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Free convection boundary-layer flow of a micropolar fluid from a vertical flat plate. (English) Zbl 0923.76306

We examine theoretically the steady free convection from a vertical isothermal flat plate immersed in a micropolar fluid. The governing non-similar boundary-layer equations are derived and are found to involve two material parameters, \(K\) and \(n\). These equations are solved numerically using the Keller-box method for a range of values of both parameters. A novel feature of the numerical solution is that the boundary layer develops a two-layer structure far from the leading edge. This structure is analyzed using asymptotic methods, and it is shown that there are two different cases to be considered, namely when \(n\neq{1\over 2}\) and when \(n={1\over 2}\). The agreement between the numerical results and the asymptotic analysis is found to be excellent in both cases.

MSC:

76R10 Free convection
76A05 Non-Newtonian fluids
80A20 Heat and mass transfer, heat flow (MSC2010)
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