Natural convection in Bingham plastic fluids from an isothermal spheroid: Effects of fluid yield stress, viscous dissipation and temperature-dependent viscosity

摘要

hi this work, the buoyancy-induced convection from an isothermal spheroid is studied in a Bingham plastic fluid. Extensive results on the morphology of approximate yield surfaces, temperature profiles, and the local and average Nusselt numbers are reported to elucidate the effects of the pertinent dimensionless parameters: Rayleigh number, 10(2) 1) impede it. Finally, simple predictive expressions for the maximum Bingham number and the average Nusselt number are developed which can be used to predict a priori the overall heat transfer coefficient in a new application. Also, a criterion is developed in terms of the composite parameter Bn.Gr(-1/2) which predicts the onset of convection in such fluids. Similarly, another criterion is developed which delineates the conditions for the onset of settling due to buoyancy effects. The paper is concluded by presenting limited results to delineate the effects of viscous dissipation and the temperature-dependent viscosity on the Nusselt number. Both these effects are seen to be rather small in Bingham plastic fluids.