Transient MHD stagnation flow of a non-Newtonian fluid due to impulsive motion from rest

The transient boundary layer flow and heat transfer of a viscous incompressible electrically conducting non-Newtonian power-law fluid in a stagnation region of a two-dimensional body in the presence of an applied magnetic field have been studied when the motion is induced impulsively from rest. The non-linear partial differential equations governing the flow and heat transfer have been solved by the homotopy analysis method and by an implicit finite-difference scheme. For some cases, analytical or approximate solutions have also been obtained. The special interest are the effects of the power-law index, magnetic parameter and the generalized Prandtl number on the surface shear stress and heat transfer rate. In all cases, there is a smooth transition from the transient state to steady state. The shear stress and heat transfer rate at the surface are found to be significantly influenced by the power-law index N except for large time and they show opposite behaviour for steady and unsteady flows. The magnetic field strongly affects the surface shear stress, but its effect on the surface heat transfer rate is comparatively weak except for large time. On the other hand, the generalized Prandtl number exerts strong influence on the surface heat transfer. The skin friction coefficient and the Nusselt number decrease rapidly in a small interval 0<t^*<1 and reach the steady-state values for t^*≥4.     

Nitrogen/non-Newtonian fluid two-phase upward flow in non-circular microchannels

This paper presents experimental investigations on nitrogen/non-Newtonian fluid two-phase flow in vertical noncircular microchannels, which have square or triangular cross-section with the hydraulic diameters being D_h = 2.5, 2.886 and 0.866 mm, respectively, by visualization method. Three non-Newtonian aqueous solutions with typical rheological properties, i.e., 0.4% carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), 0.2% polyacrylamide (PAM) and 0.2% xanthan gum (XG) are chosen as the working fluids. The common flow patterns are identified as slug flow, churn flow and annular flow. The dispersed bubble flow is only found in the case with nitrogen/CMC solution two-phase flow in the largest channel. A new flow pattern of nitrogen/PAM solution two-phase flow, named chained bubble/slug flow, is observed in all the test channels. The flow regime maps are also developed and the results show that the rheological properties of the non-Newtonian fluid have remarkable influence on the flow pattern transitions. The geometrical factors of the microchannel such as the cross-section shape and hydraulic diameter of the channel can also affect the flow regime map. Finally, the results obtained in this work are compared with the available flow pattern transitions.     

Entropy analysis for third grade fluid flow with Vogel model viscosity in annular pipe

The steady-state flow of a third grade fluid between concentric circular cylinders is considered and entropy generation due to fluid friction and heat transfer in the annular pipe is examined. Depending upon the fluid viscosity, entropy generation in the flow system varies. The third grade fluid is employed to account for the non-Newtonian effect while Vogel model is accommodated for temperature-dependent viscosity. The analysis is based on perturbation technique. The closed form solutions for velocity, temperature and entropy fields are presented. Entropy generation due to fluid friction and heat transfer in the flow system is formulated. The influence of viscosity parameters A and B on the entropy generation number is investigated. It is found that entropy generation number reduces with increasing viscosity parameter A, which is more pronounced in the region close to the annular pipe inner wall and opposite is true for increasing viscosity parameter B.     

Infinite interval problems arising in non-linear mechanics and non-Newtonian fluid flows

Existence results are presented for second-order boundary value problems on the infinite interval modelling phenomena which arise in non-Newtonian fluid theory and in circular membranes.     

Homoclinic and Heteroclinic Flows in Global Attractor for Davey-stewartson Ⅱ Equation

By the variable transformation and generalized Hirota method,exact homoclinic and heteroclinic solutions for Davey-StewartsonⅡ(DSⅡ)equation are obtained.For perturbed DSⅡequation,the existence of a global attractor is proved.The persistence of homoclinic and heteroclinic flows is investigated,and the special homoclinic and heteroclinic structure in attractors is shown.     

On the numerical computation of laminar boundary layers at a phase-changing,gas-liquid interface

The two-dimensional, laminar boundary-layer equations of heat, mass and momentum at a smooth, phase-changing, gas-liquid interface are solved numerically by the Keller Box method. The gas and liquid regimes are embedded in a single marching scheme which computes interfacial parameters implicitly. Results of both self-similar and non-similar boundary-layer computations are presented and effects of mild pressure gradient, a mean current in the liquid, and free-stream vapour concentration on the interfacial parameters are analysed. In order to assess the accuracy of the method, several self-similar problems are solved by Runge-Kutta integration and results are compared to those obtained by the finite-difference scheme. Agreement is excellent in all cases.     

Finite element analysis of incompressible laminar boundary layer flows

A numerical procedure was developed to solve the two-dimensional and axisymmetric incompressible laminar boundary layer equations using the semi-discrete Galerkin finite element method. Linear Lagrangian, quadratic Lagrangian, and cubic Hermite interpolating polynomials were used for the finite element discretization; the first-order, the second-order backward difference approximation, and the Crank-Nicolson method were used for the system of non-linear ordinary differential equations; the Picard iteration and the Newton-Raphson technique were used to solve the resulting non-linear algebraic system of equations. Conservation of mass is treated as a constraint condition in the procedure; hence, it is integrated numerically along the solution line while marching along the time-like co-ordinate. Among the numerical schemes tested, the Picard iteration technique used with the quadratic Lagrangian polynomials and the second-order backward difference approximation case turned out to be the most efficient to achieve the same accuracy. The advantages of the method developed lie in its coarse grid accuracy, global computational efficiency, and wide applicability to most situations that may arise in incompressible laminar boundary layer flows.     

Dynamics of non-Newtonian fluid interfaces in a porous medium: Incompressible fluids

This paper concerns the applications of frontal advance theory to the dynamics of a moving flat interface in a porous medium, when both displacing and displaced fluids are of power law behaviour. The rheological effects of non-Newtonian behaviour of these fluids on the interface position and its velocity are numerically illustrated and discussed with regard to the practical implications in oil displacement mechanisms. The results obtained should be useful in finding an optimal policy of injection in order to control the dynamics of the moving interface in field projects of enhanced oil recovery floods.     

Comparison of two numerical methods for the solution of non-Newtonian flow in ducts

Two numerical methods, the Galerkin finite element method (FEM) and the boundary-fitted co-ordinate transformation method (BFCTM), have been applied to solve inelastic non-Newtonian fluid flow in ducts of irregular cross-section. Three representative fluid models, namely the power-law, the Ellis and the Bingham models, have been analysed. The application of the FEM is straightforward, while for the BFCTM the accurate estimation of viscosity on the duct boundary and the proper mesh adjustment appear to be critical for generating convergent solutions. A detailed comparison of the two numerical methods in terms of volumetric flow rate, axial velocity, shear rate, viscosity and CPU time is given. Both methods can generate accurate solutions of velocity over a wide range of variables, but the FEM requires much less computing time to reach the same level of accuracy. Only the BFCTM can be used to approximate shear rate and viscosity with reasonable accuracy.     

一类多孔介质气流模型的正解

多孔介质气体流动模型是一类特殊的边值问题，一方面它具有奇异性，另一方面，其微分算子不具有比较性质．本文通过证明这类问题使某种极值原理成立，从而得出了正解的存在性．