The effect of variable fluid properties on the free convective flow of air/water confined between two parallel vertical walls

Abstract

The title problem has been considered for detailed analysis in view of its varied physical applications taking into account the temperature-dependent fluid properties. The governing equations of the problem have been reduced to two coupled nonlinear ordinary differential equations, which have been solved numerically by the Runge-Kutta method as modified by Gill. Several qualitatively interesting behaviours of the flow and heat transfer characteristics have been pointed out after making a comparative study of the VFP-results with the CFP-counterparts and some of them are presented in the Conclusion-section, which results warrant further study of the effect of variable fluid properties on the flow and heat transfer characteristics.