The current work consists of investigating the heat generation/absorption and non-linear thermal radiation effects for two-dimensional mixed convective bi-viscosity fluid flow inside the C-shaped enclosure with uniformly heated left and linearly heated top and bottom walls. The physical flow problem is governed by applying the constitutive laws of bi-viscosity model, conservation of mass, momentum and energy balance equations. The governing non-linear coupled partial differential equations is transformed into the algebraic nonlinear system by using Galerkin's finite-element technique after eradicating the pressure terms via the penalty method, and then the Newton–Raphson technique is used to solve it. It is noted that at a low value of [Formula: see text] (which gives the high plasticity of the bi-viscosity liquid), only the primary circulations with intensity [Formula: see text] appeared, but at a high value of [Formula: see text] decreased the plasticity which caused enhanced buoyancy-driven that generate also the secondary bowls with intensity [Formula: see text] inside the enclosure. The heat transfer rate increased [Formula: see text] by an increase in the Reynolds number from [Formula: see text] to [Formula: see text]. The findings of this study will play a role in improving the thermal performance of microelectronic devices, cooling systems, food processing, solar collectors, and high performance boilers by tracing the energy transport trajectories through heatlines.