Non-Newtonian fluid laminar flow and forced convection heat transfer in rectangular ducts

Abstract

Numerical solutions for fully developed laminar flow forced convection heat transfer of a power law non-Newtonian fluid in rectangular ducts are presented. Finite difference methods are developed for the governing equations to obtain the velocity and temperature distributions. Friction factor results are given for flow through rectangular ducts of aspect ratios of 0.2, 0.5 and 1.0 with power law index n values of 0.5 to 1.0. For the same flow conditions the Nusselt values, maximum wall temperatures, and minimum wall temperatures for the H2 thermal boundary condition for different combinations of heated and adiabatic walls are obtained. Also the Nusselt values for slug flow ( n=0 ) are presented for the H2 boundary condition.