Thermal Analysis of a Reactive Third Grade Fluid Film Flow on a Vertically Moving Heated Belt

Abstract

Grasping the thermal behavior of a reactive non-Newtonian thin film flows on a vertically upward moving heated belt is crucial for refining predictive models used in engineering applications like coating and lubrication processes. This study investigates the thermal stability of a reactive third-grade fluid thin film flow on a heated moving belt with an adiabatic free surface. It assumes an exothermic reaction based on Arrhenius kinetics, while ignoring material consumption. The coupled system of nonlinear ordinary differential equations is solved using a perturbation approach combined with a specialized Hermite–Pade´ approximation technique. The paper investigates key features of the overall flow structure, including velocity and temperature fields, thermal criticality, and bifurcations.