Abstract
Background: Non-newtonian fluids, especially shear thinning fluids, have several applications in the polymer industry, food industry, and even everyday life. The viscosity of shear thinning fluids is decreased by two or three orders of magnitude due to the alignment of the molecules in order when the shear rate is increased, and it cannot be ignored in the case of polymer processing and lubrication problems. Objective: So, the effects of viscosities at the low and high shear rates on the heat and mass boundary layer flow of shear thinning fluid over moving belts are investigated in this study. For this purpose the generalized Carreau model of viscosity relate to shear rate is used in the momentum equation. The Carreau model contains the five parameters: low shear rate viscosity, high shear rate viscosity, viscosity curvature, consistency index, and flow behavior index. For the heat flow, the expression of the thermal conductivity model similar to the viscosity equation due to the non-Newtonian nature of the fluid is used in the energy equation. Methods: On the mathematical model of the problem, boundary layer approximations are applied and then simplified by applying the similarity transformations to get the solution. The solution of the simplified equations is obtained by numerical technique RK-shooting method. The results are compared with existing results for limited cases and found good agreement. Results: The results in the form of velocity and temperature profiles under the impact of all the viscosity's parameters are obtained and displayed in graphical form. Moreover, the boundary layer parameters such as the thickness of the regions, momentum thickness, and displacement thickness are calculated to understand the structure of the boundary layer flow of fluid. Conclusion: The velocity and temperature of the fluid are decreased and increased respectively by all viscosity's parameters of the model. So, the results of the boundary layer fluid flow under rheological parameters will not only help engineers to design superior chemical equipment but also help improve the economy and efficiency of the overall process.