EFFECT OF VARIABLE VISCOSITY AND SUCTION/INJECTION ON THERMAL BOUNDARY LAYER OF A NON-NEWTONIAN POWER-LAW FLUIDS PAST A POWER-LAW STRETCHED SURFACE

The analysis of laminar boundary layer flow and heat transfer of non-Newtonian fluids over a continuous stretched surface with suction or injection has been presented. The velocity and temperature of the sheet were assumed to vary in a power-law form, that is u = U(0)x(m), and T(w)(x) = T(infinity) + Cx(b). The viscosity of the fluid is assumed to be inverse linear function of temperature. The resulting governing boundary-layer equations are highly non-linear and coupled form of partial differential equations and they have been solved numerically by using the Runge-Kutta method and Shooting technique. Velocity and temperature distributions as well as the Nusselt number where studied for two thermal boundary conditions: uniform surface temperature (b = 0) and cooled surface temperature (b = -1), for different parameters: variable viscosity parameter theta(r), temperature exponent b, blowing parameter d and Prandtl number. The obtained results show that the flow and heat transfer characteristics are significantly influenced by these parameters.