Natural convection boundary layer flow of fluid with temperature-dependent viscosity from a horizontal elliptical cylinder with constant surface heat flux

Abstract

This study deals with the temperature-dependent viscosity effects on the natural convection boundary layer on a horizontal elliptical cylinder with constant surface heat flux. The mathematical problem is reduced to a pair of coupled partial differential equations for the temperature and the stream function, and the resulting nonlinear equations are solved numerically by cubic spline collocation method. Results for the heat transfer characteristics are presented as functions of eccentric angle for various values of viscosity variation parameters, Prandtl numbers and aspect ratios. Results show that an increase in the viscosity variation parameter tends to accelerate the fluid flow near the surface and increase the maximum velocity, thus decreasing the velocity boundary layer thickness. As the viscosity variation parameter is increased, the surface temperature tends to decrease, thus increasing the local Nusselt number. Moreover, the local Nusselt number of the elliptical cylinder increases as the Prandtl number of the fluid is increased.