Axisymmetric Flow of a Nanofluid Over a Radially Stretching Sheet with Convective Boundary Conditions

M.      Mustafa; T.      Hayat; A.      Alsaedi

doi:10.2174/157341312800620241

Abstract

This article addresses the flow of nanofluid towards a radially stretching sheet with convective boundary conditions. The Brownian motion and thermophoresis effects are taken into consideration. The governing equations are reduced to a system of coupled ordinary differential equations through similarity transformations. Analytic solutions valid for all the values of embedding parameters have been obtained by homotopy analysis method (HAM). In addition numerical solutions are computed through a shooting technique using computational software Mathematica. The behaviors of key parameters such as Brownian motion parameter (Nb), thermophoresis parameter (Nt), Biot number (Bi), Prandtl number (Pr) and Lewis number (Le) have been thoroughly examined. It is observed that increase in the strength of Brownian motion effect rises the temperature significantly. However rate of heat transfer and nanoparticles concentration at the sheet is reduced when Nb is increased. Moreover it is noticed that temperature and nanoparticles concentration are increasing functions of Biot number (Bi). A comparative study between analytic and numerical solution shows an excellent agreement.

Keywords: Nanofluid, axisymmetric flow, radially stretching sheet, convective boundary conditions, similar solutions, homotopy analysis method, Brownian motion parameter

« Previous Next »