Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to consider the problem of fully developed laminar mixed convection flow of a couple stress fluid in a vertical channel with the third-kind boundary conditions in the presence or absence of heat source/sink effect.
Design/methodology/approach
Through proper choice of dimensionless variables, the governing equations are developed. These governing equations are solved analytically by the differential transform method and numerically by the Runge–Kutta shooting method. Analytical solutions for the velocity and temperature profiles for heat generation and absorption of the problem are reported.
Findings
The mass flow rate and Nusselt numbers at both the left and right channel walls on mixed convection parameter, Brinkman number, couple stress parameter and heat generation/absorption parameter for equal and unequal Biot numbers are presented. Favorable comparisons of special cases with previously published work are obtained. It is found that velocity, temperature, mass flow rate and Nusselt number decrease with couple stress parameter and increase with mixed convection parameter and Brinkman number.
Originality/value
The work done in this paper is not done earlier to the authors’ knowledge. This is the first paper in which the sixth-order differential equation is solved using the semi-numerical method, which is a differential method.
The combined effects of thermal and mass convection of viscous incompressible and immiscible fluids through a vertical wavy wall and a smooth flat wall are analyzed. The dimensionless governing equations are perturbed into a mean part (the zeroth-order) and a perturbed part (the first-order). The first-order quantities are obtained by the perturbation series expansion for short wavelength, in which the terms of the exponential order arise. The analytical expressions for the zeroth-order, the first-order, and the total solutions are obtained. The numerical computations are presented graphically to show the salient features of the fluid flow and the heat transfer characteristics. Separate solutions are matched at the interface by using suitable matching conditions. The shear stress and the Nusselt number are also analyzed for variations of the governing parameters. It is observed that the Grashof number, the viscosity ratio, the width ratio, and the conductivity ratio promote the velocity parallel to the flow direction. A reversal effect is observed for the velocity perpendicular to the flow direction.
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