Mixed Convection in Micropolar Boundary-Layer Flow Over a Horizontal Semi-Infinite Plate

Abstract

A boundary layer analysis is presented to study the effects of buoyancy-induced streamwise pressure gradients on laminar forced convection heat transfer to micropolar fluids from a horizontal semi-infinite flat plate. The transformed boundary-layer equations have been solved numerically. The effects of the buoyancy force, material parameters, and viscous dissipative heat on the friction factor, total heat transfer, displacement thickness, and wall couple stress, as well as the details of the velocity, microrotation, and temperature fields are discussed. A comparison has been made with the corresponding results for Newtonian fluids. Micropolar fluids display drag reduction and reduced heat transfer rate as compared with Newtonian fluids. Also the micropolar properties of the fluid are found to play an important role in controlling flow separation. Furthermore, it is observed that, for high values of the buoyancy and material parameters, the flow and thermal fields are significantly affected by the presence of viscous dissipation heat.