Transport in Porous Media, Vol.45, No.1, 29-40, 2001
Thermal dispersion effects on combined convection in non-Newtonian fluids along a nonisothermal vertical plate in a porous medium
The method of non-similarity solution is used to study the influence of thermal dispersion on combined convection from vertical surfaces in a porous medium saturated with a power-law type non-Newtonian fluid. The coefficient of thermal diffusivity has been assumed to be the sum of molecular diffusivity and the dispersion thermal diffusivity due to mechanical dispersion. The transformed conservation laws are solved numerically for the case of variable surface heat flux conditions. Results for the details of the velocity and temperature fields as well as the Nusselt number have been presented.
Keywords:combined convection;non-Newtonian fluids;power-law;porous medium;thermal dispersion;boundary layer