Slow power law fluid flow relative to an array of infinite cylinders

Abstract

The creeping flow of incompressible power law fluids past arrays of infinite cylinders has been investigated theoretically. The intercylinder interactions have been modeled using a free surface cell model. While, for the parallel flow, the momentum equation has been integrated numerically to obtain the estimates of drag coefficient for the assemblage, the well-known variational principles have been used to analyze the cross-flow configuration. The resulting upper and lower bounds on drag coefficient are very close to each other under most conditions of practical interest. preliminary comparisons with the scant data available in the literature are satisfactory.