Numerical Solution of Biomagnetic Power-Law Fluid Flow and Heat Transfer in a Channel

Abstract

The effect of non-Newtonian biomagnetic power-law fluid in a channel undergoing external localised magnetic fields is investigated. The governing equations are derived by considering both effects of Ferrohydrodynamics (FHD) and Magnetohydrodynamics (MHD). These governing equations are difficult to solve due to the inclusion of source term from magnetic equation and the nonlinearity of the power-law model. Numerical scheme of Constrained Interpolation Profile (CIP) is developed to solve the governing equations numerically. Extensive results carried out show that this method is efficient on studying the biomagnetic and non-Newtonian power-law flow. New results show that the inclusion of power-law model affects the vortex formation, skin friction and heat transfer parameter significantly. Regardless of the power-law index, the vortex formation length increases when Magnetic number increases. The effect of this vortex however decreases with the inclusion of power-law where in the shear thinning case, the arising vortex is more pronounced than in the shear thickening case. Furthermore, increasing of power-law index from shear thinning to shear thickening, decreases the wall shear stress and heat transfer parameters. However for high Magnetic number, the wall shear stress and heat transfer parameters increase especially near the location of the magnetic source. The results can be used as a guide on assessing the potential effects of radiofrequency fields (RF) from electromagnetic fields (EMF) exposure on blood vessel.