Natural convection boundary layer on a horizontal elliptical cylinder with constant heat flux and internal heat generation

In this paper the natural convection boundary layer on a horizontal elliptical cylinder with constant heat flux and temperature dependent internal heat generation is investigated. The mathematical problem is reduced to a pair of coupled partial differential equations for the temperature and the stream function, and the resulting nonlinear equations are solved numerically by cubic spline collocation method. Results for the local Nusselt number and the local skin-friction coefficient are presented as functions of eccentric angle for various values of heat generation parameters, Prandtl numbers and aspect ratios. An increase in the aspect ratio of the elliptical cylinder decreases the average surface temperature of the elliptical cylinder with blunt orientation, while it increases the average surface temperature of the elliptical cylinder with slender orientation. Moreover, an increase in the heat generation parameter for natural convection flow over a horizontal elliptic cylinder with constant heat flux leads to an increase in the average surface temperature of the elliptical cylinder. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.