Momentum and heat transfer in laminar boundary‐layer flows of non‐Newtonian fluids past external surfaces

Abstract

A theoretical analysis for the laminar flow past arbitrary external surfaces of non‐Newtonian fluids of the power‐law model is presented. The main problem which is considered is how to predict the drag and the rate of heat transfer from an isothermal surface to the fluid. Inspectional analysis of the modified boundary‐layer equations yields a general relationship both for the drag coefficient and for the Nusselt number as functions of the generalized Reynolds and Prandtl numbers. The flow past a horizontal flat plate is studied in detail numerically.