Thermodynamic Analysis of Magnetohydrodynamic Third Grade Fluid Flow with Variable Properties

Abstract

This article aims to computationally study entropy generation in a magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) third grade fluid flow in a horizontal channel with impermeable walls. The fluids viscosity and thermal conductivity are assumed to be dependent on temperature. The flow is driven by an applied uniform axial pressure gradient between infinite parallel plates and is considered to be incompressible, steady and fully developed. Adomian decomposition method (ADM) is used to obtain series solutions of the nonlinear governing equations. Thermodynamic analysis is done by computing the entropy generation rate and the irreversibility ratio (Bejan number). The effects of the various pertinent embedded parameters on the velocity field, temperature field, entropy generation rate and Bejan number are analysed through vivid graphical manipulations. The analysis shows that an appropriate combination of thermophysical parameters efficiently achieves entropy generation minimization in the thermomechanical system. The analysis shows that entropy generation minimization is achieved by increasing the magnetic field and the third grade material parameters, and therefore designs and processes incorporating MHD third grade fluid flow systems are far more likely to give optimum and efficient performance.