Abstract An analysis is performed to study the skin friction characteristics of laminar mixed forced and free convection flow of micropolar fluid about a permeable sphere with various prescribed thermal conditions on the surface. The problem was formulated by applying a suitable variables transformation and solutions were obtained by an efficient difference method. Numerical results were carried out for a wide range of mass transfer parameter as the Prandtl number at 0.7 or 7 with several values of material parameters and buoyancy force parameter of the micropolar fluid. The variations of the local friction factor and local Nusselt number are plotted and discussed. A comparison between the present solution and finite-difference solution from T.S. Chen, etc. is also shown.

The study reveals that skin friction in micropolar fluid flows around a permeable sphere can be effectively reduced by varying mass transfer parameters and material parameters.

Mixed convection of micropolar fluid about a sphere with blowing and suction

Key Takeaway: The study reveals that skin friction in micropolar fluid flows around a permeable sphere can be effectively reduced by varying mass transfer parameters and material parameters.