Free convective flow in an open-ended vertical porous wavy channel with a perfectly conductive thin baffle

Abstract

The problem of steady two-dimensional free convective flow of a Walters fluid (model B') in a porous medium between a long vertical wavy wall and parallel flat wall in the presence of a heat source is discussed. The channel is divided into two passages by means of a thin, perfectly conductive plane baffle and each stream will have its own pressure gradient and hence the velocity will be individual in each stream. The governing equations of the fluid and the heat transfer have been solved subject to the relevant boundary conditions by assuming that the solution consists of two parts: a mean part and disturbance or perturbed part. Exact solutions are obtained for the mean part and the perturbed part is solved using long wave approximation. Results are presented graphically for the distribution of velocity and temperature fields for varying physical parameters such as Grashof number, wall temperature ratio, porous parameter, heat source/sink parameter, product of non-dimensional wave number, and space-coordinate and viscoelastic parameter at different positions of the baffle. The relevant flow and heat transfer characteristics, namely, skin friction and the rate of heat transfer at both walls, has been discussed in detail. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.