Combined effect of fluid’s viscous dissipation, variable viscosity and thermal conductivity on the free convective heat transfer past a circular cylinder

Abstract

This research work examines the combined effect of fluid’s variable thermal conductivity, viscous dissipation and variable viscosity on the free convection flow over a circular cylinder. The flow is well developed and of an incompressible fluid about a uniformly heated cylinder. The governing nonlinear partial differential equations are transformed to nonlinear ordinary differential equations by employing regular perturbation technique. While, the resulting nonlinear ordinary differential equations are solved numerically using the Mid-point method with Richardson extrapolation technique. Graphs of the temperature fields and the velocity profiles, the skin friction coefficient and heat transfer reveal that the viscous dissipation effect marginally increases the velocity and temperature of the fluid, while the combined effect of the embedded fluid parameters significantly influences the velocity.