Axisymmetric Stagnation—Point Flow and Heat Transfer of a Viscous Fluid on a Rotating Cylinder With Time-Dependent Angular Velocity and Uniform Transpiration

Abstract

The unsteady viscous flow and heat transfer in the vicinity of an axisymmetric stagnation point of an infinite rotating circular cylinder with transpiration U0 are investigated when the angular velocity and wall temperature or wall heat flux all vary arbitrarily with time. The free stream is steady and with a strain rate of Γ. An exact solution of the Navier-Stokes equations and energy equation is derived in this problem. A reduction of these equations is obtained by the use of appropriate transformations for the most general case when the transpiration rate is also time-dependent but results are presented only for uniform values of this quantity. The general self-similar solution is obtained when the angular velocity of the cylinder and its wall temperature or its wall heat flux vary as specified time-dependent functions. In particular, the cylinder may rotate with constant speed, with exponentially increasing/decreasing angular velocity, with harmonically varying rotation speed, or with accelerating/decelerating oscillatory angular speed. For self-similar flow, the surface temperature or its surface heat flux must have the same types of behavior as the cylinder motion. For completeness, sample semi-similar solutions of the unsteady Navier-Stokes equations have been obtained numerically using a finite-difference scheme. Some of these solutions are presented for special cases when the time-dependent rotation velocity of the cylinder is, for example, a step-function. All the solutions above are presented for Reynolds numbers, Re=Γa2∕2υ, ranging from 0.1 to 1000 for different values of Prandtl number and for selected values of dimensionless transpiration rate, S=U0∕Γa, where a is cylinder radius and υ is kinematic viscosity of the fluid. Dimensionless shear stresses corresponding to all the cases increase with the increase of Reynolds number and suction rate. The maximum value of the shear stress increases with increasing oscillation frequency and amplitude. An interesting result is obtained in which a cylinder rotating with certain exponential angular velocity function and at particular value of Reynolds number is azimuthally stress-free. Heat transfer is independent of cylinder rotation and its coefficient increases with the increasing suction rate, Reynolds number, and Prandtl number. Interesting means of cooling and heating processes of cylinder surface are obtained using different rates of transpiration.