Power-law shear-thinning flow around a heated square bluff body under aiding buoyancy at low Reynolds numbers

Power-law shear-thinning fluid flow over a heated square bluff body is numerically investigated under aiding buoyancy mixed convection at low Reynolds numbers. Semi-explicit finite volume code is developed to solve the governing equations along with the appropriate boundary conditions. Both aiding buoyancy and shear-thinning natures are found to augment the heat transfer rate from the surface of the long square bar. In aiding buoyancy, the total drag coefficient is found to be more for the square cylinder than that of the circular cylinder, whereas the average cylinder Nusselt number for the square cylinder is found to be lower than the circular one on equal side/diameter basis. Maximum augmentation in heat transfer is found to be approximately 20% with respect to forced convection. Finally, a heat transfer correlation is established by using the Colburn heat transfer factor.