Mixed convection of non-newtonian fluids from a vertical plate embedded in a porous medium

This paper investigates mixed free and forced convection of non-Newtonian fluids from a vertical isothermal plate embedded in a homogenous porous medium. A mathematical model is developed based on the modified Darcy's law and boundary-layer approximations, and the exact similarity solution is obtained as well as an integral solution. These two solutions agree within 3% for aiding flows and 10% for opposing flows. It is found that, non-Newtonian characteristics of fluids have appreciable influences on velocity profiles, temperature distributions and flow regimes.     

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.     

Free convection above a horizontal circular disk in a saturated porous medium

The boundary-layer flow above a horizontal impermeable circular disk embedded in a saturated porous medium is considered in the cases both when the disk is held at a constant temperature above ambient and when heat is supplied to the convective fluid by the disk at a constant rate. Series solutions are obtained based on the flat plate solution, which holds at the edge of the disk, as the leading order terms. These series solutions can then be used to describe the flow nearly all the way across the disk. A simple approximate solution, based on an integrated form of the energy equation, is also obtained and is shown, for the constant wall temperature case, to be useful in indicating how the solution behaves near the centre of the disk. The solutions asr0, wherer measures distance from the centre is discussed in both cases, and it is shown that the solution develops a singularity with the boundary layer having a thickness of 0[(–logr)^1/2].

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Freie Konvektion über einer waagerechten Kreisscheibe in einem gesättigten porösen Medium

Zusammenfassung Es wird die Grenzschicht über einer waagerechten undurchlässigen Kreisscheibe, die in einem gesättigten porösen Medium eingebettet ist, untersucht. Zwei Möglichkeiten werden betrachtet: bei der einen ist die Oberflächentemperatur der Scheibe konstant, aber größer als die der Umgebung, bei der anderen ist die Scheibe gleichförmig beheizt. Es werden Lösungen in Form von Reihenentwicklungen erzielt, wobei die ersten Glieder den Lösungen einer ebenen Platte entsprechen, die an dem Rand der Scheibe gültig sind. Danach werden diese Lösungen zur Beschreibung der Bewegung der Flüssigkeit über einen großen Bereich der Scheibe benutzt. Eine einfache Lösung für den Fall der konstanten Wandtemperatur wird durch Integration der Energiegleichung erhalten und zur Beschreibung des Verhaltens der Lösung in der Nähe der Scheibenmitte verwendet. Man untersucht die Lösung fürr0 in beiden betrachteten Fällen, wobeir der Abstand von der Scheibenmitte ist. Bei einer Dicke von 0[(–logr)^1/2] der Grenzschicht weist die Lösung eine Singularität auf.

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Nomenclature a radius of disk - g acceleration due to gravity - K permeability of the porous medium - k thermal conductivity - q prescribed wall heat flux - Q (non-dimensional) heat transfer coefficient - r, coordinate measuring distance from the centre of the disk - R _a,R _a ^* Rayleigh number - T temperature of the convective fluid - T ₀ ambient temperature - T ₁ prescribed wall temperature - u Darcy's law velocity in ther-direction - V _w (non-dimensional) wall velocity - w Darcy's law velocity in thez-direction - x coordinate measuring distance from the edge of the disk - z, coordinate measuring distance normal to the disk - equivalent thermal diffusivity - coefficient of thermal expansion - non-dimensional temperature - _w (non-dimensional) wall temperature - viscosity of the convective fluid - stream-function - stream function at the edge of the boundary layer     

Free convection from an arbitrarily inclined plate in a porous medium

A mathematical model for the flow and heat transfer in the free convection from an arbitrary inclined isothermal flat plate embedded in a porous medium is presented, in which the Darcy–Boussinesq approximation is adopted to account for bouyancy force. A novel inclination parameter ξ is proposed such that all cases of the horizontal, inclined and vertical plates can be described by a single set of transformed boundary layer equations. Moreover, the similarity equations for the limiting cases of the horizontal and vertical plates are recovered from the transformed equations by setting ξ=0 and ξ=1, respectively. Detailed results for the skin friction coefficient and Nusselt number as well as for the dimensionless velocity and temperature profiles are presented for a wide range of the parameter ξ. A comparison with similarity solution shows excellent agreement.     

Combined convection in non-Newtonian fluids along a nonisothermal vertical plate in a porous medium with lateral mass flux

 A boundary layer analysis has been presented for interaction of combined convection from vertical surface in a porous medium saturated with a power-low type non-Newtonian fluid with presence suction and injection. 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 effect of fluid suction/injection on the heat transfer rate is discussed. Received on 21 December 1999     

Mixed convection in non-Newtonian fluids along a vertical plate with variable surface heat flux in a porous medium

A nonsimilar boundary layer analysis is presented for the problem of mixed convection in power-law type non-Newtonian fluids along a vertical plate with power-law surface heat flux distribution. The mixed convection regime is divided into two regions, namely, the forced convection dominated regime and the free convection dominated regime. The two solutions are matched. Numerical results are presented for the details of the velocity and temperature fields. A discussion is provided for the effect of viscosity index on the surface heat transfer rate. Received on 13 October 1998     

Mixed convection in non-Newtonian fluids along nonisothermal horizontal surfaces in porous media

A nonsimilar boundary layer analysis is presented for the problem of mixed convection in power-law type non-Newtonian fluids along horizontal surfaces with variable wall temperature distribution. The mixed convection regime is divided into two regions, namely, the forced convection dominated regime and the free convection dominated regime. The two solutions are matched. Numerical results are presented for the details of the velocity and temperature fields. A discussion is provided for the effect of viscosity index on the surface heat transfer rate. Received on 11 March 1997     

Natural convection of non-Newtonian fluids in a horizontal porous layer

Heat and Mass Transfer - The buoyancy-induced flows of non-Newtonian fluids in a horizontal fluid saturated porous layer is studied analytically and numerically using the power-law model to...     

Free convection boundary-layer flow above a nearly horizontal surface in a porous medium with newtonian heating

In this paper the steady free convection boundary-layer along a semi-infinite, slightly inclined (both positive and negative) to the horizontal plate embedded in a porous medium with the flow generated by Newtonian heating has been investigated. The asymptotic solution near the leading edge and the full numerical solution along the whole plate domain have been obtained numerically, whilst the asymptotic solution far downstream along the plate has been obtained analytically. For a positive inclination the full numerical solution is in agreement with the asymptotic solutions. However, for a negatively inclined plate, only the small asymptotic solution near the leading edge of the plate can be predicted giving an insight that the model for a negatively inclined plate, whilst mathematically interesting, is not physically realistic.     

Combined convection along a non-isothermal wedge in a porous medium

A boundary layer analysis has been presented for the combined convection along a vertical non-isothermal wedge embedded in a fluid-saturated porous medium. The transformed conservation laws are solved numerically for the case of variable surface temperature. Results are presented for the details of the velocity and temperature fields as well as the Nusselt number. The wedge angle geometry parameter m ranged from 0 to 1.     

Mixed convection heat transfer from a horizontal plate with variable surface heat flux in a porous medium

In this article nonsimilarity solution for mixed convection from a horizontal surface in a saturated porous medium was obtained for the case of variable surface heat flux. The entire mixed convection regime, ranging from pure forced convection to pure free convection, is considered by introducing a single nonsimilarity parameter. Heat transfer results are predicted by employing four different flow models, namely, Darcy's law, the Ergun model, and the Brinkman-Forchheimer-extended Darcy model with constant and variable porosity. The variable porosity effect is approximated by an exponential function. Effects of transverse thermal dispersion are taken into consideration in the energy equation, along with variable stagnant thermal conductivities. The formulation of the present problem shows that the flow and heat transfer characteristics depend on five parameters, that is, the power in the variation of surface heat flux, the nonsimilarity mixed-convection parameter, the inertia effect parameter, the boundary effect parameter, and the ratio of thermal conductivity of the fluid phase to that of the solid phase. Numerical results for the local Nusselt number variations, based on the various flow models, are presented for the entire mixed convection regime. The impacts␣of different governing parameters on the heat transfer results are thoroughly investigated. Received on 7 August 1997     

Conjugate free convection along a thin vertical plate with internal nonuniform heat generation in a porous medium

 The steady state heat transfer characteristics of a thin vertical strip with internal heat generation placed in a porous medium is studied in this work. The non-dimensional temperature distribution in the strip is obtained as a function of the intensity and distribution of the internal heat sources. Both the thermally thin as the thick wall approximations are considered in this paper. The mass flow rate of fluid induced by heating the strip decreases as the longitudinal heat conduction effects along the strip decreases. Received on 22 November 2000 / Published online: 29 November 2001     

Non-Darcy free convection in a thermally stratified porous medium along a vertical plate with variable heat flux

Free convection along an impermeable vertical plate embedded in a thermally stratified, fluid-saturated porous medium is analyzed. The wall heat flux is varied in a power-law form. The non-Darcian effects, such as solid-boundary viscous resistances, high-flow-rate inertia forces, near wall nonuniform porosity distribution and thermal dispersion, have been considered in the present study. Due to the variation of porosity in the near wall region, the stagnant thermal conductivity also varies accordingly. The nonsimilar system of transformed equations is solved with Keller's Box method. It is shown that the thermal stratification effect and the higher value of the exponent m can increase the local Nusselt number. Also the non-Darcian and thermal dispersion effects significantly influence the velocity and temperature profiles and local Nusselt number.     

Free convection from a vertical plate with nonuniform surface heat flux and embedded in a porous medium

An analysis is presented for the calculation of heat transfer due to free convective flow along a vertical plate embedded in a porous medium with an arbitrarily varying surface heat flux. By applying the appropriate coordinate transformations and the Merk series, the governing energy equation is expressed as a set of ordinary differential equations. Numerical solutions are presented for these equations which represent universal functions and several computational examples are provided.     

Transient free convection about a horizontal circular cylinder in a porous medium

The method of matched asymptotic expansions is employed for investigating the growth of the free convection boundary-layer on a horizontal circular cylinder which is embedded in a porous medium. It is assumed that the Rayleigh number is large, but finite, and the time of investigation is short. It is shown that the solution contains terms that are absent from the solution based on the boundary-layer approximation and that vortices form at both sides of the cylinder. The development of the plume region near the top of the cylinder, as well as the local and average Nusselt numbers, are evaluated and presented in graphical form.     

Free convection in a saturated porous medium beyond the similarity solution

The non-similar problems associated with a non-isothermal vertical flat plate embedded in a fluid-saturated porous medium were considered to assess the performances of the two distinctive boundary layer solution methods, namely, the local similarity solution and the integral method. The results generated from these two approximate solution methods are compared against the results from a two-point finite difference and those based on a Merk-type series expansion. Comparison of the results reveals that both integral and local similarity methods perform excellently. Especially, the accuracy acquired by the local similarity solution is so high that the difference between the results from the local similarity solution and those from the two-point finite difference and local non-similarity solution methods is hardly discernible for the case of monotonic increasing wall temperature.     

Mixed convection from a horizontal plate to fluids of any Prandtl number

Laminar mixed convection over a horizontal plate with uniform wall temperature or uniform wall heat flux is analyzed by introducing proper buoyancy parameters and transformation variables for fluids of any Prandtl number between 0.001 and 10,000. Both cases of buoyancy assisting and opposing flow conditions are investigated. For the buoyancy-assisting case, the obtained numerical results are very accurate over the entire range of mixed convection intensity from pure forced convection limit to pure free convection limit. For the buoyancy-opposing case, solutions are obtained from the forced convection limit to the point of breakdown.

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Mischkonvektion an einer horizontalen Platte für Fluide mit beliebiger Prandtl-Zahl

Zusammenfassung Es wurde laminare Mischkonvektion an einer horizontalen Platte mit einheitlicher Wandtemperatur oder einheitlicher Wandwärmestromdichte bei Einführung zweckmäßiger Auftriebsparameter und Transformationsvariablen für Fluide mit beliebiger Prandtl-Zahl zwischen 0,001 und 10 000 untersucht. Es wurden die Fälle der Strömung entgegen und in Richtung der Auftriebskraft untersucht. Für den Fall der Strömung in Richtung der Auftriebskraft wurden sehr genaue numerische Ergebnisse für den gesamten Bereich der gemischten Konvektion von rein erzwungener Konvektion bis zu rein freier Konvektion erhalten. Für den Fall der Strömung entgegen der Auftriebsrichtung wurden Lösungen für erzwungene Konvektion bis zum Umkehrpunkt erhalten.

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Nomenclature C _f local friction coefficient - f reduced stream function - g gravitational acceleration - Gr local Grashof number for UWT,g (T _w –T )x ³/ ² - Gr* local Grashof number for UHF,g q _w x ⁴/k ² - m =10 for UWT; and =6 for UHF - n =5 for UWT; and =3 for UHF - Nu local Nusselt number - p pressure - Pr Prandtl number,/ - q _w wall heat flux - Ra local Rayleigh number for UWT,Gr Pr - Ra* local Rayleigh number for UHF,Gr*Pr - Re local Reynolds number,u x/ - T fluid temperature - T _w wall temperature - T free-stream temperature - u velocity component inx-direction - u free-stream velocity - v velocity component iny-direction - x coordinate parallel to the plate - y coordinate normal to the plate Greek symbols thermal diffusivity - thermal expansion coefficient - =0 for UWT; and =1 for UHF - buoyancy parameter, =( Ra)^1/5/( Re)^1/2 for UWT; and =( Ra*)^1/6/( Re)^1/2 for UHF - pseudo-similarity variable, (y/x) - dimensionless temperature, =(T–T )/(T _w –T ) for UWT; and =(T–T )/(q _w x/k) for UHF - =[( Re)^1/2+( Ra)^1/5] for UWT; and =[( Re)^1/2+( Ra*)^1/6] for UHF - dynamic viscosity - kinematic viscosity - /(1+) - dimensionless pressure - density - Pr/(1+Pr) - _w wall shear stress,(u/y) _y=0 - stream function - Pr/(1+Pr)^1/3     

Investigation of convection in a horizontal cylindrical layer of a saturated porous medium

The structures of the convective motions and the nature of the heat transfer in a horizontal cylindrical layer are studied numerically for the Forchheimer model of a porous medium in the Boussinesq approximation. New asymmetric solutions of the equations of convection flow through a porous medium are found. Their development, domains of existence, and stability are investigated. One consists of a multivortex structure with asymmetric vortices in the near-polar region. Another asymmetric solution is realized at large Grashof numbers in the form of a convective plume deflected from the vertical. The threshold Grashof number of formation of the asymmetric motions depends on the Prandtl number and the cylindrical layer thickness.     

Radiation effect on mixed convection from a horizontal surface in a porous medium

The effect of thermal radiation on the non-Darcy mixed convection flow over a non-isothermal horizontal surface immersed in a saturated porous medium has been studied. The wall temperature is assumed to have a power-law variation with the distance measured from the leading edge of the plate. The non-linear coupled parabolic partial differential equations governing the flow have been solved numerically using a finite-difference scheme. For some particular cases, the self-similar solution has also been obtained. The heat transfer is found to be strongly influenced by the radiative flux number, buoyancy parameter, variation of wall temperature, non-Darcy parameter and the nature of the free stream velocity.