Effects of suction or blowing on the velocity and temperature distribution in the flow past a porous flat plate of a power-law fluid

An analysis is made of the steady flow of a non-Newtonian fluid past an infinite porous flat plate subject to suction or blowing. The incompressible fluid obeys Ostwald-de Waele power-law model. It is shown that steady solutions for velocity distribution exist only for a pseudoplastic (shear-thinning) fluid for which the power-law index it satisfies 0 < n < I provided that there is suction at the plate. Velocity at a point is found to increase with increase in n. No steady solution for velocity distribution exists when there is blowing at the plate. The solution of the energy equation governing temperature distribution in the flow of a pseudoplastic fluid past an infinite porous plate subject to uniform suction reveals that temperature at a given point near the plate increases with n but further away, temperature decreases with increase in n. A novel result of the analysis is that both the skin-friction and the heat flux at the plate are independent of n. (C) 2003 Published by The Japan Society of Fluid Mechanics and Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.