decreasing μ^* result in increasing heat transfer rate convected to the liquid sphere. Received on 1 March 1999     

Mixed convection flow of a micropolar fluid with radiation and chemical reaction

Effects of heat and mass transfer on the mixed convection flow of a magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) micropolar fluid bounded by a stretching surface have been investigated. Homotopy analysis procedure is adopted for computations of a set of coupled nonlinear ordinary differential equations. Numerical values of skin friction coefficient and Nusselt and Sherwood numbers are worked out. A comparative study is provided with the limiting available numerical solution. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Thermal boundary layer flow over a stretching sheet in a micropolar fluid with radiation effect

In the present paper, we study the effects of radiation on the thermal boundary layer flow induced by a linearly stretching sheet immersed in an incompressible micropolar fluid with constant surface temperature. Similarity transformation is employed to transform the governing partial differential equations into ordinary ones, which are then solved numerically using the Runge-Kutta-Fehlberg method. Results for the local Nusselt number as well as the temperature profiles are presented for different values of the governing parameters. It is found that the heat transfer rate at the surface decreases in the presence of radiation. Comparison with known results for certain particular cases is excellent.     

Differential transformation method for studying flow and heat transfer due to stretching sheet embedded in porous medium with variable thickness,variable thermal conductivity,and thermal radiation

This article presents a numerical solution for the flow of a Newtonian fluid over an impermeable stretching sheet embedded in a porous medium with the power law surface velocity and variable thickness in the presence of thermal radiation. The flow is caused by non-linear stretching of a sheet. Thermal conductivity of the fluid is assumed to vary linearly with temperature. The governing partial differential equations （PDEs） are transformed into a system of coupled non-linear ordinary differential equations （ODEs） with appropriate boundary conditions for various physical parameters. The remaining system of ODEs is solved numerically using a differential transformation method （DTM）. The effects of the porous parameter, the wall thickness parameter, the radiation parameter, the thermal conductivity parameter, and the Prandtl number on the flow and temperature profiles are presented. Moreover, the local skin-friction and the Nusselt numbers are presented. Comparison of the obtained numerical results is made with previously published results in some special cases, with good agreement. The results obtained in this paper confirm the idea that DTM is a powerful mathematical tool and can be applied to a large class of linear and non-linear problems in different fields of science and engineering.     

Numerical studies for flow and heat transfer of the Powell-Eyring fluid thin film over an unsteady stretching sheet with internal heat generation using the chebyshev finite difference method

An analysis is carried out to study the unsteady two-dimensional Powell-Eyring flow and heat transfer to a laminar liquid film from a horizontal stretching surface in the presence of internal heat generation. The flow of a thin fluid film and subsequent heat transfer from the stretching surface is investigated with the aid of a similarity transformation. The transformation enables to reduce the unsteady boundary layer equations to a system of nonlinear ordinary differential equations. A numerical solution of the resulting nonlinear differential equations is found by using an efficient Chebyshev finite difference method. A comparison of numerical results is made with the earlier published results for limiting cases. The effects of the governing parameters on the flow and thermal fields are thoroughly examined and discussed.