Non-uniform heat generation effect on heat transfer of a non-Newtonian power-law fluid over a non-linearly stretching sheet

The effects of non-uniform heat generation/absorption and viscous dissipation on heat transfer of a non-Newtonian power-law fluid on a non-linearly stretching surface have been examined. The governing nonlinear partial differential equations describing the problem are transformed to a system of non-linear ordinary differential equations by using suitable similarity transformation. The transformed system of ordinary differential equations is solved numerically using fourth order Runge-Kutta method with the shooting technique. Graphical solutions for the dimensionless temperature are presented and discussed for various values of the power-law index parameter, the Prandtl number, the heat generation/absorption parameter and the Eckert number. The results show that the local Nusselt number is reduced with increasing the Eckert number or the heat generation parameter, whereas the heat absorption parameter has the effect of enhancing the local Nusselt number.     

Transient free convection of non-Newtonian fluids along a wavy vertical plate including the magnetic field effect

A Prandtl transformation method is applied to study the transient free convection of non-Newtonian fluids along a wavy vertical plate in the presence of a magnetic field. A simple transformation is proposed to transform the governing equations into the boundary-layer equations and solved numerically by the cubic spline approximation. A simple coordinate transformation is employed to transform the complex wavy surface to a vertical flat plate for a constant wall temperature by the numerical method. The effects of the magnetic field parameter, the wavy geometry and the non-Newtonian nature of the fluids on the flow characteristics and heat transfer are discussed in detail.     

Effects of viscous dissipation and heat generation (absorption) in a thermal boundary layer of a non-Newtonian fluid over a continuously moving permeable flat plate

The problem of boundary-layer flow and heat transfer of a non-Newtonian power-law fluid over a moving porous infinite flat plate in the presence of viscous dissipation and heat generation or absorption is investigated analytically. It is assumed that both the momentum and the energy equations are coupled by the stress friction factor, and an assumption is introduced regarding the heat-transfer index. It is found that exact analytical solutions for velocity and temperature exist only for pseudoplastic fluids in the presence of suction at the surface. The effects of the suction parameter, Eckert number, and the heat generation or absorption parameter on the velocity and temperature profiles, as well as on the skin-friction coefficient and Nusselt number are discussed.     

Mixed convection boundary layer flow of non-Newtonian fluids along vertical wavy plates

Mixed convection boundary layer flows of non-Newtonian fluids over the wavy surfaces are studied by the coordinate transformation and the cubic spline collocation numerical method. The effects of the wavy geometry, the buoyancy parameter and the generalized Prandtl number for pseudoplastic fluids, Newtonian fluids and dilatant fluids on the skin-friction coefficient, local and mean Nusselt numbers have been graphically studied. Results show that both higher generalized Prandtl numbers and buoyancy parameters are seen to enhance the influence of wavy surfaces on the local Nusselt number, irrespective of whether the fluids are Newtonian fluids or non-Newtonian fluids. Moreover, the irregular surfaces have higher total heat flux than that of corresponding flats plate for any fluid.     

Radiation effects on combined convection over a vertical flat plate embedded in a porous medium of variable porosity

The present paper is concerned with the study of radiation effects on the combined (forced-free) convection flow of an optically dense viscous incompressible fluid over a vertical surface embedded in a fluid saturated porous medium of variable porosity with heat generation or absorption. The effects of radiation heat transfer from a porous wall on convection flow are very important in high temperature processes. The inclusion of radiation effects in the energy equation leads to a highly non-linear partial differential equations which are transformed to a system of ordinary differential equations using non-similarity transformation. These equations are then solved numerically using implicit finite-difference method subject to appropriate boundary and matching conditions. A parametric study of the physical parameters such as the particle diameter-based Reynolds number, the flow based Reynolds number, the Grashof number, the heat generation or absorption co-efficient and radiation parameter is conducted on temperature distribution. The effects of radiation and other physical parameters on the local skin friction and on local Nusselt number are shown graphically. It is interesting to observe that the momentum and thermal boundary layer thickness increases with the radiation and decrease with increase in the Prandtl number.     

Thermal radiation effect on mixed convection heat and mass transfer of a non-Newtonian fluid over a vertical surface embedded in a porous medium in the presence of thermal diffusion and diffusion-thermo effects

Thermal radiation, thermal diffusion, and diffusion-thermo effects on heat and mass transfer by mixed convection of non-Newtonian power-law fluids over a vertical permeable surface embedded in a saturated porous medium are investigated. The governing equations describing the problem are non-dimensionalized and transformed into a non-similar form. The transformed equations are solved by using the local non-similarity method combined with the shooting technique. The effects of the physical parameters of the problem on the fluid temperature and concentration are illustrated graphically and analyzed. Also, the effects of the pertinent parameters on the local Nusselt number and the local Sherwood number are presented.     

Magneto-hydrodynamic mixed convection of a power-law fluid past a stretching surface in the presence of thermal radiation and internal heat generation/absorption

The problem of magneto-hydrodynamic mixed convective flow and heat transfer of an electrically conducting, power-law fluid past a stretching surface in the presence of heat generation/absorption and thermal radiation has been analyzed. After transforming the governing equations with suitable dimensionless variables, numerical solutions are generated by an implicit finite-difference technique for the non-similar, coupled flow. The solution is found to be dependent on the governing parameters including the power-law fluid index, the magnetic field parameter, the modified Richardson number, the radiation parameter, the heat generation parameter, and the generalized Prandtl number. To reveal the tendency of the solutions, typical results for the velocity and temperature profiles, the skin-friction coefficient, and the local Nusselt number are presented for different values of these controlling parameters.     

Non-Newtonian effect on natural convection flow over cylinder of elliptic cross section

The non-Newtonian effect in the boundary layer flow over a horizontal elliptical cylinder is investigated numerically. A modified power-law viscosity model is used to correlate the non-Newtonian characteristics of the fluid flow. For natural convectionflows, the surface of the cylinder is maintained by the uniform surface temperature(UST)or the uniform heat flux(UHF) condition. The governing equations corresponding to theflow are first transformed into a dimensionless non-similar form using suitable transformations. The resulting equations are solved numerically by an efficient finite difference scheme. The numerical results are presented for the skin friction coefficient and the local Nusselt number with the eccentric angle for different values of the power-law index n. The local skin friction coefficient and the local Nusselt number are found to be higher and lower, respectively, for the shear thickening fluids(n > 1) than the other fluids(n≤1).The effects of different elliptical configurations on the average Nusselt number are also presented and discussed for both conditions of the surface temperature.     

Similarity solutions of energy and momentum boundary layer equations for a power-law shear driven flow over a semi-infinite flat plate

The problem of a steady forced convection thermal boundary-layer driven by a power-law shear is investigated. The search for similarity solutions reduces the problem to a couple of ordinary differential equations containing three parameters: the exponent of the decaying exterior velocity profile, the exponent of the power-law prescribing the thermal condition on the wall and Prandtl number. The effects of these parameters on the existence and form of similarity solution are investigated and the functional dependence of the local Nusselt number on these parameters is reported and discussed. An analysis of the assumptions usually accepted to derive similarity solutions is also reported in order to show the range of values of the exterior velocity power-law exponent for which such solutions may exist.     

Soret and Dufour Effects on Double-Diffusive Free Convection Over a Vertical Truncated Cone in Porous Media with Variable Wall Heat and Mass Fluxes

This work studies the Soret and Dufour effects on the double-diffusive free convection over a downward-pointing vertical truncated cone with variable wall heat and mass fluxes in fluid-saturated porous media. A coordinate transformation is used to derive the nondimensional boundary-layer governing equations, and the obtained nonsimilar equations are then solved by the cubic spline collocation method. Results for local surface temperature and the local surface concentration are presented as functions of Soret parameters, Dufour parameters, power-law exponents, buoyancy ratios, and Lewis numbers. Results show that increasing the Dufour parameter tends to increase the local surface temperature, while it tends to decrease the local surface concentration. An increase in the Soret number leads to a decrease in the local surface temperature for buoyancy assisting flows, while it leads to an increase in the local surface temperature for buoyancy opposing flows. Increasing the Soret number tends to increase the local surface concentration. Moreover, the local surface temperature and the local surface concentration of the truncated cones with higher power-law exponents are lower than those with lower exponents.     

Effect of local thermal non-equilibrium on unsteady heat transfer by natural convection of a nanofluid over a vertical wavy surface

This paper uses thermal non-equilibrium model to study transient heat transfer by natural convection of a nanofluid over a vertical wavy surface. The model used for the nanofluid incorporates the effects of Brownian motion and thermophoresis. Three-temperature model is applied to represent the local thermal non-equilibrium among the particle, fluid, and solid-matrix phases. Finite difference method is used to solve the dimensionless governing equations of the problem. The obtained results are displayed in 2D graphs to illustrate the influences of the different physical parameters on local skin-friction coefficient, local Nusselt numbers for fluid, particle and solid phases and local Sherwood number. The results for velocity component, nanoparticle volume fraction, fluid temperature, particle temperature and solid-matrix temperature are presented in 3D graphs as a function of the axial and transverse coordinates. All the obtained results are discussed.     

Variable viscosity and slip velocity effects on the flow and heat transfer of a power-law fluid over a non-linearly stretching surface with heat flux and thermal radiation

The flow and heat transfer of a non-Newtonian power-law fluid over a non-linearly stretching surface has been studied numerically under conditions of constant heat flux and thermal radiation and evaluated for the effect of wall slip. The governing partial differential equations are transformed into a set of coupled non-linear ordinary differential equations which are using appropriate boundary conditions for various physical parameters. The remaining set of ordinary differential equations is solved numerically by fourth-order Runge–Kutta method using the shooting technique. The effects of the viscosity, the slip velocity, the radiation parameter, power-law index, and the Prandtl number on the flow and temperature profiles are presented. Moreover, the local skin friction and Nusselt numbers are presented. Comparison of numerical results is made with the earlier published results under limiting cases.     

Similarity solutions for MHD thermosolutal Marangoni convection over a flat surface in the presence of heat generation or absorption effects

The problem of steady, laminar, thermosolutal Marangoni convection flow of an electrically-conducting fluid along a vertical permeable surface in the presence of a magnetic field, heat generation or absorption and a first-order chemical reaction effects is studied numerically. The general governing partial differential equations are converted into a set of self-similar equations using unique similarity transformations. Numerical solution of the similarity equations is performed using an implicit, iterative, tri-diagonal finite-difference method. Comparisons with previously published work is performed and the results are found to be in excellent agreement. Approximate analytical results for the temperature and concentration profiles as well as the local Nusselt and sherwood numbers are obtained for the conditions of small and large Prandtl and Schmidt numbers are obtained and favorably compared with the numerical solutions. The effects of Hartmann number, heat generation or absorption coefficient, the suction or injection parameter, the thermo-solutal surface tension ratio and the chemical reaction coefficient on the velocity, temperature and concentration profiles as well as quantitites related to the wall velocity, boundary-layer mass flow rate and the Nusselt and Sherwood numbers are presented in graphical and tabular form and discussed. It is found that a first-order chemical reaction increases all of the wall velocity, Nusselt and Sherwood numbers while it decreases the mass flow rate in the boundary layer. Also, as the thermo-solutal surface tension ratio is increased, all of the wall velocity, boundary-layer mass flow rate and the Nusselt and Sherwood numbers are predicted to increase. However, the exact opposite behavior is predicted as the magnetic field strength is increased.     

Boundary-layer flow of a micropolar fluid due to a stretching wall

Summary  A Theoretical analysis is carried out to study the boundary-layer flow over a continuously moving surface through an otherwise quiescent micropolar fluid. The transformed boundary-layer equations are solved numerically for a power-law surface velocity using the Keller-box method. The effects of the micropolar K and exponent m parameters on the velocity and microrotation field as well as on the skin-friction group are discussed in a detailed manner. It is shown that there is a near-similarity solution of this problem. The accuracy of the present solution is also discussed. Accepted for publication 1 April 1996     

Combined convection in power-law fluids along a nonisothermal vertical plate in a porous medium

The problem of combined convection from vertical surfaces in a porous medium saturated with a power-law type non-Newtonian fluid is investigated. The transformed conservation laws are solved numerically for the case of variable surface heat flux conditions. Results for the details of the velocity and temperature fields as well as the Nusselt number have been presented. The viscosity index ranged from 0.5 to 2.0.     

State space approach to unsteady magnetohydrodynamics natural convection heat and mass transfer through a porous medium saturated with a viscoelastic fluid

A technique of the state space approach and the inversion of the Laplace transform method are applied to dimensionless equations of an unsteady one-dimensional boundary-layer flow due to heat and mass transfer through a porous medium saturated with a viscoelastic fluid bounded by an infinite vertical plate in the presence of a uniform magnetic field is described. Complete analytical solutions for the temperature, concentration, velocity, and induced magnetic and electric fields are presented. The inversion of the Laplace transforms is carried out by using a numerical approach. The proposed method is used to solve two problems: boundary-layer flow in a viscoelastic fluid near a vertical wall subjected to the initial conditions of a stepwise temperature and concentration and viscoelastic fluid flow between two vertical walls. The solutions are found to be dependent on the governing parameters including the Prandtl number, the Schmidt number, the Grashof number, reaction rate coefficient, viscoelastic parameter, and permeability of the porous medium. Effects of these major parameters on the transport behavior are investigated methodically, and typical results are illustrated to reveal the tendency of the solutions. Representative results are presented for the velocity, temperature, concentration, and induced magnetic and electric field distributions, as well as the local skin-friction coefficient and the local Nusselt and Sherwood numbers.     

Thermal Dispersion Effects on Combined Convection in Non-Newtonian Fluids Along a Nonisothermal Vertical Plate in a Porous Medium

The method of non-similarity solution is used to study the influence of thermal dispersion on combined convection from vertical surfaces in a porous medium saturated with a power-law type non-Newtonian fluid. The coefficient of thermal diffusivity has been assumed to be the sum of molecular diffusivity and the dispersion thermal diffusivity due to mechanical dispersion. The transformed conservation laws are solved numerically for the case of variable surface heat flux conditions. Results for the details of the velocity and temperature fields as well as the Nusselt number have been presented.     

Mixed Convection–Radiation Interaction in Power-Law Fluids Along a Nonisothermal Wedge Embedded in a Porous Medium

A boundary layer analysis has been presented for the interaction of mixed convection with thermal radiation in laminar boundary flow from a vertical wedge in a porous medium saturated with a power-law type non-Newtonian fluid. The fluid considered is a gray medium, and the Rosseland approximation is used to describe the radiative heat flux in the energy equation. The transformed conservation laws are solved numerically for the case of variable surface temperature conditions. Results for the details of the velocity and temperature fields as well as the Nusselt number have been presented.     

The Falkner–Skan Wedge Flows of Power-Law Fluids Embedded in a Porous Medium

The non-Darcy flow characteristics of power-law non-Newtonian fluids past a wedge embedded in a porous medium have been studied. The governing equations are converted to a system of first-order ordinary differential equations by means of a local similarity transformation and have been solved numerically, for a number of parameter combinations of wedge angle parameter m, power-law index of the non-Newtonian fluids n, first-order resistance A and second-order resistance B, using a fourth-order Runge–Kutta integration scheme with the Newton–Raphson shooting method. Velocity and shear stress at the body surface are presented for a range of the above parameters. These results are also compared with the corresponding flow problems for a Newtonian fluid. Numerical results show that for the case of the constant wedge angle and material parameter A, the local skin friction coefficient is lower for a dilatant fluid as compared with the pseudo-plastic or Newtonian fluids.     

Laminar Free Convection Over a Vertical Wavy Surface Embedded in a Porous Medium Saturated with a Nanofluid

Numerical analysis is performed to examine laminar free convective of a nanofluid along a vertical wavy surface saturated porous medium. In this pioneering study, we have considered the simplest possible boundary conditions, namely those in which both the temperature and the nanoparticle fraction are constant along the wall. Non-similar transformations are presented for the governing equations and the obtained PDE are then solved numerically employing a fourth order Runge–Kutta method with shooting technique. A detailed parametric study (nanofluid parameters) is performed to access the influence of the various physical parameters on the local Nusselt number and the local Sherwood number. The results of the problem are presented in graphical forms and discussed.