Heat Transfer Analysis of Mixed Electro osmosis Pressure Driven Flow for Power Law Fluids Through a Microtube

Abstract

In this work, convection heat transfer for combined electroosmotic and pressure driven flow of powerlaw fluid through a microtube has been analyzed. Typical results for velocity and temperature distributions, friction coefficient, and Nusselt number are illustrated for various values of key parameters such as flow behavior index, length scale ratio (ratio of Debye length to tube radius), dimensionless pressure gradient, and dimensionless Joule heating parameter. The results reveal that friction coefficient decreases with increasing dimensionless pressure gradient, and classical Poiseuille solutions can be retrieved as the dimensionless pressure gradient approaches to infinite. To increase the length scale ratio has the effect to reduce Nusselt number, while the influence of this ratio on Nusselt number diminishes as the pressure gradient increases. With the same magnitude of dimensionless Joule heating parameter, Nusselt number can be increased by increasing both the flow behavior index and dimensionless pressure gradient for surface cooling, while the opposite behavior is observed for surface heating. Also, singularities occurs in the Nusselt number variations for surface cooling as the ratio of Joule heating to wall heat flux is sufficiently large with negative sign.