Rotating electroosmotic flow in a non-uniform microchannel

An analytical model based on lubrication approximation is developed for rotating electroosmotic flow in a narrow slit channel, of which the wall shape and surface potential may vary slowly in the direction of applied fields. The primary and secondary flow fields and the induced pressure gradient, which vary periodically with axial position owing to the gradually varied channel height and surface potentials, are deduced as functions of the inverse Ekman number and the Debye parameter. By studying some limiting cases of special interest, the combined effects of system rotation and the interaction between the geometrical and potential variations are investigated. It is shown that non-uniformity in the channel height and wall potential can qualitatively modify the relationship between system rotation and the primary and secondary flow rates.     

Rotating electroosmotic flows in soft parallel plate microchannels

We present a theoretical investigation of rotating electroosmotic flows(EOFs) in soft parallel plate microchannels. The soft microchannel, also called as the polyelectrolyte-grafted microchannel, is denoted as a rigid microchannel coated with a polyelectrolyte layer(PEL) on its surface. We compare the velocity in a soft microchannel with that in a rigid one for different rotating frequencies and find that the PEL has a trend to lower the velocities in both directions for a larger equivalent electrical double layer(EDL) thickness λFCL(λFCL = 0.3) and a smaller rotating frequency ω(ω 5).However, for a larger rotating frequency ω(ω = 5), the main stream velocity u far away from the channel walls in a soft microchannel exceeds that in a rigid one. Inspired by the above results, we can control the EOF velocity in micro rotating systems by imparting PELs on the microchannel walls, which may be an interesting application in biomedical separation and chemical reaction.     

A new exact solution for the flow of a Maxwell fluid past an infinite plate

A new exact solution corresponding to the flow of a Maxwell fluid over a suddenly moved flat plate is determined. This solution is in all accordance with a previous one and for λ→0 it goes to the well-known solution for Navier-Stokes fluids.     

Impact of thermal radiation on MHD slip flow over a flat plate with variable fluid properties

The influence of partial slip, thermal radiation and temperature dependent fluid properties on the hydro-magnetic fluid flow and heat transfer over a flat plate with convective surface heat flux at the boundary and non-uniform heat source/sink is studied. The transverse magnetic field is assumed as a function of the distance from the origin. Also it is assumed that the fluid viscosity and the thermal conductivity vary as an inverse function and linear function of temperature respectively. Using the similarity transformation, the governing system of non-linear partial differential equations are transformed into similarity non-linear ordinary differential equations and are solved numerically using symbolic software MATHEMATICA 7.0. The numerical values obtained within the boundary layer for the dimensionless velocity, temperature, skin friction coefficient and the Nusselt number are presented through graphs and tables for several sets of values of the parameters. The effects of various physical parameters on the flow and heat transfer characteristics are discussed from the physical point of view.     

Impulsive motion of a flat plate in a Rivlin-Ericksen fluid

The problem of the impulsive motion of a flat plate in a Rivlin-Ericksen fluid is reconsidered. An exact solution for the velocity distribution is found in terms of a definite integral. It is shown that a solution obtained earlier does not satisfy the boundary condition at the plate in the sense of generalized functions.     

Transonic gas flow over a flat plate

The solution of the two-sided Tricomi problem in the hodograph plane is constructed with satisfaction of the entire set of boundary conditions, which ensures its correct asymptotic behavior with respect to vanishing angle of attack. As a result, it is found that the deviation from the Guderley solution begins with the singular terms.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 1, pp. 128–137, January–February, 1987.     

Rotating electroosmotic flow of an Eyring fluid

A perturbation analysis is presented in this paper for the electroosmotic(EO) flow of an Eyring fluid through a wide rectangular microchannel that rotates about an axis perpendicular to its own. Mildly shear-thinning rheology is assumed such that at the leading order the problem reduces to that of Newtonian EO flow in a rotating channel, while the shear thinning effect shows up in a higher-order problem.Using the relaxation time as the small ordering parameter,analytical solutions are deduced for the leading-as well as first-order problems in terms of the dimensionless Debye and rotation parameters. The velocity profiles of the Ekman–electric double layer(EDL) layer, which is the boundary layer that arises when the Ekman layer and the EDL are comparably thin, are also deduced for an Eyring fluid. It is shown that the present perturbation model can yield results that are close to the exact solutions even when the ordering parameter is as large as order unity. By this order of the relaxation time parameter, the enhancing effect on the rotating EO flow due to shear-thinning Eyring rheology can be significant.     

Unsteady flow of viscoelastic fluid with fractional Maxwell model in a channel

The unsteady flow of viscoelastic fluid with the fractional derivative Maxwell model (FDMM) in a channel is studied in this note. The exact solutions are obtained for an arbitrary pressure gradient by means of the finite Fourier cosine transform and the Laplace transform. Two special cases of pressure gradient are discussed. Some results given by the classical models with integer-order are included in this note.     

Moving wedge and flat plate in a power-law fluid

The steady boundary-layer flow of a non-Newtonian fluid, represented by a power-law model, over a moving wedge in a moving fluid is studied in this paper. The transformed boundary-layer equation is solved numerically for some values of the involved parameters. The effects of these parameters on the skin friction coefficient are analyzed and discussed. It is found that multiple solutions exist when the wedge and the fluid move in the opposite directions, near the region of separation. It is also found that the drag force is reduced for dilatant fluids compared to pseudo-plastic fluids.     

Analysing flow and heat transfer of a viscoelastic fluid over a semi-infinite horizontal moving flat plate

This paper presents a numerical study of the flow and heat transfer of an incompressible homogeneous second grade type fluid above a flat plate moving with constant velocity U. Such a viscoelastic fluid is at rest and the motion is created by the sheet. The effects of the non-Newtonian nature of the fluid are governed by the local Deborah number K (the ratio between the relaxation time of the fluid and the characteristic time of the flow). When , a new analytical solution for this flow is presented and the effects of fluid's elasticity on flow characteristics, dimensionless stream function and its derivatives are analysed in a wide domain of K. A novel result of the analysis is that a change in the flow solution's behaviour occurs when the dimensionless stream function at the edge of the boundary layer, f_∞, equals 1.0. It is found that velocity at a point decreases with increase in the elasticity of the fluid and, as expected, the amount of fluid entrained diminishes when the effects of fluid's elasticity are augmented. In our heat transfer analyses we assume that the surface temperature has a power-law variation. Two cases are studied, namely, (i) the sheet with prescribed surface temperature (PST case) and (ii) the sheet with prescribed heat flux (PHF case). Local similarity heat-transfer solutions are given for PST case when s=2 (the wall temperature parameter) whereas when a similarity solution takes place in the case of prescribed wall heat flux. The numerical results obtained are fairly in good agreement with the aforementioned analytical ones.     

Impulsive motion of a semi-infinite flat plate in a viscous fluid

The unsteady laminar boundary layer flow is investigated for a semi-infinite flat plate subjected to impulsive motion. An approximate solution is obtained by utilizing Meksyn's method. These results vary smoothly from Rayleigh's unsteady solution to the steady state solution of Blasius. Results are compared to those of Lam and Crocco.Nomenclature A expansion coefficient, see eq. (13) - a expansion coefficient, see eq. (10) - B expansion coefficient, see eq. (14) - b expansion coefficient, see eq. (12) - G function defined by eq. (6) - U free stream velocity - u velocity in x direction - v velocity in y direction - x coordinate along plate - y coordinate normal to plate Greek symbols (l, ) incomplete gamma function - function defined by eq. (15) - y(U/x) ^1/2 - kinematic viscosity - x/Ut - (Uvx)^1/2 f(, )     

Computation of fluid flow with a parallel multigrid solver

A finite volume numerical method for the prediction of fluid flow and heat transfer in simple geometries was parallelized using a domain decomposition approach. The method is implicit, uses a colocated arrangement of variables and is based on the SIMPLE algorithm for pressure-velocity coupling. Discretization is based on second-order central difference approximations. The algebraic equation systems are solved by the ILU method of Stone.¹ To accelerate the convergence, a multigrid technique was used. The efficiency was examined on three different parallel computers for laminar flow in a pipe with an orifice and natural convection in a closed cavity. It is shown that the total efficiency is made up of three major factors: numerical efficiency, parallel efficiency and load-balancing efficiency. The first two factors were thoroughly investigated, and a model for predicting the parallel efficiency on various computers is presented. Test calculations indicate reasonable total efficiency and favourable dependence on grid size and the number of processors.     

Exact solution of electroosmotic flow in generalized Burgers fluid

An exact solution is developed for the time periodic electroosmotic flow of a non-Newtonian fluid between the micro-parallel plates. The constitutive equations of a generalized Burgers fluid are used in the mathematical formulation. The resulting problem is solved by a Fourier transform technique. Graphs are plotted and discussed for various emerging parameters of interest.     

Starting flow in a rotating parallel plate channel

The starting flow due to a suddenly applied pressure gradient in a parallel plate channel which is rotating as a system is studied. Exact analytic series solutions to the unsteady Navier-Stokes equations are found by both the Laplace transform method and the separation of parameters method, the latter is shown to be superior. Rotation not only induces a secondary transverse flow but also alters the character of the transient flow rate and velocity profiles. Back flow and inertial oscillations occur, especially at higher rotation rates.     

Sakiadis flow of an upper-convected Maxwell fluid

The flow of an upper-convected Maxwell (UCM) fluid is studied theoretically above a rigid plate moving steadily in an otherwise quiescent fluid. It is assumed that the Reynolds number of the flow is high enough for boundary layer approximation to be valid. Assuming a laminar, two-dimensional flow above the plate, the concept of stream function coupled with the concept of similarity solution is utilized to reduce the governing equations into a single third-order ODE. It is concluded that the fluid's elasticity destroys similarity between velocity profiles; thus an attempt was made to find local similarity solutions. Three different methods will be used to solve the governing equation: (i) the perturbation method, (ii) the fourth-order Runge-Kutta method, and (iii) the finite-difference method. The velocity profiles obtained using the latter two methods are shown to be virtually the same at corresponding Deborah number. The velocity profiles obtained using perturbation method, in addition to being different from those of the other two methods, are dubious in that they imply some degree of reverse flow. The wall skin friction coefficient is predicted to decrease with an increase in the Deborah number for Sakiadis flow of a UCM fluid. This prediction is in direct contradiction with that reported in the literature for a second-grade fluid.     

Pulsatile flow with heat transfer of dusty magnetohydrodynamic Ree-Eyring fluid through a channel

The flow due to the pulsatile pressure gradient of dusty non-Newtonian fluid with heat transfer in a channel is considered. The system is stressed by an external magnetic field. The non-Newtonian fluid under consideration is obeying the rheological equation of state due to Ree-Eyring’s stress–strain relation. The equations of momentum and energy have been solved by using Lightill method. The velocity and temperature distributions of the two phase of the dusty fluid are obtained. The effects of various physical parameters of distributions the problem on these distributions are discussed and illustrated graphically through a set of figure.