Effect of variable viscosity and suction/injection on thermal boundary layer of a non-newtonian power-law fluids past a power-law stretched surface

Abstract

The analysis of laminar boundary layer flow and heat transfer of non-Newtonian fluids over a continuous stretched surface with suction or injection has been presented. The velocity and temperature of the sheet were assumed to vary in a power-law form, that is u = U0xm, and Tw(x)=T4+Cxb. The viscosity of the fluid is assumed to be inverse linear function of temperature. The resulting governing boundary-layer equations are highly non-linear and coupled form of partial differential equations and they have been solved numerically by using the Runge-Kutta method and Shooting technique. Velocity and temperature distributions as well as the Nusselt number where studied for two thermal boundary conditions: uniform surface temperature (b = 0) and cooled surface temperature (b = -1), for different parameters: variable viscosity parameter θ, temperature exponent b, blowing parameter d and Prandtl number. The obtained results show that the flow and heat transfer characteristics are significantly influenced by these parameters.