Abstract
In recent years, material analysis of fluids has generated prodigious interest of researchers due to their effective role in interdisciplinary sciences. In view of its importance, the present communication is devoted to analyze the flow of power law fluid representing the features of shear thinning, shear thickening and Newtonian materials. Constitutive equations expressed in the form of tensorial representations depicting power law relation between viscosity and shear rate. The whole mathematical model is solved computationally via of finite element method by using stable P-2 - P-1 finite element pair. A highly refined hybrid mesh is obliged for the accurate computation of results. Material properties of power law fluid are disclosed in physical configuration renowned as channel driven cavity combining various benchmark problems like cavity flow, forward and backward facing steps and channel flow. Impact of material parameters on pertinent profiles is disclosed through graphs. Verification of computed results is done by comparing the velocity, viscosity, pressure fields for power law fluid with the Newtonian case. (C) 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.