Heat transfer analysis of Carreau fluid over a rotating disk with generalized thermal conductivity

Abstract

This paper mainly analyzes the heat transfer of Carreau fluid over an infinite rotating disk, and two models with variable thermal conductivity are considered. Firstly, the governing partial differential equations (PDEs) are transformed into ordinary differential equations (ODEs) by similarity transformation. Then, the boundary value problem is solved by improved bvp4c method, which reduced sensitivity to the initial values. For shear-thinning and shear-thickening fluids, the effects of Carreau fluid index n and Prandtl number Pr on velocity and temperature fields are shown and analyzed when 0.5≤n≤1.5, 1≤Pr≤10. Furthermore, the thermal conductivity is computed under two cases.