Second law analysis of MHD natural convection slip flow of Casson fluid through an inclined microchannel

Abstract

PurposeMicrofluidics is one of the interesting areas of the research in thermal and engineering fields due to its wide range of applications in a variety of heat transport problems such as micromixers, micropumps, cooling systems for microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) micro heat exchangers, etc. Lower cost with better thermal performance is the main objective of these devices. Therefore, in this study, the entropy generation in an electrically conducting Casson fluid flow through an inclined microchannel with hydraulic slip and the convective condition hves been numerically investigated. Aspects of viscous dissipation, natural convection, joule heating, magnetic field and uniform heat source/sink are usedDesign/methodology/approachSuitable non-dimensional variables are used to reduce the non-linear system of ordinary differential equations, and then this system is solved numerically using Runge-Kutta-Fehlberg fourth fifth order method along with shooting technique. The obtained numerical solutions of the fluid velocity and temperature are used to characterize the entropy generation and Bejan number. Also, the Nusselt number and skin friction coefficient for various values of parameters are examined in detail through graphs. The obtained present results are compared with the existing one which is perfectly found to be in good agreement.FindingsIt is established that the production of the entropy can be improved with the aspects of joule heating, viscous dissipation and internal heat source/sink. The entropy generation enhances for increasing values of Casson Parameter (β) and Biot number (Bi). Furthermore, it is interestingly noticed that the enhancement of Reynolds number and uniform heat source/sink shows the dual behaviour of the entropy generation due to significant influence of the viscous forces in the region close to the channel walls. It was observed that increasing behaviour of the heat transfer rate for enhancement values of the Eckert number and heat source/sink ratio parameter and the drag force are retarded with higher estimations of Reynolds number.Originality/valueEntropy generation analysis on MHD Casson fluid flow through an inclined microchannel with the aspects of convective, Joule heating, viscous dissipation, magnetism, hydraulic slip and internal heat source/sink has been numerically investigated.