ISSN Online: 2377-424X
International Heat Transfer Conference 12
Free convection boundary layer on an isothermal horizontal circular cylinder in a micropolar fluid
Abstract
Following the study conducted by Merkin (1976) for the case of free convection boundary layer past an isothermal horizontal circular cylinder in a viscous fluid, the present work considers the steady laminar free convection boundary layer flow over an isothermal horizontal circular cylinder in a micropolar fluid. The governing boundary layer equations are first transformed into a non-dimensional form and the resulting
nonlinear system of partial differential equations is then solved numerically using the Keller-box method.
Numerical results presented include velocity, temperature and angular velocity profiles of the micropolar fluid as
well as heat transfer characteristics, namely the local heat transfer and local skin friction coefficients for a wide
range of material parameter K. The Prandtl number is taken to be unity.