Flow and heat transfer of nanofluid past stretching/shrinking sheet with partial slip boundary conditions

The boundary layer flow of a nanofluid past a stretching/shrinking sheet with hydrodynamic and thermal slip boundary conditions is studied. Numerical solutions to the governing equations are obtained using a shooting method. The results are found for the skin friction coefficient, the local Nusselt number, and the local Sherwood number as well as the velocity, temperature, and concentration profiles for some values of the velocity slip parameter, thermal slip parameter, stretching/shrinking parameter, thermophoresis parameter, and Brownian motion parameter. The results show that the local Nusselt number, which represents the heat transfer rate, is lower for higher values of thermal slip parameter, thermophoresis parameter, and Brownian motion parameter.     

Radiative heat transfer in a hydromagnetic nanofluid past a non-linear stretching surface with convective boundary condition

Heat transfer characteristics of a two-dimensional steady hydromagnetic natural convection flow of nanofluids over a non-linear stretching sheet taking into account the effects of radiation and convective boundary condition has been investigated numerically. The model used for the nanofluid incorporates the effects of Brownian motion and thermophoresis. The local similarity solutions are obtained by using very robust computer algebra software Maple 13. The results corresponding to the dimensionless temperature profiles and the reduced Nusselt number, Sherwood number and skin friction coefficient are displayed graphically for various pertinent parameters. The results show that temperature within the boundary layer is enhanced with the increase of the Biot number, buoyancy due to nanoparticle concentration, strength of the applied magnetic field, Brownian motion parameter, and thermophoresis parameter. An opposite trend is observed for the increase of the buoyancy due to temperature, stretching index, and the radiation parameter. The results also show that the local rate of heat transfer strongly depends on the nonlinear stretching index, radiation parameter, Biot number, Brownian motion parameter, and thermophoresis parameter.     

Homotopy simulation of nanofluid dynamics from a non-linearly stretching isothermal permeable sheet with transpiration

In this article we derive semi-analytical/numerical solutions for transport phenomena (momentum, heat and mass transfer) in a nanofluid regime adjacent to a nonlinearly porous stretching sheet by means of the Homotopy analysis method (HAM). The governing equations are reduced to a nonlinear, coupled, non-similar, ordinary differential equation system via appropriate similarity transformations. This system is solved under physically realistic boundary conditions to compute stream function, velocity, temperature and concentration function distributions. The results of the present study are compared with numerical quadrature solutions employing a shooting technique with excellent correlation. Furthermore the current HAM solutions demonstrate very good correlation with the non-transpiring finite element solutions of Rana and Bhargava (Commun. Nonlinear Sci. Numer. Simul. 17:212–226, 2012). The influence of stretching parameter, transpiration (wall suction/injection) Prandtl number, Brownian motion parameter, thermophoresis parameter and Lewis number on velocity, temperature and concentration functions is illustrated graphically. Transpiration is shown to exert a substantial influence on flow characteristics. Applications of the study include industrial nanotechnological fabrication processes.     

Magnetohydrodynamic and heat transfer effects on the stagnation-point flow of an electrically conducting nanofluid past a porous vertical shrinking/stretching sheet in the presence of variable stream conditions

A steady two-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic stagnation-point flow of an electrically conducting fluid and heat transfer with thermal radiation of a nanofluid past a shrinking and stretching sheet is investigated numerically. The model used for the nanofluid incorporates the effects of the Brownian motion and thermophoresis. A similarity transformation is used to convert the governing nonlinear boundary-layer equations into coupled higher-order nonlinear ordinary differential equations. The result shows that the velocity, temperature, and concentration profiles are significantly influenced by the Brownian motion, heat radiation, and thermophoresis particle deposition.     

Active and passive controls of nanoparticles in Maxwell stagnation point flow over a slipped stretched surface

A steady stagnation-point flow of an incompressible Maxwell fluid towards a linearly stretching sheet with active and passive controls of nanoparticles is studied numerically. The momentum equation of the Maxwell nanofluid is inserted with an external velocity term as a result of the flow approaches the stagnation point. Conventional energy equation is modified by incorporation of nanofluid Brownian and thermophoresis effects. The condition of zero normal flux of nanoparticles at the stretching surface is defined to impulse the particles away from the surface in combination with nonzero normal flux condition. A hydrodynamic slip velocity is also added to the initial condition as a component of the entrenched stretching velocity. The governing partial differential equations are then reduced into a system of ordinary differential equations by using similarity transformation. A classical shooting method is applied to solve the nonlinear coupled differential equations. The velocity, temperature and nanoparticle volume fraction profiles together with the reduced skin friction coefficient, Nusselt number and Sherwood number are graphically presented to visualize the effects of particular parameters. Temperature distributions in passive control model are consistently lower than in the active control model. The magnitude of the reduced skin friction coefficient, Nusselt number and Sherwood number decrease as the hydrodynamic slip parameter increases while the Brownian parameter has negligible effect on the reduced heat transfer rate when nanoparticles are passively controlled at the surface. It is also found that the stagnation parameter contributes better heat transfer performance of the nanofluid under both active and passive controls of normal mass flux.     

Transient natural convection flow of a nanofluid over a vertical cylinder

An analysis is performed to study unsteady free convective boundary layer flow of a nanofluid over a vertical cylinder. The model used for the nanofluid incorporates the effects of Brownian motion and thermophoresis. The governing equations are formulated and a numerical solution is obtained by using an explicit finite-difference scheme of the Crank-Nicolson type. The solutions at each time step have been found to reach the steady state solution properly. Numerical results for the steady-state velocity, temperature and nanoparticles volume fraction profiles as well as the axial distributions and the time histories of the skin-friction coefficient, Nusselt number and the Sherwood number are presented graphically and discussed.     

Flow of Casson fluid with nanoparticles

The boundary layer flow of a Casson fluid due to a stretching cylinder is discussed in the presence of nanoparticles and thermal radiation. All physical properties of the Casson fluid except the thermal conductivity are taken constant. Appropriate transformations yield the nonlinear ordinary differential systems. Convergent series solutions are developed and analyzed. The numerical results for the local Nusselt and Sherwood numbers are demonstrated. It is found that an increase in the strength of the Brownian motion decays the temperature noticeably. However, the rate of heat transfer and the concentration of the nanoparticles at the surface increase for larger Brownian motion parameters.     

Influence of induced magnetic field on the peristaltic flow of nanofluid

This article investigates the effects of an induced magnetic field on the mixed convection peristaltic motion of nanofluid in a vertical channel. Transport equations involve the combined effects of Brownian motion and thermophoretic diffusion of nanoparticles. Analysis has been addressed subject to long wavelength and low Reynolds number assumptions. Explicit expressions of stream function, magnetic force function, temperature and nanoparticles concentration are developed. Analytic expressions are validated with the obtained numerical solutions. Peristaltic pumping rate is found to increase upon increasing the strengths of electric and magnetic fields and the buoyancy force due to temperature gradient. Moreover temperature rises and nanoparticles concentration decreases with an intensification in the Brownian motion effect.     

Thermophoresis and Brownian motion effects on boundary layer flow of nanofluid in presence of thermal stratification due to solar energy

The problem of laminar fluid flow,which results from the stretching of a vertical surface with variable stream conditions in a nanofluid due to solar energy,is investigated numerically.The model used for the nanofluid incorporates the effects of the Brownian motion and thermophoresis in the presence of thermal stratification.The symmetry groups admitted by the corresponding boundary value problem are obtained by using a special form of Lie group transformations,namely,the scaling group of transformations.An exact solution is obtained for the translation symmetrys,and the numerical solutions are obtained for the scaling symmetry.This solution depends on the Lewis number,the Brownian motion parameter,the thermal stratification parameter,and the thermophoretic parameter.The conclusion is drawn that the flow field,the temperature,and the nanoparticle volume fraction profiles are significantly influenced by these parameters.Nanofluids have been shown to increase the thermal conductivity and convective heat transfer performance of base liquids.Nanoparticles in the base fluids also offer the potential in improving the radiative properties of the liquids,leading to an increase in the efficiency of direct absorption solar collectors.     

Nanofluid bioconvection: interaction of microorganisms oxytactic upswimming, nanoparticle distribution, and heating/cooling from below

The aim of this paper is to develop a theory describing the onset of convection instability (called here nanofluid bioconvecion) that is induced by simultaneous effects produced by oxytactic microorganisms, nanoparticles, and vertical temperature variation. The theory is developed for the situation when the nanofluid occupies a shallow horizontal layer of finite depth. The layer is defined as shallow as long as oxygen concentration at the bottom of the layer is above the minimum concentration required for the bacteria to be active (to actively swim up the oxygen gradient). The lower boundary of the layer is assumed rigid, while at the upper boundary both situations when the boundary is rigid or stress free are considered. Physical mechanisms responsible for the slip velocity between the nanoparticles and the base fluid, such as Brownian motion and thermophoresis, are accounted for in the model. A linear instability analysis is performed, and the resulting eigenvalue problem is solved analytically using the Galerkin method.     

Transient flow of magnetized Maxwell nanofluid: Buongiorno model perspective of Cattaneo-Christov theory

The present research article is devoted to studying the characteristics of Cattaneo-Christov heat and mass fluxes in the Maxwell nanofluid flow caused by a stretching sheet with the magnetic field properties. The Maxwell nanofluid is investigated with the impact of the Lorentz force to examine the consequence of a magnetic field on the flow characteristics and the transport of energy. The heat and mass transport mechanisms in the current physical model are analyzed with the modified versions of Fourier’s and Fick’s laws, respectively. Additionally, the well-known Buongiorno model for the nanofluids is first introduced together with the Cattaneo-Christov heat and mass fluxes during the transient motion of the Maxwell fluid. The governing partial differential equations (PDEs) for the flow and energy transport phenomena are obtained by using the Maxwell model and the Cattaneo-Christov theory in addition to the laws of conservation. Appropriate transformations are used to convert the PDEs into a system of nonlinear ordinary differential equations (ODEs). The homotopic solution methodology is applied to the nonlinear differential system for an analytic solution. The results for the time relaxation parameter in the flow, thermal energy, and mass transport equations are discussed graphically. It is noted that higher values of the thermal and solutal relaxation time parameters in the Cattaneo-Christov heat and mass fluxes decline the thermal and concentration fields of the nanofluid. Further, larger values of the thermophoretic force enhance the heat and mass transport in the nanoliquid. Moreover, the Brownian motion of the nanoparticles declines the concentration field and increases the temperature field. The validation of the results is assured with the help of numerical tabular data for the surface velocity gradient.     

Stratified magnetohydrodynamic flow of tangent hyperbolic nanofluid induced by inclined sheet

This paper studies stratified magnetohydrodynamic(MHD) flow of tangent hyperbolic nanofluid past an inclined exponentially stretching surface. The flow is subjected to velocity, thermal, and solutal boundary conditions. The partial differential systems are reduced to ordinary differential systems using appropriate transformations.The reduced systems are solved for convergent series solutions. The velocity, temperature,and concentration fields are discussed for different physical parameters. The results indicate that the temperature and the thermal boundary layer thickness increase noticeably for large values of Brownian motion and thermophoresis effects. It is also observed that the buoyancy parameter strengthens the velocity field, showing a decreasing behavior of temperature and nanoparticle volume fraction profiles.     

Modeling natural convection boundary layer flow of micropolar nanofluid over vertical permeable cone with variable wall temperature

This paper discusses the natural convection boundary layer flow of a micropolar nanofluid over a vertical permeable cone with variable wall temperatures. Non-similar solutions are obtained. The nonlinearly coupled differential equations under the boundary layer approximations governing the flow are solved numerically using an efficient, iterative, tri-diagonal, implicit finite difference method. Different experimental correlations for both nanofluid effective viscosity and nanofluid thermal conductivity are considered.It is found that as the vortex-viscosity parameter increases, both the velocity profiles and the local Nusselt number decrease. Also, among all the nanoparticles considered in this investigation, Cu gives a good convection.     

Effect of Thermal Modulation on the Onset of Convection in a Porous Medium Layer Saturated by a Nanofluid

The effect of time-periodic temperature modulation at the onset of convection in a Boussinesq porous medium saturated by a nanofluid is studied analytically. The model used for the nanofluid incorporates the effects of Brownian motion. Three types of boundary temperature modulations are considered namely, symmetric, asymmetric, and only the lower wall temperature is modulated while the upper wall is held at constant temperature. The perturbation method is applied for computing the critical Rayleigh and wave numbers for small amplitude temperature modulation. The shift in the critical Rayleigh number is calculated as a function of frequency of modulation, concentration Rayleigh number, porosity, Lewis number, and thermal capacity ratio. It has been shown that it is possible to advance or delay the onset of convection by time-periodic modulation of the wall temperature. The nanofluid is found to have more stabilizing effect when compared to regular fluid. Low frequency is destabilizing, while high frequency is always stabilizing for symmetric modulation. Asymmetric modulation and only lower wall temperature modulation is stabilizing for all frequencies when concentration Rayleigh number is greater than one.     

Dual solutions of time-dependent magnetohydrodynamic stagnation point boundary layer micropolar nanofluid flow over shrinking/stretching surface

Time-dependent, two-dimensional(2 D) magnetohydrodynamic(MHD)micropolar nanomaterial flow over a shrinking/stretching surface near the stagnant point is considered. Mass and heat transfer characteristics are incorporated in the problem. A model of the partial differential expressions is altered into the forms of the ordinary differential equations via similarity transformations. The obtained equations are numerically solved by a shooting scheme in the MAPLE software. Dual solutions are observed at different values of the specified physical parameters. The stability of first and second solutions is examined through the stability analysis process. This analysis interprets that the first solution is stabilized and physically feasible while the second one is un-stable and not feasible. Furthermore, the natures of various physical factors on the drag force, skin-friction factor, and rate of mass and heat transfer are determined and interpreted. The micropolar nanofluid velocity declines with a rise in the suction and magnetic parameters, whereas it increases by increasing the unsteadiness parameter.The temperature of the micropolar nanofluid rises with increase in the Brownian motion,radiation, thermophoresis, unsteady and magnetic parameters, but it decreases against an increment in the thermal slip constraint and Prandtl number. The concentration of nanoparticles reduces against the augmented Schmidt number and Brownian movement values but rises for incremented thermophoresis parameter values.     

Analytical considerations of flow/thermal coupling of nanofluids in foam metals with local thermal non-equilibrium (LTNE) phenomena and inhomogeneous nanoparticle distribution

Foam metals with micro pores own excellent thermal performance, however, poor heat conductive ability of most heat-transfer fluids restricts further heat transfer improvement. Combination of foam metal and nanofluid with highly conductive nanoparticles is a promising solution. Convective thermal characteristics of nanofluids in porous foams are theoretically investigated in this work. Effects of Brownian motion and thermophoretic diffusion of nanoparticles in the base fluid on thermal performance are considered. The nanoparticle and the base-fluid are considered to be in thermal equilibrium and the temperature difference between the nanofluid and foam ligaments is especially considered. Compared with the base-fluid flow in a duct, the velocity distribution for the nanofluid flow in a porous foam is more uniform with a decreased dimensionless temperature. The pressure drop of the nanofluid increases with an increase in the concentration of the nanoparticles. By employing foam metals and nanofluid, the cross-sectional temperature becomes closer to the wall temperature. Simultaneously, notable difference between solid and fluid temperatures can be observed, revealing the LTNE effect of the nanofluid on the porous foam. It is found that the Nusselt number first increases and then decreases with an increase in nanoparticle concentration. Furthermore, the Nusselt number decreases with an increase in the foam porosity. It is found that the thermal performance of a nanofluid in a plain tube is different from that in the foam metals.     

Integral treatment for forced convection heat and mass transfer of nanofluids over linear stretching sheet

An integral treatment is proposed for the analysis of the forced convection flow of a nanofluid over a stretching sheet.The obtained results agree well with the numerical results.The results of the presented solution provide an analytic solution,which can be conveniently used in engineering applications.Four types of nanoparticles,i.e.,alumina（Al₂O₃）,silicon dioxide（SiO₂）,silver（Ag）,and copper（Cu）,dispersed in the base fluid of water are examined.The analytical results show that an increase in the volume fraction of nanoparticles increases the thickness of the thermal boundary layer.The reduced Nusselt number is a decreasing function of the volume fraction of nanoparticles.     

Numerical solutions to heat transfer of nanofluid flow over stretching sheet subjected to variations of nanoparticle volume fraction and wall temperature

The numerical analysis of heat transfer of laminar nanofluid flow over a fiat stretching sheet is presented. Two sets of boundary conditions （BCs） axe analyzed, i.e., a constant （Case 1） and a linear streamwise variation of nanopaxticle volume fraction and wall temperature （Case 2）. The governing equations and BCs axe reduced to a set of nonlinear ordinary differential equations （ODEs） and the corresponding BCs, respectively. The dependencies of solutions on Prandtl number Pr, Lewis number Le, Brownian motion number Nb, and thermophoresis number Nt are studied in detail. The results show that the reduced Nusselt number and the reduced Sherwood number increase for the BCs of Case 2 compared with Case 1. The increases of Nb, Nt, and Le numbers cause a decrease of the reduced Nusselt number, while the reduced Sherwood number increases with the increase of Nb and Le numbers. For low Prandtl numbers, an increase of Nt number can cause to decrease in the reduced Sherwood number, while it increases for high Prandtl numbers.     

Dual solutions of a mixed convection flow near the stagnation point region over an exponentially stretching/shrinking sheet in nanofluids

The aim of this paper is to study the development of mixed convection flow near the stagnation point region over an exponentially stretching/shrinking sheet in nanofluids. The external flow, stretching velocity and wall temperature are assumed to vary as prescribed exponential functions. Using the local similarity method, it has been shown that dual solutions of velocity and temperature exist for certain values of suction/injection, mixed convection, nanoparticle volume fraction and stretching/shrinking parameters. The transformed non-linear ordinary differential equations along with the boundary conditions form a two point boundary value problem and are solved using Shooting method, by converting into an initial value problem. In this method, the system of equations is converted into a set of first order system which is solved by fourth-order Runge–Kutta method. Three different types of nanoparticles, namely copper (Cu), aluminum oxide (Al₂O₃) and titanium oxide (TiO₂) are considered by using water-based fluid with Prandtl number Pr = 6.2. It is also found that the skin friction coefficient and the heat transfer rate at the surface are highest for Copper–water nanofluids as compared to Al₂O₃. The effect of the solid volume fraction parameter φ of the nanofluids on the heat transfer characteristics is also investigated. The results indicate that dual solutions exist only for shrinking sheet. The effects of various parameters on the velocity and temperature profiles are also presented here.     

Thermal Instability in a Porous Medium Layer Saturated by a Nanofluid: Brinkman Model

The onset of convection in a horizontal layer of a porous medium saturated by a nanofluid is studied analytically. The model used for the nanofluid incorporates the effects of Brownian motion and thermophoresis. For the porous medium, the Brinkman model is employed. Three cases of free–free, rigid–rigid, and rigid–free boundaries are considered. The analysis reveals that for a typical nanofluid (with large Lewis number), the prime effect of the nanofluids is via a buoyancy effect coupled with the conservation of nanoparticles, whereas the contribution of nanoparticles to the thermal energy equation is a second-order effect. It is found that the critical thermal Rayleigh number can be reduced or increased by a substantial amount, depending on whether the basic nanoparticle distribution is top-heavy or bottom-heavy, by the presence of the nanoparticles. Oscillatory instability is possible in the case of a bottom-heavy nanoparticle distribution.