VISCOUS DISSIPATION EFFECTS IN ENTRANCE REGION HEAT-TRANSFER FOR A POWER-LAW FLUID FLOWING BETWEEN PARALLEL PLATES

A numerical investigation was carried out to predict the simultaneously developing steady laminar flow and heat transfer to a purely viscous non-Newtonian fluid described by a power law model flowing between two parallel plates. Several different thermal boundary conditions were examined. It is shown that the Nusselt number distribution along the walls is affected appreciably by the variation of the fluid viscosity with temperature, viscous dissipation, the magnitude of the power law index as well as the fluid Prandtl number and thermal boundary conditions.