The combined effect of variable viscosity and variable thermal conductivity on natural convection couette flow

Abstract

The present work analyses the combined effects of variable viscosity and thermal conductivity on fluid flow and thermodynamics in a vertical channel. Equations of energy and momentum that describe the flow situation are solved using Homotopy perturbation method. The influence of various flow parameters are presented graphically and discussed. The analysis carried out revealed that fluid temperature and velocity increase with an increase in heat generation and decrease with an increasing heat absorption. Also, fluid velocity decreases with the increase of the viscosity. While both fluid temperature and velocity decrease with an increase in thermal conductivity. The comparison of the present work with Jha and Ajibade [18] shows an excellent agreement when the viscous dissipation, variable viscosity as well as the variable thermal conductivity terms are neglected.

Keywords

• Free convection
• Homotopy perturbation method
• Thermal conductivity
• Variable viscosity
• Viscous dissipation