Effects of free convection on the oscillatory flow of a polar fluid through a porous medium in the presence of variable wall heat flux

The purpose of this work is to study a laminar two-dimensional free convective oscillatory flow of an incompressible polar fluid through a saturated porous medium occupying a semi-infinite region of the space which is bounded by an infinite vertical permeable plate in the presence of oscillating suction and variable wall heat flux. The governing equations are based on the local volume averaging technique. The generalized Darcy equation accounting for polar effects is employed. Analytical expressions for the linear momentum, angular momentum, and energy fields are obtained by using the two-term perturbation technique. The numerically computed results are shown graphically and compared with the corresponding ones for a viscous (Newtonian) fluid. Distribution of the mean velocity of a polar fluid is found to increase as compared to the Newtonian fluid. The analysis reveals multiple boundary-layer structure for velocity. Published in Inzhenerno-Fizicheskii Zhurnal, Vol. 81, No. 5, pp. 868–884, September–October, 2008.