A numerical treatise on heat and mass Transfer aspects of certain convective flows

Abstract

The effect of variable physical properties (viscosity and thermal conductivity) has been newlinestudied independently and in combination on steady laminar natural convection and mixed newlineconvection flows at an isothermal vertical plate taking Prandtl number to be variable and newlineconstant. The plate with varying temperature is also considered. The flow and heat transfer newlinequantities of practical utility are determined as functions of parameters namely, viscosity newlinevariation parameter (and#120574;and#1051667; ), thermal conductivity variation parameter (and#120574;and#1051614;), heat source parameter newline(Q0), mixed convection parameter and#120585; (or Ri, i.e., Richardson number), Schmidt number (Sc), newlinePrandtl number (Pr), Local Reynolds number (Rex) etc. Appropriate similarity variables are newlineintroduced and governing equations describing the flow and heat transfer pertaining to different newlineproblems are reduced into non-linear ordinary differential equations. These equations subject newlineto appropriate boundary conditions are solved by using Runge Kutta Gill method of 4th newlineorder coupled with a shooting technique or Nachtsheim Swigert technique. Problems newlineanalysed are (i) Effect of variable viscosity on laminar natural convection at an isothermal newlinevertical plate for fluids of all Prandtl numbers with and without heat sources (ii) Laminar newlineNatural Convection for fluids of all Prandtl numbers with variable viscosity, variable thermal newline