Eur. Phys. J. Plus (2014) 129: 270
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/i2014-14270-4

Regular Article

Thermal analysis of a reactive generalized Couette flow of power law fluids between concentric cylindrical pipes

Faculty of Military Science, Stellenbosch University, Private Bag X2, 7395, Saldanha, South Africa

^* e-mail: makinded@gmail.com

Received: 5 November 2014
Accepted: 27 November 2014
Published online: 22 December 2014

Abstract

In this paper, the steady generalized axial Couette flow of Ostwald-de Waele power law reactive fluids between concentric cylindrical pipes is investigated. It is assumed that the outer cylinder is stationary and exchanges heat with the ambient surrounding following Newton’s law of cooling, while the inner cylinder with isothermal surface is set in motion in the axial direction. The model nonlinear differential equations for the momentum and energy balance are obtained and tackled numerically using the shooting method coupled with the Runge-Kutta-Fehlberg integration technique. The effects of various embedded thermophysical parameters on the velocity and temperature fields including skin friction, Nusselt number and thermal criticality conditions are presented graphically and discussed quantitatively.