THE EFFECT OF TEMPERATURE-DEPENDENT VISCOSITY ON FREE-FORCED CONVECTIVE LAMINAR BOUNDARY-LAYER FLOW PAST A VERTICAL ISOTHERMAL FLAT-PLATE

The effect of a temperature-dependent viscosity on an incompressible f luid in steady laminar free-forced convective boundary layer flow over an isothermal vertical semi-infinite flat plate is studied. The local similarity solution is used to transform the system of partial differ ential equations, describing the problem under consideration, into a b oundary value problem of coupled ordinary differential equations and a n efficient numerical technique is implemented to solve the reduced sy stem. Numerical calculations are carried out, for various values of th e dimensionless parameters of the problem, which include a Prandtl num ber, a mixed convection parameter and a viscosity/temperature paramete r. The results are presented graphically and the conclusion is drawn t hat the flow field and other quantities of physical interest are signi ficantly influenced by these parameters; In particular, it is conclude d that when the viscosity of a working fluid is sensitive to the varia tion of temperature, care must be taken to include this effect, otherw ise considerable error can result in the heat transfer processes. In t he literature, such care is not always evident.