Free convection of a non-Newtonian power-law fluid from a vertical wavy surface with uniform surface heat flux

The steady laminar free convection in the flow of a non-Newtonian power-law fluid along a vertical wavy surface with constant heat flux has been investigated in this paper. The transformed boundary layer equations are solved by using a very efficient implicit finite-difference method. A sinusoidal surface is used to elucidate the amplitude of the wavy surface effects. Along with the wall temperature, representative velocity and temperature profiles are presented. Numerical results show that the wall temperature decreases as the power-law index increases, while it increases with the amplitude of the wavy surface. Comparisons with earlier work are also made for a flat plate immersed in a Newtonian fluid. The results are found to compare very well.