Numerical analysis of Carreau fluid flow over a vertical porous microchannel with entropy generation

Abstract

This study investigates novel aspects of entropy generation in fully developed heat transport of Carreau fluid in a porous vertical microchannel. Consequences of thermal radiation and viscous heating are included in the thermal energy equation. The no-slip velocity and convective heating temperature boundary conditions are also considered. Darcy–Forchheimer model model is also considered. The system is solved using the bvp4c approach to solve a dimensional less two-point boundary value problem derived from the governing equations. The effect of effective factors on the Bejan number, entropy generation rate, temperature, and velocity are depicted in graphs. According to our analysis, increasing values of the Weissenberg number reduce entropy generation on the left and right sides of the channel, whereas the Bejan number improves on both sides of the channel and is highest in the middle. The fluid transport in a microchannel is enhanced by the pressure gradient. Because of the boundary conditions of convection heating at the microchannel walls, entropy production is at its maximum. Furthermore, the magnitude of the Bejan number is lessened due to a stronger viscous heating mechanism, whereas entropy production gets larger. The results were compared to those previously reported in the literature as a limiting case of the problem, and they were found to be in excellent agreement.