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Entropy generation in the Blasius flow under thermal radiation

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Phys. Scr. 85 (2012) 035008 (6pp) doi:10.1088/0031-8949/85/03/035008

Entropy generation in the Blasius flow

under thermal radiation
Adnan Saeed Butt1 , Sufian Munawar1 , Asif Ali1 and Ahmer Mehmood2
1
Department of Mathematics, Quaid-I-Azam University 45320, Islamabad 44000, Pakistan
2
Department of Mathematics, FBAS, International Islamic University, Islamabad 44000, Pakistan
E-mail: adnansaeedbutt85@gmail.com

Received 29 September 2011

Accepted for publication 26 January 2012
Published 27 February 2012
Online at stacks.iop.org/PhysScr/85/035008

Abstract
In this work, we examine the effects of thermal radiation and viscous dissipation on entropy
generation in the Blasius flow. The governing boundary layer equations for the velocity and
temperature fields are transformed into ordinary differential equations with the help of suitable
similarity transformation and then solved numerically with the help of the shooting method.
The expressions for the volumetric entropy generation rate and the Bejan number are
calculated for thermal radiation. The effects of various physical parameters on the entropy
production number, average entropy and the Bejan number are studied through graphs using
velocity and temperature profiles. It is noticed that by increasing the thermal radiation
parameter the entropy production in a thermal system can be reduced and viscous dissipation
increases the entropy production.
PACS number: 44.20.+b

1. Introduction associated with a system can be quantified through entropy

The Blasius flow is widely recognized as the boundary layer
flow induced over a resting flat plate by a uniform free
stream. The study of moving flows over a flat plate has been
of great importance for engineers and scientists because of
its fundamental role in the fields of aerodynamics, chemical
engineering, mechanical engineering, etc. In 1908, Blasius [1]
presented a solution to the problem in the form of a power
series. Howarth [2] made computations by hand of the Blasius
flow using the Runge–Kutta numerical method to reanalyze
the problem. The problem was reinvestigated by Abussita [3]
and the validity of the solution was established. Several other
studies have been conducted on the solutions of the Blasius
flow [4–8].
The effects of thermal radiation on the boundary
layer flow are very important in processes involving high
temperatures, for example, gas turbines, nuclear power
plants, thermal energy storage, etc. For this reason, Hossain
et al [9, 10] studied the effects of thermal radiation, using the
Rosseland diffusion approximation, on free convection along
a porous vertical plate. Raptis et al [11] analysed radiative
flows in the presence of magnetic field. Cortell [12] studied
the radiation effects in a Blasius flow.
In thermodynamic analysis of flow and heat transfer
processes, one thing of core interest is to improve the thermal
systems in order to avoid energy losses and fully utilize
the energy resources. The thermodynamic irreversibility
generation in the system, which is a useful tool for predicting
the performance of engineering processes by investigating
the irreversibility arising during the processes. Entropy
generation is a measure of the destruction of the available
work of the system. Various sources such as heat transfer due
to solid boundaries and viscous dissipation are responsible
for the generation of entropy [13, 14]. Entropy generation
in flow systems was initially investigated by Bejan [15].
The author showed that the engineering design of a thermal
system could be improved through minimization of entropy
production. Sahin [16] introduced the second law analysis of
a viscous fluid in a circular duct with isothermal boundary
conditions. Yilbas et al [17] studied entropy generation in a
semi-blocked pipe including the swirling effect. Arpaci [18]
studied the entropy production due to radiation. The effect of
viscous dissipation on the entropy generation due to natural
convection from a heated horizontal isothermal cylinder in
oil has been investigated by Abu–Hijleh et al [19]. Mahmud
and Fraser [20, 21] applied the second law analysis to basic
convective heat transfer problems in non-Newtonian fluid
flow through a channel made of two parallel plates. Al-Odat
et al [22] studied the effect of magnetic field on the entropy
generation due to laminar forced convection past a horizontal
flat plate.
In this paper, the effect of thermal radiation on entropy
generation in the Blasius flow is investigated. This study
can be useful in analysing the processes involving high

0031-8949/12/035008+06$33.00 Printed in the UK & the USA 1 © 2012 The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
Phys. Scr. 85 (2012) 035008 A S Butt et al

temperatures where the contribution of thermal radiation Introducing this in equation (3), we obtain the following
is of vital importance, for example, cooling systems for energy equation:
electronic devices, the cooling of nuclear reactors, thermal  2
∂T ∂T ∂ T
3  2
ν ∂u

heat exchangers, etc. The information obtained can be 16σ1 T∞
u +v = α+ + , (9)
employed to design thermal systems with reduced sources of ∂x ∂y 3ρcp k1 ∂ y 2 ρcp ∂ y
irreversibilities. A numerical technique known as the shooting
method is used to obtain the solution, and graphs are plotted where α = ρck p is the thermal diffusivity. It can be seen from
for the entropy generation number, averaged entropy and equation (9) that the presence of radiation enhances the
the Bejan number for different values of various parameters. thermal diffusivity.
A brief discussion of the solution and graphs and the We introduce the following similarity transformations to
conclusions are presented. normalize equations (1)–(5):
r r
1 U∞ U∞
2. Mathematical formulation of the problem u = U∞ f (η), v =
0
(η f − f ), η = y
0
.
2 νx νx
(10)
For the classical Blasius flat-plate flow problem, the governing Substituting (10) into (2), we have
equations of motion for the flow and heat transfer in the
presence of thermal radiation and viscous dissipation can be 1 00
f 000 + f f = 0. (11)
summarized by the following boundary value problem: 2
The corresponding boundary conditions become
∂u ∂v
+ = 0, (1)
∂x ∂y f = 0, f0 =0 at η = 0,
(12)
∂u ∂u ∂ u 2 0
f →1 at η → ∞.
+v
u =ν 2, (2)
∂x ∂y ∂y
 2 For the prescribed surface temperature, we introduce the
∂T ∂T k ∂ T
2
ν ∂u 1 ∂qr
u +v = + − , (3) dimensionless temperature θ (η)
∂x ∂y ρcp ∂ y 2 ρcp ∂ y ρcp ∂ y
T − Tw
subject to the boundary data θ (η) = . (13)
T∞ − Tw
u=v=0 at y = 0, Using the above transformation, equation (9) and the
(4)
u → U∞ as y → ∞, boundary conditions (5) can be written as
T = Tw at y = 0,
   
1 3NR 3NR
(5) θ 00 + Pr f θ 0 + Pr Ec f 002 = 0 (14)
T = T∞ as y → ∞, 2 3NR + 4 3NR + 4

where u and v are the velocity components along the flow and
direction (x-axis) and normal to the flow direction (y-axis),
θ = 1, at η = 0,
respectively. ν is the kinematic viscosity, k the thermal (15)
conductivity, cp the specific heat of the fluid at a constant θ → 0, as η → ∞,
pressure, ρ the density, qr the radiative heat flux, Tw the µcp U∞
temperature of the wall, T∞ the temperature of the ambient where Pr = k
is the Prandtl number, Ec = cp (Tw −T∞ )
is the
fluid and U∞ is the constant free stream velocity. Using the kk1
Eckerd number and NR = 3
4σ1 T∞
is the radiation parameter.
Rosseland approximation for radiation [11], the radiative heat
flux can be simplified as
2.1. Entropy generation equation
4σ1 ∂ T 4 The local volumetric rate of entropy generation SG for a
qr = − , (6)
3k1 ∂ y viscous fluid in the presence of thermal radiation is defined
where σ1 and k1 are the Stefan–Boltzmann constant and the as [18]
mean absorption coefficient, respectively. It is assumed that
" #
∂ T 2 16σ1 T∞ 3 
∂T 2 µ ∂u 2
  
k
the temperature differences within the flow are sufficiently SG = 2 + + .
T∞ ∂y 3k1 ∂y T∞ ∂ y
small such that the term T 4 can be expressed as a linear
function of temperature. This is accomplished by expanding (16)
T 4 in a Taylor series about the free stream temperature T∞ Clearly, equation (16) shows the contribution of the three
and neglecting higher-order terms. These computations lead main sources of entropy production. The first term on the
to the following approximation: right-hand side is the entropy generation due to heat transfer,
the second term is the local entropy generation due to thermal
T 4 = 4T∞
3 4
T − 3T∞ . (7) radiation, whereas the third term is the entropy generation due
to the fluid friction. It is appropriate to define a dimensionless
Using equations (6) and (7) in the last term of equation (3), number N s for the entropy generation as
we obtain
∂qr 3 2
∂ T
  
16σ1 T∞ SG 1 4 Pr Ec 002
=− . (8) Ns = = 1+ θ +
02
f , (17)
∂y 3k1 ∂ y 2 SG0 Re x 3NR 

2
Phys. Scr. 85 (2012) 035008
Figure 1. Effect of the radiation parameter on the local entropy
generation number.
Figure 2. Effect of the Prandtl number on the local entropy
generation number.
k(T −T )U 2
where SG0 = wT 2 ν∞2 ∞ ,  = TwT−T ∞
∞
and Re x = U∞ν x are
∞
the characteristic entropy generation rate, the dimensionless
temperature difference and the local Reynolds number,
respectively. From the above expression for the entropy
generation number, the averaged entropy generation number
can be evaluated using the following integral formula:
Z generation number, the averaged entropy generation number
1 and the Bejan number are plotted in figures 1–10. A detailed
[N s]avg = N s d∀, (18)
∀ ∀
where ∀ is the length of the boundary layer region. Another
imperative irreversibility parameter is the Bejan number Be,
which is the ratio of entropy generation due to heat transfer to
the entropy generation:
Entropy generation due to heat transfer
Be = . (19)
Total entropy generation
When Be  0.5, the irreversibility due to heat transfer
dominates, whereas when Be  0.5 the irreversibility due to
the viscous effect dominates. When Be = 0.5, heat transfer
and fluid friction entropy generation are equal.
3. Results and discussion
The nonlinear ordinary differential equations (11) and (14)
along with boundary conditions (12) and (15) are solved
3
A S Butt et al
Figure 3. Effect of the Eckert number on the local entropy
generation number.
Figure 4. Effect of  on the local entropy generation number.
numerically using the shooting method with the help of the
symbolic software Mathematica by keeping the accuracy goal
equal to 10−20 . The semi-infinite domain is truncated at
a suitable distance where the effects of both the types of
boundary layers are negligible. To see the physical effects
of different parameters involved in the governing equations
on the entropy production, graphs of the local entropy
discussion of the graphical results is given in the following
subsections.
3.1. Entropy generation analysis
Figure 1 depicts the effects of the radiation parameter NR
on the local entropy generation number. It is observed that
by increasing the radiation parameter, entropy generation
decreases. This behaviour of entropy generation is only due
to the increase of the absorption rate of radiation. Hence,
for large values of NR , the entropy generation rate is small.
Therefore, it is the best way of increasing the thermal radiation
parameter in order to reduce entropy production. Also it is
noticed that for a particular value of NR , the local entropy
generation number is maximum at the plate surface. This
shows that the surface of the plate is a major source of
entropy generation as the heat transfer and fluid friction are
more prominent at the surface and in the region close to
Phys. Scr. 85 (2012) 035008
Figure 5. Effect of the radiation parameter on the average entropy
generation number.
Figure 6. Effect of the Eckert number on the average entropy
generation number.
Figure 7. Effect of the radiation parameter on the Bejan number.
it. The entropy generation number decreases as one moves
in the downstream direction and approaches zero where the
effects of the boundary layer are negligible. The effect of the
Prandtl number Pr on N s is shown in figure 2, which shows
that an increase in Pr results in an increase of the entropy
generation rate near the surface. However, as one moves away
from the surface, an inverse behaviour is observed in entropy
generation. Hence the entropy generation rate is small for the
fluid having a low Prandtl number. Figure 3 presents the effect
of the Eckerd number Ec on the local entropy generation
4
A S Butt et al
Figure 8. Effect of the Prandtl number on the Bejan number.
Figure 9. Effect of the Eckert number on the Bejan number.
Figure 10. Effect of the dimensionless temperature difference on
the Bejan number.
number and it is seen from this that entropy generation
increases with increasing Ec. Therefore, it is concluded that
the loss of worthless energy can be reduced by controlling
the penetration of viscous dissipation. The variation of the
entropy generation number with respect to the dimensionless
temperature difference  is shown in figure 4. The value of
N s decreases with an increase in the value of , which is due
to the diminishing of the difference between the temperature
of the surface and of the ambient fluid.
Figure 5 shows the variation of the averaged entropy
generation number [N s]avg against the Prandtl number Pr
Phys. Scr. 85 (2012) 035008
for different values of the radiation parameter. The reason
for choosing the Prandtl number as the varying parameter is
its practical importance and strong contribution to entropy
generation. For a particular value of NR , it is noticed that
the average entropy is an increasing function of Pr . So the
irreversibility effect increases as the Prandtl number increases.
Moreover, for a fixed Pr the average entropy decreases
as the radiation parameter increases. Figure 6 presents the
effects of the Eckert number Ec on the averaged entropy
generation number [N s]avg plotted against the Prandtl number.
The averaged entropy generation increases with an increase in
the Eckert number.
3.2. Fluid friction versus heat transfer irreversibility
The local entropy generation number N s is a good tool for
generating the spatial entropy profile, but fails to give any
idea of whether the fluid friction irreversibility dominates
or the heat transfer. For this purpose, usually the Bejan
number Be is examined by plotting its expression given
in equation (19). In figure 7, the effects of the radiation
parameter NR on the Bejan number are presented. With an
increase in the radiation parameter NR , the fluid friction
irreversibility becomes dominant near the surface of the
plate because of high absorption rate. However, heat transfer
irreversibility increases as one moves away from the surface.
It is observed that the effects of heat transfer irreversibility
are immense and continue to increase far away in the flow
regime due to the presence of thermal radiation. Figure 8
shows the effects of the variation of Pr on the Bejan number.
It is seen that irreversibility due to fluid friction is dominant
within the boundary layer region and irreversibility effects
due to heat transfer rate dominate in the free stream region.
Figure 9 demonstrates the effects of the Eckert number Ec
on Be. As the value of Ec increases, the irreversibility due
to fluid friction becomes strong in the boundary layer region.
The Bejan number for various values of the dimensionless
temperature difference  is plotted in figure 10. From
the figure, it is observed that heat transfer irreversibility
dominates as  increases. The overall behaviour of the Bejan
number in the spatial domain illustrates that near the plate heat
transfer irreversibility has a strong effect, then away from the
plate fluid friction irreversibility becomes strong and in the
ambient fluid heat transfer irreversibility dominates.
3.3. Minimization of entropy generation
From an engineering point of view, the main purpose of
entropy generation analysis of complex thermal systems is
to identify the methods of minimizing the irreversibility
associated with different physical parameters in order to
obtain the optimized range of parameters. This enables
engineers to design thermal systems with small energy losses,
and thus minimizing the entropy generation helps maintain the
maximum available energy for use. From the above entropy
analysis, it is observed that by controlling certain physical
parameters, the optimal design and efficient performance of
engineering systems can be enhanced. It is clear from figures 1
and 5 that the production of entropy can be minimized by
choosing a high radiation parameter. Hence the high value
of the thermal radiation parameter prevents the loss of useful
5
A S Butt et al
energy. Moreover, from figures 2, 5 and 6 it is quite obvious
that the small Prandtl number is associated with small entropy.
Therefore, to minimize entropy production in a thermal
system, fluids with small Pr are recommended. It is also
observed that the large Eckert number corresponds to large
entropy production. Hence to avoid this deficiency, one should
use fluids that have small viscous forces or develop methods
in which fluid friction effects can be reduced.
4. Conclusions
In the present study, the effects of thermal radiation and
viscous dissipation on entropy generation in the Blasius flow
are investigated. The influence of these parameters on the
entropy generation number and Bejan number is discussed. It
is observed that there is an increase in the entropy generation
number N s with increasing Prandtl number Pr and Eckert
number Ec. On the other hand, the effects of the radiation
parameter NR on N s are decreasing. It is worth noting that
near the surface and in the region close to it, the irreversibility
effects due to fluid friction are significant; however, the
irreversibility due to heat transfer becomes dominant in the
main stream region. From the analysis made above, it is
also observed that by choosing appropriate values of physical
parameters, entropy generation can be minimized.
Acknowledgment
We are grateful to an anonymous reviewer for expert
comments and suggestions for improving the discussion part
of this paper.
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