Abstract
The effects of both fluid leakage and wall slip conditions are studied analytically and numerically oil the fluctuation rate ill the flow inside non-isothermal disturbed thin films supported by soft seals within a fluidic cell. Flow disturbances due to internal pressure pulsations and external squeezing are considered in this work. The main controlling parameters are found to be the dimensionless leakage parameter, softness of the seal, squeezing number, dimensionless slip parameter, the thermal squeezing parameter and the power law index. Accordingly, their influences on the fluctuation rate and heat transfer characteristics inside disturbed thin films are determined and discussed. It is found that an increase in the dimensionless leakage parameter, softness of the seal-upper plate assembly and the wall slip parameter result in more cooling and an increase in the fluctuation level in the flow. However, an increase in the squeezing number and the fluid power index decrease flow fluctuations. Finally, a suggested design to alleviate a number of problems in fluidic cells is presented. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.