Divergent channel flow of Casson fluid and heat transfer with suction/blowing and viscous dissipation: Existence of boundary layer

Abstract

The boundary layer existence in divergent porous channel of non-Newtonian Casson fluid with heat transfer in presence of suction/blowing and viscous dissipation is studied. Nonlinear coupled ODEs are obtained from governing PDEs and the conditions under which boundary layer structure for Casson fluid exists by controlling backflow are explored. Numerical solutions are also obtained using “bvp4c”, a MATLAB package. The study reveals that if mass suction exceeds a certain amount which is dependent on Casson parameter then only boundary layer flow is possible and as Casson parameter increases, the requirement of mass suction for boundary layer flow reduces. In addition, rheological characters of Casson fluid and viscous dissipation have a major impact on temperature distribution and due to these, the temperature falls lower than free stream temperature within the boundary layer region.