Natural Convection and Separation Points of a Non-Newtonian Fluid Along a Rotating Round-Nosed Body

Abstract

The purpose of the present study is to present a numerical solution for the natural-convection flow of Ostwald/de Waele-type power-law non-Newtonian fluid along the surface of a rotating axisymmetric round-nosed body. For computational purpose, a rotating hemisphere is used as the case study to examine the effects of transverse curvature on heat transfer mechanism. The numerical scheme is applied after converting the dimensionless system of equations into primitive variable formulations. Implicit finite difference method is used to integrate the equations numerically. The numerical simulations performed are valid for shear-thickening fluids with a wide range of Prandtl numbers [i.e., ]. A detailed discussion is provided to understand the effects of buoyant forces and power-law exponent on the rate of heat transfer and skin-friction coefficient. A comparison of the present numerical results for different values of the buoyancy ratio parameter with other published data is shown in graphical form. The flow separation occurs when a portion of the boundary layer closest to the wall or leading edge reverses in flow direction. It is observed from our results that an increase in the power-law index and Prandtl number leads to an increase in the friction factor, as well as the rate of heat transfer.