Similarity Solutions For Laminar Free Convection Flow of A Thermomicropolar Fluid Past A Non-Isothermal Vertical Flat Plate
Similarity Solutions For Laminar Free Convection Flow of A Thermomicropolar Fluid Past A Non-Isothermal Vertical Flat Plate
Similarity Solutions For Laminar Free Convection Flow of A Thermomicropolar Fluid Past A Non-Isothermal Vertical Flat Plate
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Abstract-Laminar free convection boundary layer flow of a thermomicropolar fluid past a non-isothermal
vertical flat plate has been studied in detail. It has been established that the flow problem has similarity
solutions when the variation in fhe kvnperature of the plate is a linear function of the distance from the
leading edge measured along the plate. The resulting system of the nonlinear ordinary differential equations
has been solved numerically by “Shooting Method” for various values of the material parameters. The
effects of these parameters has been studied on the velocity and microrotation fields graphically. Also
“Tables” have been given for the values of temperature, skin-friction parameter, microrotation gradient on
the wall and Nusselt number. Two types of boundary conditions are prescribed for the microrotation on the
wall.
I. INTRODUCTION
FREECONVECTION has been of considerable interest to engineers and scientists because of its
various applications in heat transfer. Representative field of interest in which combined heat
and mass transfer-under conditions of free convection-are important include: design of
chemical processing equipment, formation and dispersion of fog, distributions of temperature
and moisture over agricultural fields and groves of fruit trees, damage of crops due to freezing
and pollution of the environment.
The free convection problem of a non-isothermal vertical plate under boundary layer
approximation for Newtonian fluids has been extensively studied by several authors[l].
Mathur(21 studied the free convection flow of an elastico-viscous fluid past a nonuniformly
heated vertical plate. A detailed account of the study of this problem for Newtonian and
non-Newtonian fluids has also been given in[2].
In the present paper, we have studied the similarity solutions for the laminar free convection
flow of a thermomicropolar fluid past a non-isothermal vertical flat plate. The theory of
thermomicropolar fluids has been developed by Eringen[3] by extending the theory of micro-
polar fluids[4]. This theory deals with viscous fluids in which the microconstituents are rigid
and spherical or randomly oriented. Polymeric fluids, liquid crystals, fluid suspensions, animal
blood, etc. can be characterized by this fluid model. On the basis of this theory, the
experimentally observed phenomenon of drag reduction [5,6] in the flow past a rigid body of
fluids containing minute amount of polymeric additives can be explained satisfactorily. Very
recently, Riha [7] has applied this theory for the adequate representation of fluid suspensions of
rigid particles in a Newtonian fluid.
Balram and Sastry[8] have studied free convection flow of micropolar fluids in a parallel
plate vertical channel. Sastry and Maiti[9] have obtained numerical solutions of combined
convective heat transfer of micropolar fluids in an annulus of two vertical pipes. In[8,9], it has
been found that the boundaries are cooled and buoyancy force influences the flow of
micropolar fluids to a considerable extent. In Section 2 of this paper, we have given the
formulation of the problem of the laminar boundary layer free convection flow of a thermo-
micropolar fluid past a non-isothermal vertical flat plate. Section 3 deals with the possibility of
the existence of similarity solutions for this flow problem. It has been established that similarity
solutions are possible only when the variation in the temperature of the plate is a linear function
of the distance from the leading edge measured along the plate. Under this thermal boundary
condition, the governing system of partial differential equations is transformed into a system of
non-linear ordinary differential equations. Using Shooting Method, this system of nonlinear
ordinary differential equations has been solved numerically for some prescribed values of the
tPresent address: Institute of Experimental Fluid Mechanics, DFVLR, AVA, Bunsenstrasse-IO, D-3400Gottingen, West
Germany.
1431
1432 S.K,JENA
andM.N,MATHUR
various material parameters involved in the problem. The numerical solutions have been
obtained by the use of DEC-10Computer.
Finally in Section 4, we have presented the results of the present invest~ga~on.
au+!E=o (2.Q
ax ay *
(2.2)
(2.3)
Energy
(2.4)
Where
components of velocity along and normal to the vertical flat plate
component of mi~rorotationwhose direction of rotation is in the xy-plane
density and ~m~erature of the fluid
viscosity, vortex viscosity and spin-gradientviscosity
micro-inertia density, thermal conductivity and micropolar heat conduction
coefficient
acceleration due to gravity, coefhcient of expansion and specitk heat of the fluid at
constant pressure.
There are two more material parameters /3” (the gradient viscosity) and p* (micropolar heat
conduction) which will appear in the expressions for the couple stress components and the rate
of heat transfer. Eringen[3] has given the inequalities to be satisfied by the various material
parameters. These inequalities,which arise from the thermudynami~restrictions, are
(2.5a)
jro, f2.W
Wall boundary conditions
Velocity field
Microrotation field
We assume the following two types of boundary conditions for microrotation
v(x,o)=-I A?!!
2 ay y=.(> (2.7b)
Temperature field
where T, is the constant temperature of the fluid outside the boundary layer.
The details of the derivation of the boundary layer eqns (2.1)-(2.4) are available in[lO, 111.
In the energy eqn (2.4), the viscous dissipation terms have been neglected. This is indeed a
permissible simplification in this flow problem since the velocities usually encountered in
natural convection are rather small. It has also been recently shown by Mathur et al.[ll] that
viscous dissipation has very little effect on the temperature field and the rate of heat transfer
for the flow of an incompressible thermomicropolar fluid past a circular cylinder placed in such
a way that its axis is normal to the oncoming free stream.
The boundary conditions (2.7a) and (2.7b) correspond, respectively, to the strong and weak
concentration of microelements near the boundary.
3. METHODS OF SOLUTION
The continuity eqn (2.1) is identically satisfied by introducing the stream function V(x, y)
such that
T- T,
e(v) = T, _ T,
ABx’+~+“-~(II~F’ - aFB’)
j!jCxb+c+n-l(n,jGl _ &fG),
(3.5)
where a prime denotes differentiation with respect to 7. For similarity to exist, the eqns
(3.3H3.5) must hold for all values of x. This is only possible when
a+b+c-1=2b+c=c=a+2b, (3.6)
a+b+n-1=2b+n=b+ctn-1.
b=O,a=c=n=l. (3.7)
u = $ =ABxF’(q), u= - $ = - AF(q).
From eqns (3.8), it is evident that the constants A, B, C and N have, respectively, the
dimensions of velocity, the reciprocal of length, the reciprocal of the product of length and
time, and of the ratio (temperature/length).
Making use of dimensional analysis, we obtain
A = [ci2Ngp]““, B = [(Ng/?)/a2]“4
c = [(Nsp)3/&2]“4, & = -+ pr = F
P c
N4 = ppv(NgpP2, N
5
= a*wm”2, N6 = ~*(~@)“2 (3.9)
2
CL, KC /-dPT=
F’Z_FF”=Pr(ltN,)F’“+PrN,G’t8, (3.10)
77= 0; F = F’ = 0 (a) G = 0
Or
I ,8=1,
(b) G=-$“I
I
q+~; F’+O, G+O, ,9+0. (3.13)
In the eqns (3.10)-(3.13), the dimensionless parameters N,, N,, NJ and N,, respectively,
characterize the vortex viscosity, microinertia density, spin-gradient viscosity and the micro-
polar heat conduction. The parameters N4 and Ns will appear in the expressions for couple
stress components and the rate of heat transfer. In terms of these parameters, the inequalities
(2.5) become
(3.14a)
N,rO. (3.14b)
N,, N2, N,, N4, Ns and N6 must be chosen in such a way that the inequalities (3.14) are
satisfied.
Numerical solutions of the eqns (3.10)-(3.12) together with the boundary conditions (3.13)
have been obtained by Shooting Method employing Taylor series at an interval An = 0.05 for
the following values of the parameters
These values satisfy the restrictions given by the inequalities in eqn (3.14).
Ahmadi[l2] and Tiizeren and Skalak[l3] have stated that the parameter N, depends on the
shape and concentration of the microelements. For a given shape of the microelements, N,
directly gives a measure of concentration of the microelements. The parameters N2 and Nj can
be thought of fluid properties depending on the relative size of microstructure in relation to a
geometrical length.
(A = characteristic velocity).
In terms of the non-dimensional quantities, we have
where ff = Bx.
The dimensionless couple stress on the wall is given by
where
where
&G
N
I/(x,0)
:o
Fig. I. Velocity distribution showing the effect of the variation of micropolar fluid parameters with different
types of boundary conditions on microrotation.
Laminar free convection flow of a thermomicropolar fluid 1437
Microrotation field
Figure 2 shows the effect of variation of N, and N3 on the microrotation profiles for two
types of boundary conditions on the microrotation. The nature of the microrotation profiles for
the no spin boundary condition is the same as obtained in[lO] for the stagnation point flow of a
micropolar fluid. The condition of vanishing of the antisymmetric part of the stress on the
boundary results in a drastic change of the microrotation profiles.
Temperature field
We have recorded in Table 1, the values of the dimensionless temperature for different
values of the similarity variable “7” and showing the effect of variation of the micropolar fluid
parameters on the temperature field for different types of boundary conditions on micro-
rorotation.
It is observed that for no relative spin condition, the temperature increases with increasing
N, and Nj. The variation with N3 is insignificant. For the boundary condition of vanishing of
antisymmetric part of the stress, the temperature increases with increasing N, while it
decreases slightly with increasing N3.
Table 2 shows the effect of variation of N1 on the skin-friction parameter F”(O), micro-
rotation gradient and temperature gradient on the plate. We note that the skin-friction decreases
with increasing N1 while the temperature gradient increases. This is true irrespective of the
boundary condition on microrotation. F”(0) and e’(O) have greater values for the boundary
condition of vanishing of anti-symmetric part of the stress as compared to no spin boundary
condition, which means that the skin-friction and the wall temperature gradient are more for
weak concentration of microelements in comparison to strong concentration of microelements
near the boundary.
With the known values of F”(O), G’(0) and e’(O), C,, M, and N(f) can be calculated for the
prescribed values of N,, N,, N,, N6, Pr, R, E and A. In Table 3, we have given the
values--N*(f), the dimensionless rate of heat transfer. showina the effect of variation of N,
and Ns on it. From Table 3, we observe that -N*(a) decreases with increasing Nr while it
increases with increasing N6. Similar results have been obtained in [ 10,l I] and [ 141.
- J(x,O):O
- - Il(x.ok-gy)y~o
Fig. 2. Microrotation profiles showing the effect of the variation of micropolar fluid parameters with
different types of boundary conditions on microrotation.
1438 S. K. JENA and M. N. MATHUR
Table I. Variation of temperature with N, and N, for different types of boundary conditions for Pr = 9.0 and
Nz = 0.002
rl
Boundary condition 0 = 0 Bumdary condition $ = - $&Tq
Nl = 0.1 II= 0.26 N1= 0.1 Nl- 0.1 Nl= 0.26 Nl=OJ
Table 2. The effect of variation of N, on the skin-friction parameter, gradients of microrotation and
temperature on the surface for Pr = 9.0, Nz = O&l2and N3 = 0.02, N5= 1
N1
F’ ’ (0) -G’ (0) -8’ (0)
Table 3. The effect of variation of N, and N6 on the rate of heat transfer, -N*(i), for Pr = 9.0, N2 = 0.002,
N,=O.O2,N,=l,A=I
Ac&nowke&wwrt-Mr. S. K. Jena expresses his gratitude to CSIR, Government of India, for the award of a Research
Fellowship which enabled him to complete this work.
REFERENCES
[I] D. V. JULIAN and R. G. AKINS, Kansas State UniuersityBulletin, 51, Special Report 77 (1967).
121M. N. MATHUR, Indian J. Pure and Appl. Maths. 1,64 (1970).
(9 A. C. ERINGEN, 1. Math. Anal. Appl. 38,480 (1972).
[4] A. C. ERINGEN, J. Math. Mech. 16, I (1966).
[5] J. W. HOYT and A. G. FABULA, U.S. Naval Ordnance Test Station Reporf (1964).
[6] W. M. VOGEL and A. M. PATTERSON, Reporf 64-2. Pacific Naval Laboratory of the Defence Research Board of
Canada (1964).
[7] P. RIHA, ZAMM 59, 388 (1979).
[El M. BALRAM and V. U. K. SASTRY, Znt. J. Heaf, Mass Transfer 16,437 (1973).
[9] V. U. K. SASTRY and G. MAITI, Int. L Heat, Mass Transfer 19,207 (1976).
[lo] P. S. RAMACHANDRAN, M. N. MATHUR and S. K. OJHA, Int. J. Engng Sci. 17,625 (1979).
[Ill M. N. MATHUR, S. K. OIHA and P. S. RAMACHANDRAN, Int. J. Heat, Mass Transfer 21,923 (1978).
[ 121G. AHMADI, Znt..I Engng Sci. 14,639 (1976).
[I31 A. T&ZEN and R. SKALAK Inf. J. Engng Sci. 15,511 (1977).
[I41 A. K. BANERJEEE, G. SATYANARAYANA, M. N. MATHUR and S. K. OJHA, 1. Indian National Academy of
Sciences (Prof. P. L. Bhatnagar Commemoration Volume), India.
PTI v ~ ,
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