Optimizing thermal performance of nanofluid impinging upon a nonlinearly stretching sheet using Taguchi technique.

AbstractThe main purpose of this article is to optimize the thermal performance of system involving stagnation point flow of Al2O3+ water based nanofluid over a nonlinearly stretching surface. The mathematical model for the problem under consideration utilizes the Tiwari and Das’s single phase flow model for the nanofluid. The aim is to find a similar solution of the problem using some suitable similarity variables. The partial differential equations dictating the flow situation are converted into dimensionless ordinary differential equations. Numerical solution of the system of dimensionless ordinary differential equations has been obtained with the help of MATLAB’s inbuilt bvp4c package. Further, Taguchi analysis along with ANOVA and regression analysis have been performed against the variable like Pr,γ,n and ϕ corresponding to response variable to predict the optimal heat transfer of the system. Outcomes of ANOVA indicate that <italic>Pr</italic> has maximum and ϕ has minimum influence over the Nusselt number. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]