Abstract

EFFECTS OF VARIABLE VISCOSITY AND VISCOUS DISSIPATION ON FREE CONVECTIVE COUETTE FLOW IN A VERTICAL CHANNEL: THE HOMOTOPY PERTURBATION METHOD APPROACH

Tafida M. Kabir,1 Abiodun O. Ajibade2 and Mu?awiya H. Usman3

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An analysis has been carried out to study the viscous dissipation effect on steady natural convection Couette flow of heat generating fluid in a vertical channel. The Homotopy Perturbation method is used to obtain the expressions for temperature and velocity. The effects of various physical parameter such as variable viscosity parameter, viscous dissipation parameter, thermal buoyancy parameter, heat generation/absorption parameter and Prandtl number to determine the temperature and velocity profiles with the help of graphs. During our investigation, it was found that fluid temperature and velocity increase with an increase of viscous dissipation while a decrease in the fluid viscosity lead to decrease in temperature profile. The comparisons of the present study with Jha and Ajibade (2010) shows an excellent agreement when the variable viscosity and viscous dissipation terms are neglected. Keywords: Free convection; heat generation/absorption; viscous dissipation; variable viscosity; Homotopy perturbation method.

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