Hybrid solution for the laminar flow of power-law fluids inside rectangular ducts

Abstract

The so-called generalized integral transform technique (GITT) is employed in the hybrid numerical–analytical solution of two-dimensional fully-developed laminar flow of non-Newtonian power-law fluids inside rectangular ducts. The characteristic of the automatic and straightforward global error control procedure inherent to this approach, permits the determination of fully converged benchmark results to assess the performance of purely numerical techniques. Therefore, numerical results for the product Fanning friction factor-generalized Reynolds number are computed for different values of power-law index and aspect ratio, which are compared with previously reported results in the literature, providing critical comparisons among them as well as illustrating the powerfulness of the integral transform approach. The resulting velocity profiles computed by using this methodology are also compared with those calculated by approximated methods for power-law fluids, within the range of governing parameters studied.