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PurposeThis paper aims to numerically investigate the two-dimensional unsteady laminar magnetohydrodynamic bioconvection flow and heat transfer of an electrically conducting non-Newtonian Casson thin film with uniform thickness over a horizontal elastic sheet emerging from a slit in the presence of viscous dissipation. The composite effects of variable heat, mass, nanoparticle volume fraction and gyrotactic micro-organism flux are considered as is hydrodynamic (wall) slip. The Buongiorno nanoscale model is deployed which features Brownian motion and thermophoresis effects. The model studies the manufacturing fluid dynamics of smart magnetic bio-nano-polymer coatings.Design/methodology/approachThe coupled non-linear partial differential boundary-layer equations governing the flow, heat and nano-particle and micro-organism mass transfer are reduced to a set of coupled non-dimensional equations using the appropriate transformations and then solved as an nonlinear boundary value problem with the semi-numerical Liao homotopy analysis method (HAM).Validation with a generalized differential quadrature (GDQ) numerical technique is included.FindingsAn increase in velocity slip results in a significant decrement in skin friction coefficient and Sherwood number, whereas it generates a substantial enhancement in Nusselt number and motile micro-organism number density. The computations reveal that the bioconvection Schmidt number decreases the micro-organism concentration and boundary-layer thickness which is attributable to a rise in viscous diffusion rate. Increasing bioconvection Péclet number substantially elevates the temperatures in the regime, thermal boundary layer thickness, nanoparticle concentration values and nano-particle species boundary layer thickness. The computations demonstrate the excellent versatility of HAM and GDQ in solving nonlinear multi-physical nano-bioconvection flows in thermal sciences and furthermore are relevant to application in the synthesis of smart biopolymers, microbial fuel cell coatings, etc.Research limitations/implicationsThe numerical study is valid for two-dimensional, unsteady, laminar Casson film flow with nanoparticles over an elastic sheet in presence of variable heat, mass and nanoparticle volume fraction flux. The film has uniform thickness and flow is transpiring from slit which is fixed at origin.Social implicationsThe study has significant applications in the manufacturing dynamics of nano-bio-polymers and the magnetic field control of materials processing systems. Furthermore, it is relevant to application in the synthesis of smart biopolymers, microbial fuel cell coatings, etc.Originality/valueThe originality of the study is to address the simultaneous effects of unsteady and variable surface fluxes on Casson nanofluid transport of gyrotactic bio-convection thin film over a stretching sheet in the presence of a transverse magnetic field. Validation of HAM with a GDQ numerical technique is included. The present numerical approaches (HAM and GDQ) offer excellent promise in simulating such multi-physical problems of interest in thermal thin film rheological fluid dynamics.

Entropy generation in a two-dimensional steady laminar thin film convection flow of a non-Newtonian nanofluid (Ostwald-de-Waele-type power-law fluid with embedded nanoparticles) along an inclined plate is examined theoretically. A revised Buongiorno model is adopted for nanoscale effects, which includes the effects of the Brownian motion and thermophoresis. The nanofluid particle fraction on the boundary is passively rather than actively controlled. A convective boundary condition is employed. The local nonsimilarity method is used to solve the dimensionless nonlinear system of governing equations. Validation with earlier published results is included. A decrease in entropy generation is induced due to fluid friction associated with an increasing value of the rheological power-law index. The Brownian motion of nanoparticles enhances thermal convection via the enhanced transport of heat in microconvection surrounding individual nanoparticles. A higher convective parameter implies more intense convective heating of the plate, which increases the temperature gradient. An increase in the thermophoresis parameter decreases the nanoparticle volume fraction near the wall and increases it further from the wall. Entropy generation is also reduced with enhancement of the thermophoresis effect throughout the boundary layer.

Background This paper explores the impact of thermal radiation on boundary layer flow of dusty hyperbolic tangent fluid over a stretching sheet in the presence of magnetic field. The flow is generated by the action of two equal and opposite. A uniform magnetic field is imposed along the y-axis and the sheet being stretched with the velocity along the x-axis. The number density is assumed to be constant and volume fraction of dust particles is neglected. The fluid and dust particles motions are coupled only through drag and heat transfer between them. Methods The method of solution involves similarity transformation which reduces the partial differential equations into a non-linear ordinary differential equation. These non-linear ordinary differential equations have been solved by applying Runge-Kutta-Fehlberg forth-fifth order method (RKF45 Method) with help of shooting technique. Results The velocity and temperature profile for each fluid and dust phase are aforethought to research the influence of assorted flow dominant parameters. The numerical values for skin friction coefficient and Nusselt number are maintained in Tables 3 and 4. The numerical results of a present investigation are compared with previous published results and located to be sensible agreement as shown in Tables 1 and 2. Conclusion It is scrutinized that, the temperature profile and corresponding boundary layer thickness was depressed by uplifting the Prandtl number. Further, an increase in the thermal boundary layer thickness and decrease in momentum boundary layer thickness was observed for the increasing values of the magnetic parameter.

Purpose This paper aims to deal with the study of heat and mass transfer on double-diffusive three-dimensional hydromagnetic boundary layer flow of an electrically conducting Casson nanofluid over a stretching surface. The combined effects of nonlinear thermal radiation, magnetic field, buoyancy forces, thermophoresis and Brownian motion are taken into consideration with convective boundary conditions. Design/methodology/approach Similarity transformations are used to reduce the governing partial differential equations into a set of nonlinear ordinary differential equations. The reduced equations were numerically solved using Runge–Kutta–Fehlberg fourth-fifth-order method along with shooting technique. Findings The impact of several existing physical parameters such as Casson parameter, mixed convection parameter, regular buoyancy ratio parameter, radiation parameter, Brownian motion parameter, thermophoresis parameter, temperature ratio parameter on velocity, temperature, solutal and nanofluid concentration profiles are analyzed through graphs and tables in detail. It is found that the solutal component increases for Dufour Lewis number, whereas it decreases for nanofluid Lewis number. Moreover, velocity profiles decrease for Casson parameter, while the Nusselt number increases for Biot number, radiation and temperature ratio parameter. Originality/value This paper is a new work related to three-dimensional double-diffusive flow of Casson nanofluid with buoyancy and nonlinear thermal radiation effect.

The effect of non-linear convection in a laminar three-dimensional Oldroyd-B fluid flow is addressed. The heat transfer phenomenon is explored by considering the non-linear thermal radiation and heat generation/absorption. The boundary layer assumptions are taken into account to govern the mathematical model of the flow analysis. Some suitable similarity variables are introduced to transform the partial differential equations into ordinary differential systems. The Runge-Kutta-Fehlberg fourth- and fifth-order techniques with the shooting method are used to obtain the solutions of the dimensionless velocities and temperature. The effects of various physical parameters on the fluid velocities and temperature are plotted and examined. A comparison with the exact and homotopy perturbation solutions is made for the viscous fluid case, and an excellent match is noted. The numerical values of the wall shear stresses and the heat transfer rate at the wall are tabulated and investigated. The enhancement in the values of the Deborah number shows a reverse behavior on the liquid velocities. The results show that the temperature and the thermal boundary layer are reduced when the non-linear convection parameter increases. The values of the Nusselt number are higher in the non-linear radiation situation than those in the linear radiation situation.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to numerically solve the problem of an unsteady squeezing three-dimensional flow and heat transfer of a nanofluid in rotating vertical channel of stretching left plane. The fluid is assumed to be Newtonian, incompressible and electrically conducting embedded with nanoparticles. Effect of internal heat generation/ absorption is also considered in energy equation. Four different types of nanoparticles are considered, namely, copper (Cu), alumina (Al2O3), silver (Ag) and titanium oxide (TiO2) with the base fluid as water. Maxwell-Garnetts and Brinkman models are, respectively, employed to calculate the effective thermal conductivity and viscosity of the nanofluid. Design/methodology/approach – Using suitable similarity transformations, the governing partial differential equations are transformed into set of ordinary differential equations. Resultant equations have been solved numerically using Runge-Kutta-Fehlberg fourth fifth order method for different values of the governing parameters. Effects of pertinent parameters on normal, axial and tangential components of velocity and temperature distributions are presented through graphs and discussed in detail. Further, effects of nanoparticle volume fraction, squeezing parameter, suction/injection parameter and heat source/sink parameter on skin friction and local Nusselt number profiles for different nanoparticles are presented in tables and analyzed. Findings – Squeezing effect enhances the temperature field and consequently reduces the heat transfer rate. Large values of mixed convection parameter showed a significant effect on velocity components. Also, in many heat transfer applications, nanofluids are potentially useful because of their novel properties. They exhibit high-thermal conductivity compared to the base fluids. Further, squeezing and rotation effects are desirable in control the heat transfer. Originality/value – Three-dimensional mixed convection flows over in rotating vertical channel filled with nanofluid are very rare in the literature. Mixed convection squeezing three-dimensional flow in a rotating channel filled with nanofluid is first time investigated.

Self-similar steady natural convection thermal boundary layer flow from a rotating vertical cone to anisotropic Darcian porous medium is investigated theoretically and numerically. The transformed non-dimensional two-point boundary value problem is reduced to a system of coupled, highly nonlinear ordinary differential equations, which are solved subject to robust surface and free stream boundary conditions with the MAPLE 17 numerical quadrature software. Validation with earlier non-rotating studies is included, and also further verification of rotating solutions is achieved with a variational finite element method (FEM). The rotational (spin) parameter emerges as an inverse function of the Grashof number. The influence of this parameter, primary Darcy number, secondary Darcy number and Prandtl number on tangential velocity and swirl velocity, temperature and heat transfer rate are studied in detail. It is found that the dimensionless tangential velocity increases whilst the dimensionless swirl velocity and temperature decrease with the swirl Darcy number, tangential Darcy number and the rotational parameters. The model finds applications in chemical engineering filtration processing, liquid coating and spinning cone distillation columns.

Free convective magnetohydrodynamic flow from a spinning vertical cone to an orthotropic Darcian porous medium under a transverse magnetic field is studied. The non-dimensionalized two-point boundary value problem is solved numerically using the Keller Box implicit finite difference method. The effects of spin parameter, orthotropic permeability functions, Prandtl number and hydromagnetic number on flow characteristics are presented graphically. Tangential velocity and swirl velocity are accentuated with increasing permeability owing to a corresponding decrease in porous media resistance. Temperatures are depressed with increasing permeability. Validation of the solutions is achieved with earlier studies. Applications of the study arise in electromagnetic spin coating materials processing.

This article presents a numerical investigation on effect of suspended particles on boundary layer flow and heat transfer characteristics of a viscous nanofluid immersed in a porous medium over a stretching sheet. Copper Cu as nanoparticle and water with suspended particles as its base fluid have been considered. Two different temperature conditions are studied, namely (i) the sheet with prescribed surface temperature (PST) and (ii) the sheet with prescribed wall heat flux (PHF). Similarity transformations are used to reduce the governing nonlinear boundary layer equations to coupled higher order non-linear ordinary differential equations. These equations were numerically solved using Runge–Kutta–Fehlberg fourth-fifth order method. The effect of governing physical parameters on velocity and temperature profiles for the both nanofluid phase and dust phase are computed, analyzed and discussed. Besides, the local skin friction coefficient and local Nusselt number are computed and presented in tabular form. It is found that permeability parameter and volume fraction of nanoparticle has a significant influence on increasing rate of heat transfer. And momentum and thermal boundary layer are thinner due to the influence of suspended particles. Comparisons with previously published work are performed and excellent agreement is obtained.

A mathematical model is presented for viscous hydromagnetic flow through a hybrid non-Darcy porous media rotating generator. The system is simulated as steady, incompressible flow through a nonlinear porous regime intercalated between parallel plates of the generator in a rotating frame of reference in the presence of a strong, inclined magnetic field A pressure gradient term is included which is a function of the longitudinal coordinate. The general equations for rotating viscous magnetohydrodynamic flow are presented and neglecting convective acceleration effects, the two-dimensional viscous flow equations are derived incorporating current density components, porous media drag effects, Lorentz drag force components and Hall current effects. Using an appropriate group of dimensionless variables, the momentum equations for primary and secondary flow are rendered nondimensional and shown to be controlled by six physical parameters-Hartmann number (Ha), Hall current parameter (Nh), Darcy number (Da), Forchheimer number (Fs), Ekman number (Ek) and dimensionless pressure gradient parameter (Np), in addition to one geometric parameter-the orientation of the applied magnetic field (θ ). Several special cases are extracted from the general model, including the non-porous case studied earlier by Ghosh and Pop (2006). A numerical solution is presented to the nonlinear coupled ordinary differential equations using both the Network Simulation Method and Finite Element Method, achieving excellent agreement. Additionally very good agreement is also obtained with the earlier analytical solutions of Ghosh and Pop (2006). for selected Ha, Ek and Nh values. We examine in detail the effects of magnetic field, rotation, Hall current, bulk porous matrix drag, second order porous impedance, pressure gradient and magnetic field inclination on primary and secondary velocity distributions and also frictional shear stresses at the plates. Primary velocity is seen to decrease with an increase in Hall current parameter (Nh) with the converse observed for the secondary velocity.

Purpose – The purpose of this work is to study the mixed convection boundary layer flow past a vertical cylinder in a porous medium saturated with a nanofluid. Numerical results for friction factor, surface heat transfer rate and mass transfer rate have been presented for parametric variations of the buoyancy ratio parameter Nr, Brownian motion parameter Nb, thermophoresis parameter Nt and Lewis number Le. The dependency of the surface heat transfer rate (Nusselt number) and mass transfer rate on these parameters has been discussed. Design/methodology/approach – Solutions of the set of non-similarity equations are obtained by employing the implicit finite difference method together with Keller box elimination method. Findings – It was found that the heat transfer rate decreases and mass transfer rates increase as Lewis number increases. The heat and mass transfer rates increase as the buoyancy ration parameter increases. As the thermophoresis parameter Nt increases, the heat transfer rate decreases where as the mass transfer rate increases. As the Brownian parameter Nb increases, the heat transfer rate decreases. Brownian motion decelerates the flow in the nanofluid boundary layer. Brownian diffusion promotes heat conduction. The heat and mass transfer rates increase as the buoyancy ratio number Nr increases. The Brownian motion and thermophoresis of nanoparticles increases the effective thermal conductivity of the nanofluid. Both Brownian diffusion and thermophoresis give rise to cross diffusion terms that are similar to the familiar Soret and Dufour cross-diffusion terms that arise with a binary fluid. Research limitations/implications – The analysis is valid for steady, mixed convection two-dimensional boundary layer flow in a nanofluid-saturated Darcy porous medium. An extension to non-Darcy porous medium is left as a part of future study. Practical implications – The research is applicable for enhancing heat exchanger effectiveness by employing nanofluids. Originality/value – The study is useful to engineers interested in designing heat exchangers, water and atmospheric pollution.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to conduct a numerical study of the convection heat transfer in porous media by the homotopy analysis method (HAM). The geometry considered is that of a rectangular profile fin. The porous fin allows the flow to infiltrate through it and solid-fluid interaction takes place. This study is performed using Darcy's model to formulate heat transfer equation. To study the thermal performance, three types of cases are considered namely long fin, finite length fin with insulated tip and finite length fin with tip exposed. The theory section addresses the derived governing equation. The effects of the porosity parameter Sh, radiation parameter G and temperature ratio CT on the dimensionless temperature distribution and heat transfer rate are discussed. The results suggest that the radiation transfers more heat than a similar model without radiation. The auxiliary parameter in the HAM is derived by using the averaged residual error concept which significantly reduces the computational time. The use of optimal auxiliary parameter provides a superior control on the convergence and accuracy of the analytic solution. Design/methodology/approach – This study is performed using Darcy's model to formulate heat transfer equation. To study the thermal performance, three types of cases are considered namely long fin, finite length fin with insulated tip and finite length fin with tip exposed. The effects of the porosity parameter Sh, radiation parameter G and temperature ratio CT on the dimensionless temperature distribution and heat transfer rate are discussed. Findings – The HAM has been successfully applied for the thermal performance of a porous fin of rectangular profile. Solutions are derived for three cases of tip condition: an infinitely long fin with tip in thermal equilibrium with the ambient, a finite fin with an insulated tip and a finite fin with a convective tip. The performance of the fin depends on three dimensionless parameters; porosity parameter Sh, radiation-conduction parameter G and a dimensionless temperature relating the ambient and base temperatures. The results show that the base heat flow increases when the permeability of the medium is high and/or when the buoyancy effect induced in the fluid is strong. The base heat flow is enhanced as the surface radiation or the tip Biot number increases. Research limitations/implications – The analysis is made for the Darcy's model. Non-Darcy effects will be investigated in a future work. Practical implications – The approach is useful in enhancing heat transfer rates. Originality/value – The results of the study will be interested to the researchers of the field of heat exchanger designers.

Purpose – The purpose of this work is to study the effect of surface-radiation on the phenomenon of natural convection flow of a Newtonian fluid in a non-Darcian porous media cavity. The study is mainly focused on the interaction between the inertial resistance of the fluid layers and the surface radiation. Design/methodology/approach – For numerical simulation of transient vorticity transport and energy equations, the paper uses the alternate direct implicit method. Forward Time Central Space descretization is used for the transient and diffusion terms in the alternate direct implicit method, whereas for the convective terms, the method is modified using second upwind differencing technique. ADI method is adopted here, since this technique is unconditionally stable as a complete sweep and is second-order accurate in time for low velocity changes. The stream function equation is solved using the successive over relaxation technique with residual tolerance of order 10-5. Findings – It was found that despite the reduction of flow, the heat transfer increases as the Forschheimer resistance is increased. Further, with the increase in the Planck number, the heat transfer from the bottom radiating wall increases. Darcy drag parameter did not have a significant impact on flow properties except a slight reduction in the flow. Nevertheless, the increase in temperature ratio has a significant impact on flow properties. Research limitations/implications – The analysis is valid for unsteady, two-dimensional natural convection flow in a fluid-saturated non-Darcy porous medium enclosed by non-isothermal walls. As a first case, the study is conducted for square cavity. An extension to three-dimensional flow case and the study of Darcy-Forschheimer medium with effect of viscous dissipation is left as a part of future work. Practical implications – The approach is applicable to the modeling of geothermal systems where the inertial resistance to flow also comes into act with the non-uniform temperature distribution. The method is very useful to analyze solar receiver systems, fire research, electronic cooling, brake housing of an aircraft and many environmental geothermal processes. Originality/value – The study may be of some interest to engineers interested in heat transfer in ventilated rooms or enclosures, the industrial waste, water and atmospheric pollution.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to conduct a numerical study of the effect of magnetic field on thermocapillary convection of a two layered system of Newtonian fluids, confined in a rectangular cavity. The flow within the cavity is subject to the horizontal temperature gradient. Attention is focused on how the heat transfer and flow properties are affected subject to the applied magnetic field, particularly in the lower layer. For this purpose, the fluid combinations of di‐Boron Trioxide (B2O3) over Gallium Arsenide GaAs (III‐V), and Silicon oil 10 cSt over Fluorinert FC 70 are considered in the present study.Design/methodology/approachThe non‐linear two‐dimensional vorticity transport equations along with the energy equations are solved for the two liquid layers using the Alternate Direct Implicit method, whereas the elliptic partial differential equations of the stream function are solved using the Successive Over Relaxation method.FindingsIt was found that despite the significant reduction of flow in the two layers, the number of cells in the lower layer increases with the increase in Hartmann number Ha. However, the flow intensity decreases with the increase in Hartmann number. This decrease is more pronounced in the lower layer, as compared to the upper layer. The numerical scheme employed for the solution is found to be in good agreement with the previous work.Research limitations/implicationsThe analysis is made for two layer liquid system with undeformable interface and free surface. The detailed study of the effect of magnetic field on oscillatory Marangoni convection in two layer system with deformable interface is left for future work.Practical implicationsThe approach is useful in optimizing the flow properties of the fluids in a two layer system, particularly the lower layer, to yield the results of potential practical interest.Originality/valueThe results of the study may be of some interest to researchers in the field of semiconductor technology, as the melt control is intensively investigated for the development in the manufacture of defect‐free semiconductors and crystals.

In this paper, the semi-analytical/numerical technique known as the homotopy analysis method (HAM) is employed to derive solutions for the laminar axisymmetric mixed convection boundary-layer nanofluid flow past a vertical cylinder. The similarity solutions are employed to transform the parabolic partial differential conservation equations into system of nonlinear, coupled ordinary differential equations, subject to appropriate boundary conditions. A comparison has been done to verify the obtained results with the purely numerical results of Grosan and Pop (2011) with excellent correlation achieved. The effects of nanoparticle volume fraction, curvature parameter and mixed convection or buoyancy parameter on the dimensionless velocity and temperature distributions, skin friction and wall temperature gradients are illustrated graphically. HAM is found to demonstrate excellent potential for simulating nanofluid dynamics problems. Applications of the study include materials processing and also thermal enhancement of energy systems.

The effect of thermal radiation on a steady two-dimensional natural convection laminar boundary layer flow of a viscous incompressible optically thick fluid over a vertical wavy frustum of a cone has been investigated. The boundary layer regime when the Grashof number Gr is large is considered. Using appropriate transformations, the basic governing equations are transformed into a dimensionless form and then solved numerically employing two efficient methods, namely: (a) implicit finite difference method together with Keller-box scheme and (b) direct numerical scheme. Numerical results are presented by streamline, isotherms, velocity and temperature distribution of the fluid, as well as the local shearing stress in terms of the local skin-friction coefficient, the local heat transfer rate in terms of local Nusselt number, and the average rate of heat transfer for a wide range of the radiation—conduction parameter or Planck number Rd and the surface heating parameter θw.

The nonsimilar boundary-layer solutions are presented to study the mixed convective micropolar fluid flow about a rotating cone. The transformed boundary-layer equations contain an important mixed convection parameter that determines the relative importance of the free convection on forced (rotational) convection. Numerical solutions are presented for a range of values of the material parameters, the buoyancy parameter, and Prandtl number of the fluid. A discussion is provided for the microrotation boundary conditions and their influence on the velocity, gyration, and heat transfer fields.

Similarity solutions for the three-dimensional flow and heat transfer of a power-law fluid near a stagnation point of an isothermal surface are presented. The results of the numerical integrations are given in tables and shown on graphs for some different values of the power-law index n , geometric parameter c , and the Prandtl number Pr. Whenever possible, these results are compared with available analytical solutions and found to be highly accurate.

We determine the effects of micro‐inertia density and the vortex viscosity on laminar free convection boundary layer flow of a thermomicropolar fluid past a vertical plate with exponentially varying surface temperature as well as surface heat flux. The governing nonsimilarity boundary layer equations are analyzed using: first, a series solution for small ξ (a scaled streamwise distribution of micro‐inertia density), second, an asymptotic solution for large ξ and, third, a full numerical solution implicit finite difference method together with Keller‐box scheme. Results are expressed in terms of local skin friction and local Nusselt number. The effects of varying the vortex viscosity parameter, Δ, surface temperature and the surface heat flux gradient n and m respectively against ξ for fluids having Prandtl number equals 0.72 and 7.0 are determined.