On a linear steady-state system of equations in microcontinuum fluid mechanics

Galerkin representations and integral representations are obtained for the linearized system of coupled differential equations governing steady incompressible flow of a micropolar fluid. The special case of 2-dimensional Stokes flows is then examined and further representation formulae as well as asymptotic expressions, are generated for both the microrotation and velocity vectors. With the aid of these formulae, the Stokes Paradox for micropolar fluids is established.     

Unsteady mixed convection flow of a thermomicropolar fluid on a long thin vertical cylinder

The unsteady laminar mixed convection boundary layer flow of a thermomicropolar fluid over a long thin vertical cylinder has been studied when the free stream velocity varies with time. The coupled nonlinear partial differential equations with three independent variables governing the flow have been solved numerically using an implicit finite difference scheme in combination with the quasilinearization technique. The results show that the buoyancy, curvature and suction parameters, in general, enhance the skin friction, heat transfer and gradient of microrotation, but the effect of injection is just opposite. The skin friction and heat transfer for the micropolar fluid are considerably less than those for the Newtonian fluids. The effect of microrotation parameter is appreciable only on the microrotation gradient. The effect of the Prandtl number is appreciable on the skin friction, heat transfer and gradient of microtation.     

Homotopy analysis method for fully developed MHD micropolar fluid flow between vertical porous plates

In this paper, the fully developed natural convection of MHD micropolar fluid flow between two vertical porous plates is considered. The coupled system of non‐linear differential equations governing the flow is solved analytically by the homotopy analysis method (HAM). The HAM contains an auxiliary parameter ?, which provides us with a simple way to adjust and control the convergence region and rate of convergence of the series solution. Velocity, microrotation and temperature profiles are presented for several values of the Hartmann number and the micropolar parameter. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Simulation of 3D flow in porous media by boundary element method

In the present paper problem of natural convection in a cubic porous cavity is studied numerically, using an algorithm based on a combination of single domain and subdomain boundary element method (BEM). The modified Navier–Stokes equations (Brinkman-extended Darcy formulation with inertial term included) were adopted to model fluid flow in porous media, coupled with the energy equation using the Boussinesq approximation. The governing equations are transformed by the velocity–vorticity variables formulation which separates the computation scheme into kinematic and kinetic parts. The kinematics equation, vorticity transport equation and energy equation are solved by the subdomain BEM, while the boundary vorticity values, needed as a boundary conditions for the vorticity transport equation, are calculated by single domain BEM solution of the kinematics equation. Computations are performed for steady state cases, for a range of Darcy numbers from 10^?6 to 10^?1, and porous Rayleigh numbers ranging from 50 to 1000. The heat flux through the cavity and the flow fields are analyzed for different cases of governing parameters and compared to the results in some published studies.     

Numerical solution of free convection micropolar fluid flow between two parallel porous vertical plates

The fully developed free convection micropolar fluid flow between two vertical porous parallel plates is studied in the presence of temperature dependent heat sources including the effect of frictional heating. The basic equations are solved using quasi-linearization finite difference technique with an error of order 0.5 × 10₋₆. The velocity, microrotation and temperature are displayed in graphs whereas the skin friction, couple stress and Nusselt numbers at the plates are shown in tables. It is noted that the couple stress on either plates increases numerically with increase in micropolar parameter. Also the Nusselt number follows the same pattern for a negative suction velocity.     

Boundary conditions for micropolar fluids

The effect of different boundary conditions for micropolar fluids is investigated. For steady channel flow it is shown that some commonly applied boundary conditions, such as microrotation rate equals minus one half the vorticity, can only reproduce Navier Stokes results. A general linear relation between microrotation rate and vorticity at rigid boundaries is analyzed and several special cases are examined in some detail. Implications for more general flows are briefly discussed.     

Finite element solution of mixed convection micropolar flow driven by a porous stretching sheet

This paper presents a finite element solution for the mixed convection micropolar flow driven by a porous stretching sheet with uniform suction. The governing partial differential equations are solved numerically by the using finite element method and the results have been compared with those obtained by using the quasi-linearization method. The effect of surface conditions on the velocity, microrotation as well as for temperature functions has been studied. It is noticed that the micropolar fluids help in the reduction of drag forces and also act as a cooling agent.     

Unsteady Flow of Radiating and Chemically Reacting MHD Micropolar Fluid in Slip-Flow Regime with Heat Generation

An analytical study of the problem of unsteady free convection with thermal radiation and heat generation on MHD micropolar fluid flow through a porous medium bounded by a semi-infinite vertical plate in a slip-flow regime has been presented. The Rosseland diffusion approximation is used to describe the radiation heat flux in the energy equation. The homogeneous chemical reaction of first order is accounted for in the mass diffusion equation. A uniform magnetic field acts perpendicular on the porous surface absorbing micropolar fluid with a suction velocity varying with time. A perturbation technique is applied to obtain the expressions for the velocity, microrotation, temperature, and concentration distributions. Expressions for the skin-friction, Nusselt number, and Sherwood number are also obtained. The results are discussed graphically for different values of the parameters entered into the equations of the problem.     

Mixed convection boundary layer flow of a micropolar fluid along vertical cylinders and needles

An analysis is presented to investigate the effects of buoyancy and curvature on convection along vertical cylinders and needles placed in a micropolar fluid. The governing equations for momentum, angular momentum and energy are solved numerically by finite difference scheme. The heat transfer results are presented for a range of values of the buoyancy parameters, the curvature parameter and the material parameters of the fluid. The effect of the microrotation boundary conditions on heat transfer is discussed.     

Moving wedge and flat plate in a micropolar fluid

Similarity solutions for a moving wedge and flat plate in a micropolar fluid may be obtained when the fluid and boundary velocities are proportional to the same power-law of the downstream coordinate. The governing partial differential equations are transformed to the ordinary differential equations using similarity variables, and then solve numerically using a finite-difference scheme known as the Keller-box method. Numerical results are given for the dimensionless velocity and microrotation profiles, as well as the skin friction coefficient for several values of the Falkner–Skan power-law parameter (m), the ratio of the boundary velocity to the free stream velocity parameter (λ) and the material parameter (K). Important features of these flow characteristics are plotted and discussed. It is found that multiple solutions exist when the boundary is moving in the opposite direction to the free stream, and the micropolar fluids display a drag reduction compared to Newtonian fluids.     

Free convection boundary layer flow of a micropolar fluid past slender bodies

The transverse curvature effects on axisymmetric free convection boundary layer flow of a micropolar fluid past vertical cylinders are investigated using the theory of micropolar fluids formulated by Eringen. The governing equations for momentum, angular momentum and energy have been solved numerically. Missing values of the velocity, angular velocity and thermal functions are tabulated for a wide range of the material parameters, transverse curvature parameter and Prandtl number of the fluid. A comparison has been made with the corresponding results for Newtonian fluids. Micropolar fluids display drag reduction and reduced surface heat transfer rate as compared with Newtonian fluids.     

State space approach to unsteady free convection flow of micropolar fluid

Summary The equations of unsteady free convection flow of a micropolar fluid are cast into a matrix form using the state space and Laplace-transform techniques. The results obtained are used to generate solutions in the Laplace-transform domain to a broad class of problems in free convection flow. The technique is applied to a heated vertical plate problem and to a problem pertaining to a plate under uniform heating. The inversion of Laplace-transform is performed using a numerical approach. Numerical results concerning velocity, microrotation and temperature are given and illustrated graphically for both problems.     

Mixed convection in vertical internal flow of a micropolar fluid

The theory of micropolar fluids due to Eringen is used to formulate a set of equations for the flow and heat transfer characteristics of the combined convection micropolar flow in vertical channels. It is found that the microstructure and substructure parameters have significant effects on the flow and thermal fields. By making the Newtonian solvent more and more micropolar, it is possible to obtain drag reduction as well as reduced heat transfer characteristics.     

Mixed convection of micropolar fluids along a vertical wavy surface

Summary This paper presents numerical results for the steady-state mixed convection in micropolar fluids along a vertical wavy surface. The problem has been formulated by a simple trnasposition theorem, and the spline alternating-direction implicit method has been applied to solve the governing momentum, angular momentum and energy equations. The influence of the micropolar parameters (R and ), the amplitude-wave length ratio and the Gr/Re² number on the skin-friction coefficient and Nusselt number have been studied. Results demonstrate that the skin friction coefficient and local Nusselt number consist of a mixture of two harmonics in micropolar fluids and in Newtonian fluids. As the vortex viscosity parameter (R) increases, the heat transfer rate decreases but the skin friction increases. In addition, when the spin gradient viscosity parameter () increases, the heat transfer rate and the skin friction decreases. However, the heat transfer rate of a micropolar fluid is smaller than a Newtonian fluid, but the skin friction of a micropolar fluid is larger than a Newtonian fluid under all circumstances.     

Finite element analysis of combined heat and mass transfer in hydromagnetic micropolar flow along a stretching sheet

This paper presents a finite element solution of the problem of heat and mass transfer in a hydromagnetic flow of a micropolar fluid past a stretching sheet. The transformed equations for the flow regime are solved numerically by using finite element method. The effect of important parameters namely magnetic field parameter, material parameter, Eckert number and Schmidt number over velocity, microrotation, temperature and concentration functions has been studied. It has been observed that the magnetic field parameter has the effect of reducing the velocity and increasing the microrotation, temperature and concentration while the micropolar parameter has the opposite effect on these functions except temperature function. Temperature increases with the increase in Eckert number and concentration decreases with the increase in Schmidt number.     

Unsteady incompressible boundary layer flow of a micropolar fluid at a stagnation point

The flow, heat and mass transfer on the unsteady laminar incompressible boundary layer in micropolar fluid at the stagnation point of a 2-dimensional and an axisymmetric body have been studied when the free stream velocity and the wall temperature vary arbitrarily with time. The partial defferential equations governing the flow have been solved numerically using a quasilinear finite-difference scheme. The skin friction, microrotation gradient and heat transfer parameters are found to be strongly dependent on the coupling parameter, mass transfer and time, whereas the effect of the microrotation parameter on the skin friction and heat transfer is rather weak, but microrotation gradient is strongly affected by it. The Prandtl number and the variation of the wall temperature with time affect the heat-transfer very significantly but the skin friction and micrortation gradient are unaffected by them.     

Numerical solution of micropolar fluid flow between a rotating and a porous stationary disc

The steady flow of an incompressible micropolar fluid between a rotating and a stationary disc is studied when a uniform suction is applied on the stationary disc. The nonlinear coupled equations involving velocity and microrotation components have been solved numerically using quasilinearisation technique. The pressure coefficient at any radius r of the rotating disc varies linearly with micropolar parameter R. The three velocities and microrotation components have been displayed graphically. It is observed that for low suction and high rotation, both radial and axial flows are of cellular type for small R but turn unidirectional for large values of R. The flow regimes are completely reversed in the case of blowing.     

Fundamental solutions for micropolar fluids

New fundamental solutions for micropolar fluids are derived in explicit form for two- and three-dimensional steady unbounded Stokes and Oseen flows due to a point force and a point couple, including the two-dimensional micropolar Stokeslet, the two- and three-dimensional micropolar Stokes couplet, the three-dimensional micropolar Oseenlet, and the three-dimensional micropolar Oseen couplet. These fundamental solutions do not exist in Newtonian flow due to the absence of microrotation velocity field. The flow due to these singularities is useful for understanding and studying microscale flows. As an application, the drag coefficients for a solid sphere or a circular cylinder that translates in a low-Reynolds-number micropolar flow are determined and compared with those corresponding to Newtonian flow. The drag coefficients in a micropolar fluid are greater than those in a Newtonian fluid.     

Peristaltic pumping of a micropolar fluid in a tube

Summary.  Peristaltic transport of a micropolar fluid in a circular tube is studied under low Reynolds number and long wavelength approximations. The closed form solutions are obtained for velocity, microrotation components, as well as the stream function and they contain new additional parameters namely, N the coupling number and m the micropolar parameter. In the case of free pumping (pressure difference Δp=0) the difference in pumping flux is observed to be very small for Newtonian and micropolar fluids but in the case of pumping (Δp>0) the characteristics are significantly altered for different N and m. It is observed that the peristalsis in micropolar fluids works as a pump against a greater pressure rise compared with a Newtonian fluid. Streamline patterns which depict trapping phenomena are presented for different parameter ranges. The limit on the trapping of the center streamline is obtained. The effects of N and m on friction force for different Δp are discussed. Received June 20, 2002; revised October 23, 2002 Published online: April 17, 2003 The authors thank the referees for pointing out some mistakes in the governing equations and for the suggestions to improve the presentation of the paper.     

Non-orthogonal stagnation-point flow of a micropolar fluid

This paper considers the problem of steady two-dimensional flow of a micropolar fluid impinging obliquely on a flat plate. The flow under consideration is a generalization of the classical modified Hiemenz flow for a micropolar fluid which occurs in the boundary layer near an orthogonal stagnation point. A coordinate decomposition transforms the full governing equations into a primary equation describing the modified Hiemenz flow for a micropolar fluid and an equation for the tangential flow coupled to the primary solution. The solution to the boundary-value problem is governed by two non-dimensional parameters: the material parameter K and the ratio of the microrotation to skin friction parameter n. The obtained ordinary differential equations are solved numerically for some values of the governing parameters. The primary consequence of the free stream obliqueness is the shift of the stagnation point toward the incoming flow.