Micropolar Fluid Dynamics and Thermal Transport Mechanisms

Micropolar fluid dynamics extends classical continuum theory by incorporating microstructure and local spin of suspended rigid particles, thereby capturing phenomena such as couple stresses and microrotation. Governing equations combine momentum, angular momentum and energy balances, often supplemented by models for non-Newtonian behaviour, thermal radiation, Brownian motion and thermophoresis. Thermal transport in these fluids depends on conduction through microelements and convection driven by both bulk flow and microstructure rotation. Mathematical treatments typically invoke similarity transformations to reduce partial differential equations to ordinary ones, enabling analytical, numerical or data-driven solutions. Applications span microfluidic cooling, polymer processing, biomedical flows and energy systems, where enhanced heat and mass transfer are essential for design optimisation and performance reliability.

Research from Nature Portfolio

Recent studies have predicted flow characteristics of micropolar liquids infused with ternary nanoparticles across stretching and shrinking surfaces under chemical reaction and thermal radiation. Employing an inverse Darcy model to describe momentum transport in porous media, researchers captured the interplay between nanoparticle shape and concentration, microstructure dynamics and surface deformation. The governing non-linear equations were transformed via similarity variables into ordinary differential equations, yielding analytical solutions in terms of incomplete gamma functions. Graphical analysis revealed how variations in skin friction, Nusselt and Sherwood numbers are sensitive to nanoparticle geometry and rate of mass transfer, offering insights for polymer sheet manufacturing processes.

Micropolar Fluid Dynamics and Thermal Transport Mechanisms publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in micropolar fluid dynamics and thermal transport mechanisms across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Micropolar fluid: A non-Newtonian fluid model accounting for embedded microelements that can undergo rotational motion.

Microrotation: The local angular velocity of microelements within a micropolar fluid, distinct from macroscopic vorticity.

Nusselt number: A dimensionless parameter quantifying the ratio of convective to conductive heat transfer at a boundary.

Slip condition: A boundary constraint where fluid velocity relative to a surface is finite, modelling rarefied or microstructural effects.

Thermophoresis: The migration of particles induced by temperature gradients, influencing heat and mass transfer in suspensions.

References

1. Heat and mass transfer of micropolar liquid flow due to porous stretching/shrinking surface with ternary nanoparticles. Scientific Reports (2023).
2. Modeling of micropolar nanofluid flow over flat surface with slip velocity and heat transfer: Exact multiple solutions. Alexandria Engineering Journal (2023).
3. Performance of Heat Transfer in Micropolar Fluid with Isothermal and Isoflux Boundary Conditions Using Supervised Neural Networks. Mathematics (2023).
4. Time-dependent squeezing bio-thermal MHD convection flow of a micropolar nanofluid between two parallel disks with multiple slip effects. Case Studies in Thermal Engineering (2022).