Eur. Phys. J. Plus (2017) 132: 392
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/i2017-11645-y

Regular Article

A computational analysis subject to thermophysical aspects of Sisko fluid flow over a cylindrical surface

¹ Department of Mathematics, Quaid-i-Azam University, 44000, Islamabad, Pakistan
² Departemnt of Mathematics, Mirpur University of Science & Technology, Mirpur AJK, Pakistan

^* e-mail: krehman@math.qau.edu.pk

Received: 3 March 2017
Accepted: 1 August 2017
Published online: 18 September 2017

Abstract

The present analysis is devoted to probing the salient features of the mixed convection and non-linear thermal radiation effects on non-Newtonian Sisko fluid flow over a linearly stretching cylindrical surface. Properties of heat transfer are outlined via variable thermal conductivity and convective boundary conditions. The boundary layer approach is implemented to construct the mathematical model in the form of partial differential equations. Then, the requisite PDEs are transmuted into a complex ordinary differential system by invoking appropriate dimensionless variables. Solution of subsequent ODEs is obtained by utilizing the Runge-Kutta algorithm (fifth order) along with the shooting scheme. The graphical illustrations are presented to interpret the features of the involved pertinent flow parameters on concerning profiles. For a better description of the fluid flow, numerical variations in local skin friction coefficient and local Nusselt number are scrutinized in tables. From thorough analysis, it is inferred that the mixed convection parameter and the curvature parameter increase the velocity while temperature shows a different behavior. Additionally, both momentum and thermal distribution of fluid flow decrease with increasing values of the non-linearity index. Furthermore, variable thermal parameter and heat generation/absorption parameter amplify the temperature significantly. The skin friction is an increasing function of all momentum controlling parameters. The local Nusselt number also shows a similar behavior against heat radiation parameter and variable thermal conductivity parameter while it shows a dual nature for the heat generation/absorption parameter. Finally, the obtained results are validated by comparison with the existing literature and hence the correctness of the analysis is proved.