Flow and heat transfer of a nanofluid over a nonlinearly stretching sheet: A numerical study

Steady, laminar boundary fluid flow which results from the non-linear stretching of a flat surface in a nanofluid has been investigated numerically. The model used for the nanofluid incorporates the effects of Brownian motion and thermophoresis. The resulting non-linear governing equations with associated boundary conditions are solved using variational finite element method (FEM) with a local non-similar transformation. The influence of Brownian motion number (Nb), thermophoresis number (Nt), stretching parameter (n) and Lewis number (Le) on the temperature and nanoparticle concentration profiles are shown graphically. The impact of physical parameters on rate of heat transfer (−θ′(0)) and mass transfer (−?′(0)) is shown in tabulated form. Some of results have also been compared with explicit finite difference method (FDM). Excellent validation of the present numerical results has been achieved with the earlier nonlinearly stretching sheet problem of Cortell [16] for local Nusselt number without taking the effect of Brownian motion and thermophoresis.     

Lie symmetry group analysis of magnetic field effects on free convective flow of a nanofluid over a semi-infinite stretching sheet

We investigate the steady two-dimensional flow of an incompressible water based nanofluid over a linearly semi-infinite stretching sheet in the presence of magnetic field numerically. The basic boundary layer equations for momentum and heat transfer are non-linear partial differential equations. Lie symmetry group transformations are used to convert the boundary layer equations into non-linear ordinary differential equations. The dimensionless governing equations for this investigation are solved numerically using Nachtsheim–Swigert shooting iteration technique together with fourth order Runge–Kutta integration scheme. Effects of the nanoparticle volume fraction ϕ, magnetic parameter M, Prandtl number Pr on the velocity and the temperature profiles are presented graphically and examined for different metallic and non-metallic nanoparticles. The skin friction coefficient and the local Nusselt number are also discussed for different nanoparticles.     

Uniform suction/blowing effect on flow and heat transfer due to a stretching cylinder

The present paper presents a numerical solution of flow and heat transfer outside a stretching permeable cylinder. The governing system of partial differential equations is converted to ordinary differential equations by using similarity transformations, which are then solved numerically using the Keller-box method. The main purpose of the present study is to investigate the effects of the governing parameters, namely the suction/injection parameter, Prandtl number, and Reynolds number on the velocity and temperature profiles as well as the skin friction coefficient and the Nusselt number. The results are shown graphically. The values of the skin friction coefficient and the Nusselt number are presented in tables.     

MHD non-Darcy mixed convective diffusion of species over a stretching sheet embedded in a porous medium with non-uniform heat source/sink, variable viscosity and Soret effect

The effects of temperature dependent viscosity and non-uniform heat source/sink on non-Darcy MHD mixed convection boundary layer flow over a vertical stretching sheet embedded in a fluid-saturated porous media is studied in this paper. Boundary layer equations are transformed into ordinary differential equations using self-similarity transformation which are then solved numerically using fifth-order Runge-Kutta-Fehlberg method with shooting technique for various values of the governing parameters. The effects of variable viscosity, porosity, electric field parameter, non-uniform heat source/sink parameters, Soret number and Schmidt number on concentration profiles are analyzed and discussed. Favorable comparisons with previously published work on various special cases of the problem are obtained. Numerical results for variation of the local Sherwood number with buoyancy parameter, Schmidt number, and Soret number are reported graphically to show some interesting aspects of the physical parameters.     

Convective heat transfer in a conducting fluid over a permeable stretching surface with suction and internal heat generation/absorption

We consider a convective flow in a porous medium of an incompressible viscous conducting fluid impinging on a permeable stretching surface with suction, and internal heat generation/absorption. Using a similarity transformation the governing equations of the problem are reduced to a coupled third-order nonlinear ordinary differential equations. We first examine a number of special cases for which we may obtain exact solutions. We then obtain analytical solutions (by the Homotopy Analysis Method) and numerical solutions (by a boundary value problem solver), in order to further study the behavior of the nonlinear differential equations, for various values of the physical parameters. Our numerical solutions are shown to agree with the available results in the literature. We then employ the numerical results to bring out the effects of the suction parameter, heat source/sink parameter, stretching parameter, porosity parameter, the Prandtl number and the free convection parameter on the flow and heat transfer characteristics. In the absence of suction and free convection, our findings are in agreement with the corresponding numerical results of Attia [H.A. Attia, On the effectiveness of porosity on stagnation point flow towards a stretching surface with heat generation, Comput. Mater. Sci. 38 (2007) 741-745].     

Effects of thermal radiation and magnetic field on unsteady mixed convection flow and heat transfer over an exponentially stretching surface with suction in the presence of internal heat generation/absorption

In this paper, the problem of unsteady laminar two-dimensional boundary layer flow and heat transfer of an incompressible viscous fluid in the presence of thermal radiation, internal heat generation or absorption, and magnetic field over an exponentially stretching surface subjected to suction with an exponential temperature distribution is discussed numerically. The governing boundary layer equations are reduced to a system of ordinary differential equations. New numerical method using Mathematica has been used to solve such system after obtaining the missed initial conditions. Comparison of obtained numerical results is made with previously published results in some special cases, and found to be in a good agreement.