Thermal boundary layer flow of a micropolar fluid past a wedge with constant wall temperature

Summary The steady laminar flow of micropolar fluids past a wedge has been examined with constant surface temperature. The similarity variables found by Falkner and Skan are employed to reduce the streamwise-dependence in the coupled nonlinear boundary layer equation. Numerical solutions are presented for the heat transfer characteristics with Pr=1 using the fourth-order Runge-Kutta method, and their dependence on the material parameters is discussed. The distributions of dimensionless temperature and Nusselt number across the boundary layer are compared with the corresponding flow problems for a Newtonian fluid over wedges. Numerical results show that for a constant wedge angle with a given Prandtl number Pr=1, the effect of increasing values ofK results in an increasing thermal boundary thickness for a micropolar fluid, as compared with a Newtonian fluid. For the case of the constant material parameterK, however, the heat transfer rate for a micropolar fluid is lower than that of a Newtonian fluid.Nomenclature h Dimensionless microrotation - j Micro-inertia density - K Dimensionless parameter of vortex viscosity - m Falkner-Skan power-law parameter - Re Reynolds number - T Temperature - u, v Fluid velocities in thex andy directions, respectively - U Free stream velocity - x Streamwise coordinate along the body surface - y Coordinate normal to the body surfaceGreek symbols Thermal diffusivity - Wedge angle parameter - Spin gradient viscosity - Pseudo-similarity variable - Vortex viscosity - Absolute viscosity of the fluid - v Kinematic viscosity - Dimensionless temperature - Density of the micropolar fluid - Angular velocity of micropolar fluid - Stream function