Mixed convection heat transfer from a square cylinder to power-law fluids in cross-flow

Abstract

Laminar mixed convection flow and heat transfer to power-law fluids from a square cylinder has been analyzed numerically in the steady flow regime. The full momentum and energy equations along with the Boussinesq approximation have been solved by using a SMAC implicit finite difference method implemented on an uniform staggered grid arrangement for the range of Reynolds number 5 to 40, power-law index 0.6 to 1.4, Prandtl number 1 to 10 and Richardson number 0 to 0.5 in both bounded and unbounded flow configurations. The wall effects have been studied for a fixed blockage ratio of 1/15. The effects of buoyancy on the flow and heat transfer characteristics of power-law fluids have been elucidated. It is found that the mixed convection can initiate an asymmetry in the flow and temperature fields even within the steady flow regime. The variation of drag coefficients, and of the Nusselt number have been reported for a range of values of the Reynolds number, Prandtl number and Richardson number for both shear thickening and shear thinning fluids. Copyright © 2006 by ASME.