Nonsteady flow of a power-law fluid in a porous medium between parallel plates with heat transfer, suction, and injection

The time-varying flow of a viscous incompressible non-Newtonian power-law fluid through a porous medium between two parallel horizontal porous plates under the action of a constant pressure gradient with consideration for heat transfer is studied. Uniform suction and injection through the surfaces of the plates take place where the two plates are kept at different, but constant temperatures, and the Joule and viscous dissipation terms are considered in the energy equation. Numerical solutions for the governing nonlinear momentum and energy equations are obtained using finite differences. The effect of the medium porosity, the parameter describing the non-Newtonian behavior, and the velocity of suction and injection on both the velocity and temperature distributions, as well as on the dissipation terms, is investigated. © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York.